The day after I went fishing we attempted to cater to Karen’s interests. She had a store and a couple of gardens on Anglesey to visit. The store, James Pringle Weavers, was located in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch; the town with the longest name in the UK. The name had been somewhat shorter, but in the mid-19th century the city fathers lengthened the name to help with the newly booming Welsh tourist trapping business.
One of the first things that I noticed was the employees all spoke Welsh to each other and just as easily spoke English to the customers. I looked for a shirt to take home; a polo shirt or a sweatshirt with the Welsh dragon embroidered on it. Or something of that order. All they had were silk screen printed t-shirts. I passed.
I discovered that the candy section sold Kendal Mint Cake. I was ecstatic. I had not seen Kendal Mint Cake in years. When I was much younger and in my backpacking and mountaineering phase we always carried some on our “expeditions” because the authors of the books we read would mention “nibbling on Kendal Mint cake” as they surveyed the world from the summit. I “nibbled” Kendal Mint Cake while dangling my feet from the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. I bought some for distribution at Christmas.
James Pringle is actually only about 25% tourist trap. They also sell a lot of quality stuff. My wife found a blouse and a sweater and I bought a fleece vest. It turns out that in the UK zippers are reversed from the US.
This day was our first day of driving, on our own, on the country roads of Wales. But it was only possible because Karen’s aid as navigator and co-pilot and an occasional shriek when I edged too close to parked cars in town or stonewalls outside of town. I think that most residents of the UK would be happier if visitors stuck to public transportation! My wife says “So would the visitors!”
Karen had found two gardens that she was interested in visiting. In the event we were only able to locate one of them, “Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens”. It was pretty hidden and we almost gave up on it when we saw sign. The entrance drive winds back quite a bit, and you park among the sheep. There had been a flood in the spring because of heavy rains. Despite lots of signage regretting the damage, there was only one place where it was obvious.
The gardens are very impressive and well worth visiting. Karen was surprised that many of the plants also grow in our area (Arkansas Ozarks) but not as big and not blooming in early August. She enjoyed the kitchen garden; especially the espaliered apple tree on a high wall.
We ate lunch in the Tea Room (much nicer than the typical snack bar that you find at a similar place in the US). Karen had her usual Diet Coke with lunch and I had a “botanically brewed” ginger beer.
We managed to return to Caernarfon without any dings or scrapes to the car.
Some pictures are at: https://goo.gl/photos/UzXb1e3GEhhNGMaTA