Working my way round all the breakfast options, today I chose traditional breakfast items from the hot buffet area.
After breakfast we drove the short distance to St Fagans national museum of history, avoiding the bus lane which hides in plain sight. The 100 acres of parkland at St Fagans is free to enter and houses over forty original buildings that have been re-erected there from different historical periods and areas in Wales. We started our tour of the site in the “Wales is…” gallery which is located in the main entrance building.
We then followed the route around the parkland using the map to visit the buildings mainly in the order that they are numbered on the map. We paused for lunch in the building that houses Gweithdy galleries and workshop. One of the first buildings we visited was Melin Bompren Corn Mill where a guide explained the workings of the mill to us. As we were leaving the mill he asked me if I was Welsh, he thought he could detect a slight Welsh accent. I don’t think I have but perhaps I have picked up a bit of a twang living just across the border in Shropshire.
We had another interesting conversation in the Llys Llywelyn (Llywelyn’s Court) building where an English lady who had learned Welsh explained the Welsh alphabet and how to pronounce the letters. She also told us that all public facing staff had to be able to speak Welsh.
We had to miss out a few of the buildings to make sure we were able to visit St Fagans Castle and gardens. Only part of the castle is currently open to visitors but the gardens are stunning, we wished we had more time to explore them.
We returned to the café before it was due to close for tea and cake but for some reason it was closing early and only provided a takeaway service. This meant that our chosen cake was shared from a paper bag! Other people turned up just after us and were ignored leading them to leave empty handed.
Before all of this I had visited reception to purchase a guide book only to be told that they had sold out and there were none available in the shop either. After finishing my cake and drink I visited the shop on the off chance that a guide book was available. I noticed two ladies at the till with a guidebook in hand and there seemed to be some sort of problem. I approached to ask about guidebook availability. I was told that there was a misprinted guidebook where the map was missing from the back of the book. The shop manager had just allowed one to be sold to the two ladies and I also purchased one (on a non-returnable basis).
The journey back to Cardiff was tedious. The traffic was heavy and the SatNav kept trying to navigate us along bus lanes which meant we had to go the long way round to get to get back to the car park. Eventually we arrived back at the hotel later than we had intended.
We freshened up for dinner which was in the nearby Laguna restaurant. The service was a bit disjointed but the food was delicious and all the staff were lovely. As our dessert arrived the waiter insisted on taking a photo of the two of us.
By the time we had finished our meal it was too late to walk into town so we returned to the hotel for a nightcap.
The lady who served us complimented me on my co-ordinated look and how lovely my skirt was which reminded me that earlier in the day one of St Fagans employees commented on how lovely my scarf was. The previous evening a passer by had said how lovely my skirt was. Cardiff seems to be the town of compliments.
