St David's Hospice Spring Plant Fair

I keep hearing such glowing reports about St David's Hospice in Llandudno, which provides care and comfort for those with a terminal illness.  When I first opened Lymehurst Bed & Breakfast I had two guests who had travelled up from London to be with their relative who was staying in the Hospice. They couldn't say enough about the staff and the incredible care their relative was receiving.
A week ago St David's Hospice  held it's first Spring Plant Fair. Unfortunately the weather was horrendous but those stalwart stall holders who had their stalls outside did an amazing job of braving the elements while raising money for the Hospice.

Well clad buyers and sellers at the St Davids Hospice Plant fair

Plenty of plants to choose from at St David's Hospice

Buying under cover!!

                                                                                                                                                                           Once we had stocked up on plants for the garden and bought kale  for the vegetable patch we rushed inside to see the craft stalls. Mandy Coates from Abergele had a super stall selling woven baskets and  place mats.






There was even a chance for visitors to make their own hanging bird feeding basket. It was a great idea to let people have a go at weaving the willow branches ( probably the incorrect word! ) to make their very own bird feeder. As we watched there were some very proud customers leaving with their finished work of art. Check out Mandy's amazing creations on http://www.mandycoates.co.uk/

Basket making stall inside St David's Hospice

Fabulous needle work on show at St David's Hospice

Further along we came to a display of needle work and were really impressed by the idea and production done by different people  who  had re created a section of a garden photo. It was really interesting to see the different interpretations and how they had been created.
St David's is reliant on donations and fund raising. They run a local lottery which  covers about 25% of their running costs. Find out more about this incredible place on http://www.stdavidshospice.org.uk/ 

Llandudno 10 K run on May 22nd

At last the Llandudno 10k is off

As we had two runners from The Cobra  Running Club staying at Lymehurst B&B, we decided to go and give some support. Thinking we were only going to see the start and take some photos for the blog we did not dress up for the weather!! We rushed to the start only to discover that due to the high winds the race was going to be delayed to enable a safety check of the route to be done. Not content with being windy it decided to rain as well! Those poor runners they must have been frozen. Even we ended up jumping up and down on the spot to keep warm.. At last the go ahead was given and off they went. Between trying to take photos and look out for our runners, Sally and Steve, amongst the hundreds of runners, we got sucked into the atmosphere of the race.

There were hundreds of runners taking part in the 10 k run

After they had all run past us and were snaking their way down the promenade we ran after them to take rear views!!

You can tell it was chilly by looking at the stewards at the 10 K run

The promenade at Llandudno offers an amazing back drop for the 10K run



When we discovered the route was looping round (and we had dried out and warmed up as the sun had decided tocome out) we got enthusiastic again so hung around to take more photos (My daughter took lots )



Some of the first runners heading towards the 3km mark



It was really hard spotting our guests amongst all those runners. Next time I'll remember to ask which club and what colours to look out for.........that would make life easier!!

Pleased to say that even though weather conditions were not the best, our guests enjoyed! the race and at least one would like to return to spend more time in the area ..........not running!!

Llandudno 10k Run May 2011

Im just putting this up quickly before heading off to bed. Today we have had a very mixed weather day with high winds, rain and patches of bright warm sunshine. It was not the best day weather wise for the many runners who turned out for the 10k run but despite the odd shower apparently it was a good route. 

We had two runners from Birmingham Cobra running club staying with us and they achieved better times than they expected which was great. 

Here are a few pictures from the day and i will add more tomorrow. 

Llandudno 10k Run

Llandudno 10k run

our guests are in this picture

Llandudno 10k run 2011

Llandudno 10k run May 2011

llandudno 10k run

Hope you all had a nice Sunday. 

Will add more picture and info tomorrow 

Wooden Mushrooms at Conwy Celtic Fayre

For being the best mum in the world i bought mum some mushrooms from The wood artist Michelle Parr

Wooden Mushrooms

Handmade wooden Mushrooms

They are so amazing. Both mum and i love wooden objects and these mushrooms are incredible tactile. The artist can be emailed on shellparr@gmail.com or called on 01270629014 if you would like more information on the work that she does.

More about the Celtic Fayre

Hello its me again Elaine's Daughter, mum asked if i could share some of my photo's from the Celtic Fayre, so here they are. 

Painted tunnel

Wooden huts on the front

There were lovely wooden huts set up on the Quay front for some stall holders

Cheese stall

Mum buying some cheese

Handmade truffles

Yummy Handmade truffle stall

glass stall

There was such a mixture of stalls, here you can see a glass stall, jewellery and handmade cards.

handmade banners

There was a lovely paper crafts stall, Banners, cards and girlt boxes all hand made by Caroline Free a Llandudno based artist. We had a long conversation about setting up a crafting community in Llandudno. It would be so great to meet up once a month with like minded people to swap skills and learn new techniques.

more beautiful banners

Bird house banners 

Crowds at Conwy Celtic Fayre

Dispite the rain people still made the effort to come.

View from Conwy Quay

As mum said the stall holders had a wonderful view

Celtic Spring Fayre 12th-15th May

This has somehow managed to creep up on us! It's a new event and it takes place on Conwy Quay from the 12th - 15th of May 9.30- 5.30. There will be lots of food stalls where you can sample and buy local produce. Craft and jewellery stalls will also be there. http://www.celticfayres.co.uk/

Conwy Celtic Fayre

We paid a visit to the Conwy Celtic Fayre yesterday. Unfortunately the weather was not too good. This is the first time the fayre has been held on Conwy quayside so it was not as well attended as the Autumn Celtic Fayre which is held in Llandudno and has become a real attraction. However the setting on the quayside with the town walls as a backdrop and the view up to the spectacular Conwy Castle did make this quite special.

Historical information about Conwy

Conwy itself is a very popular town to visit. This is the information board in the car park showing all the places of interest..

From the car park you go through a subway and this is what you find on the otherside.......Quite a spectacular route into Conwy town

Bilingual sign

..and then signage to the Fayre in both Welsh and English

 



Leading up to the marquee were wooden cabins selling art and craft goods and refreshments. As you can see there were not many people around due to the weather. In the background is Conwy Castle.

Andrew Southall and artwork

My attention was  particularly drawn to pictures done by a local artist from Anglesey and in fact I bought the picture he is holding to put in the Breakfast Room at Lymehurst. You can check out his work on http://www.angleseyart.com/

In the Marquee we came to a stall selling all sorts of  olive oils, vinegars and herbs from Greece http://www.greekoildirect.com/

 

Greek Oil direct

On the same stall he was also selling  some hand made soaps which contained essential oils. I bought some pink rose and French white clay soap! sounds very unusual but it smells absolutely divine and apparently is good for problematic skin.

Natural olive oil soap

Next purchase came from  The Cheshire Cheese Company.  http://www.cheshirecheesecompany.co.uk/ Here there were all sorts of cheeses including "Taste of the Raj" a curry cheese! and wait for it.............."Sticky Toffee Heaven" .............and yes it has toffee in it. You have to taste it to believe it.



And as you can see from the photo the cheese makes you grin !

Hopefully more people will get to know about this fayre so it will be better attended. I think my daughter took more photos  of different stalls so she might well be adding those to the blog a bit later on

What's happening in Llandudno in May and June

May 22nd
Part of the Welsh Road Running Championship 5 race series. Around 5,000  competitors of all abilities from fun runners to serious athletes will be descending on Llandudno for this event.
http://www.llandudno10.co.uk/.

June 1-4th
The Three Castles Welsh Classic Trial and Heritage Tour.
Competitors leave Llandudno each day on a different route covering no less than 200 miles a day.
http://www.three-castles.co.uk/

June 4th-12th Conwy Biodiversity Week
 Events held across Conwy provide an in valuable chance to discover the wild life that lives on our doorstep.
http://www.conwy.gov.uk/?biodiversityweek

30th June -3rd July
 North Wales Bluegrass Festival
Now in it's 23rd year, 8 Blue Grass Concerts will be held in Bodlondeb Park, Conwy. Instrument workshops, Appalachtian dancers and a line up of 20 top Bluegrass bands/
http://www.northwalesbluegrass.co.uk/

Llandudno Transport Festival comes to Llandudno

 Not content with hosting the Victorian Extravaganza  http://www.victorian-extravaganza.co.uk/ in Llandudno town centre  the Transport Festival http://www.llantransfest.co.uk/ took place at the end of the promenade at Bodafon Farm Park. Vehicles of all types ages, sizes were on display in the fields looking over the bay. A haven for vintage vehicle enthusiasts.and what a spectacular setting.

Tractors galore all colours shapes and sizes.




All the vehicles were so beautifully retored and cared for.

No bland cars here !

Cars with character and again in such good condition. The Little Orme in the background.

This just looks like a match box toy.

                                                                                                                                                                                              






 Live entertainment in the form of a fair ground organ........seating provided while you listened to Ruby!

Motor bike enthusiasts also catered for.

Good to see that there were plenty of two wheeled vehicles on show.

There were plenty of stalls too, selling every conceivable part or extra for the vehicles and lots more too. Quite fascinating to see what was on sale and in some cases guessing what the things were!!