Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza 2011

Well the weather was fabulous yesterday and as you'll see from the photos Llandudno was packed with visitors thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.You can find out more about this event on http://www.victorian-extavaganza.co.uk/

 The main streets were closed for all the funfair rides and stalls.

 The good old fashioned Merry-Go-Rounds and helter skelters

 After the parade of vehicles they parked up so visitors and enthusiasts could inspect them and take photos

The promenade was part of the route so the backdrop of the sea , pier and Great Orme made it all the more spectacular.



Traction engine llandudno



Vintage cars

 One of the bands which took part in the parade

 Several people were roaming around in traditional victorian clothing  and this added to the oveall atmosphere of the day.

Victorian fair ground rides

 View at the top of Mostyn Street with The Great Orme in the background.

 One of the more modern rides.

 Another Victorian character looking particularly cheerfull

 The old fashioned big wheel with beautifully decorated entrance way

and finally one of the very old traction engines ( I'm sure I'll be put right if I've given it the wrong name!!!) So hopefull these pictures will give an idea of what it's like at the Extravaganza. I should also add that the Llandudno Transport Festival http://www.llantranfest.co.uk/ also takes place on the 30th April -2nd of May so lots going on.

The Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza

I'm finding that keeping a blog is harder than I thought!! Luckily we have had quite a busy March and April and so no time to sit and add to my blog. I will however be adding some photos of the Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza later this afternoon. It is probably Llandudnos biggest event. The main streets are closed off and filled with fair rides from the very traditional Merry- Go-Rounds to those really scary high and fast modern rides. There is street entertainment and then the main parade of old vehicles ranging from traction engines, lorries buses and beautiful old cars to bicycles. It's such a spectacle,  well worth coming to see. Photos from today will follow.

Conwy Seed Fair

Lady with plants

While at home i always get swept up into what my mum is doing and at the weekend that was going into Conwy to buy plants.

Crowds in Conwy

Conwy is one of the most gorgeous towns you can imagine, it has a castle and some of the walls still surround part of the town, its so picturesque.

Seed fair stalls, Conwy

Conwy plays host to a seed fair once a year. this is an oppertunity for local people and crafts people from further afield and sell their wares. There are alot of plants stalls but also various produce stalls.

Little girl with pram

Man with owl

Walking around amongst the stalls were three men dressed in traditional costumes, they eached carried a different bird of pray. They looked fantastic and the birds were beautiful.

Monk with bird of pray

Boy with bubble

These bubbles were amazing, not something that you would expect to find in Conwy. 

More information can be found here about these huge bubbles. So much fun for children and adults alike.

Monday the 28th of March

Monday morning 

written by Elaine's Daughter

Looking towards the great orme

This morning i was greeted by the sunshine so decided to head down to West shore for a quick walk. Although the breeze was a little chilly the sun made up for that and i was plently warm enough in just a jumper. Its so nice having such a pretty beach just 7 minutes walk away from where we live. 

plenty of rock pools to explore

the view towards Conwy

really clear water

the walk was super, i went to deganwy and back with the sun on my face the whole time. The water is so clear at the moment its really amazing. 

If you are in Llandudno and would like tide information it can be found here and if you would like details about wind conditions and sea temperatures they can be found here. The second website i found today and its great, its aimed at kite and wind surfers and that is what west shore is best for. Well water sports and walking oh and the water is very clean so in summer months swimming is also possible.

After the storms

We have had some really strong wind which managed to blow one of my water butts over and almost blew my back gates apart. Fortunately a gallant neighbour took pity on the wet bedraggled me trying to repair the gates while fighting against the wind and rain and appeared with a very powerfull scew driver and in a matter of minutes had wizzed in about 40 scews which thankfully pulled the structure back together. When I looked at my pathetic attempt of 3 scews that had taken all my effort I was just relieved that my neighbour had the right tool. The evidence of the storm can be seen all around. Windows will have to be re washed as it looks as though they have a dirty lace covering!!  The path to Conwy was  completely lost in parts so the council has been out clearing the sand away

 The lighting on my way back was so beautiful that I had to take some more pictures

 A wispy cloud or mist started to come over The Great  Orme giving it a rather mystical look.

 The grasses in the sand dunes looked as though they were being illuminated

 This shows how deep the sand was in places. I would never want to be in a sand storm in a desert

 and finally yet another sun set.

Actually I was taking the photos about 5pm so it shows how much lighter our evenings are becoming.......oh for those long light evenings when curtains don't need to be drawn.

Thankfully I have guests coming tomorrow for two nights. Lymehurst was recommended to them so that's a good sign. It does make me nervous though when there's a big gap between bookings but who wants to take a break in January/ February.

Life at Lymehurst

This is quite a difficult time of year regarding bookings. So when there's such a lull it's time to do those boring but necessary jobs such as  touching up paint work that's taken a bit of a battering, spring cleaning (a little premature as spring is not quite here) and catching up on paperwork and accounts. As I have never had a business before it has certainly been a big learning curve, as I've had to give everything a go. from the cooking, cleaning , producing a website and business cards, advertising  and generally making sure everything is in order. But I must admit that I get somebody to do my accounts as I'm not a money person and felt I needed guidance..  I still do it all in pencil as I tend to make mistakes but at least I've improved and my next aim is to be bold and do it on the computer! (I think the accountant will sigh with relief!!) Last week I did have some bookings and one of those was a returner (always a good sign if they come back) I have been told that it can take 3 - 5 years to build up a substantial list of returning guests...oh well another couple of years to go! Being in business also brings the quandary of when to take a holiday. I feel like I'm being rather neurotic about taking time off in case I miss a booking. I suppose it 's worse now especially when I'm still in the process of trying to get established..
Welsh lessons getting more complex you think you've heard the most complicated sentence  only to have one that's just as bad tagged on the end. I have to give you an example
Esgusodwch fi, i, be'di'ch enw chi, (followed by) os gwelch yn dda and the translation is Excuse me, what's your name, please
so perhaps you can understand why 4 of us on the back row had a fit of hysterical laughing as we desperately tried to read a dialogue including the above
. So I will end this blog in aWelsh way with Nos da (good night)

A parcel arrives.

It's so nice when you get a parcel sent to you as it doesn't happen that often. As soon as I read who it was from I realised it was the T-shirts my brother had had printed for us. Rebecca has always loved my brothers artwork from when he was at Harrogate Art College in the 60s. and even has some pinned up in her room. Having seen him in photos on his travels in Sweden in the 60s, wearing a T-shirt he had made, Rebecca was desperate to have one and as he was off to Glastonbury last year he had some made up as Rebecca felt people would want to buy them. So now we have some.

The image was initially produced as a poster for one of his projects and this was photographed in many different settings. Now the plan is to continue the theme 40 years on of  "taking the poster for a walk" but using the t-shirts instead and  have photos of people wearing the T-shirt in all sorts of different places, situations etc. I will get my brother to forward some of his photos and include them another day. He has a website where he sells all sorts of things. Lewis Nostalgia.