Day 13 - UK

7 April 2011

Today was a morning of driving through valleys of farmland at the top of South Wales. We meandered our way along quiet country roads, following streams and rivers, seeing, as per usual,  literally hundreds of spring lambs frolicking everywhere. The sun was out, we had blue skies and hot temperatures so we could wear what is essentially summer clothing.

These daily drives through farmland are just stunning. The scenery constantly changes, we see numerous chocolate-box villages and nothing ever looks the same.

Late morning we arrived at the Owl & Small Breeds farm park in Kington. We spent a good couple of hours there looking at all the animals and taking lots of photos and ideas with us on how to make paddocks and animal housing more picturesque.

There was a huge collection of owls there from all over the world and that was quite interesting, although it has to be said that neither Aaron or I like seeing birds in small enclosures. I know people who own birds have this belief that as long as birds can flit between a couple of branches, the ground and their nesting boxes, then they’re happy. I’m not so sure. Surely every bird wants to be able to stretch its wings and soar or flap or swoop through the sky?

The animals were all miniatures and it was quite weird seeing the NZ Arapawa goat and the Kune Kune pig there. The miniature donkeys were lovely  and the baby, miniature goats and sheep adorable.

After we left the park we headed towards Hereford. Aaron’s brother Carl was there for a few days and we’d agreed to spend the next day with him.

On the outskirts of Hereford we found a cheap caravan park, Cuckoo's Corner, and booked ourselves in for the night. For all it’s plainness and lack of self-promotion it turned out to be the best campground we’ve come across. It only had about 30 pitches in total and was clearly favoured by retirees but the owners were lovely, there was free extra-fast WiFi, the toilets were luxurious, they had  a lounge area for guests and they had brown shaver chickens wandering everywhere. 

The weather was so fantastic we set up chairs and table by the van and sat and had lunch and drank and Aaron indulged one chicken by feeding her my vogels bread sandwich whish I had forgotten to eat. For some reason I have a tendency to do that when I’ve been knocking back a cider or 2.

And so we spent the afternoon relaxing, reading, catching up on emails, showering, etc.

Aaron text Carl to see if he wanted to visit, have a few drinks and go across the road to the chippie, which is apparently one of Hereford’s best.

He came for the afternoon and then early evening he drove us across the road to the chippies. We were intending to walk but as it was a 500 metres away Carl decided he’d rather drive.

Knowing how stingy the portions are back home when ordering fish and chips, Aaron and I both ordered a large fish and large chips. Aaron also asked for a spring roll as he didn’t want to be hungry.

Holy cow! When you ask for large you get super size!

Neither Aaron or I could finish. Despite the fact that we had both been really hungry, just the fish would probably have done me.

They were good fish and chips though.

That evening Carl suggested we go to his regular pub attached to his motel. There we sat drinking until about 11pm and then we caught a taxi back to the campground. At some point during the evening I said to Aaron that as nice as the fish and chips were, they were sitting in the bottom of my stomach like a lead brick and it was hugely uncomfortable. Aaron had the same issue. It was a little uncomfortable trying to get to sleep but the alcohol helped with that.