This website, blog, record, call it what you will is about us, Sandie and Harry Whorwood, and about our move here, and what we’ve done and experienced in moving to Wales – a vast country. It is very much a personal record for our archives, but if it interests you in the process, then do enjoy reading or looking at the images.
Who, What, Where, Why, When and lots of other questions. We haven’t really done anything astounding or daring, or that interesting, but having lived in Winchester for thirty years or so, we knew where everything was, how to get to it, and how to avoid endless traffic jams. Having finished our business we also wanted to live a more normal life – what is normal is another question. To us to see, think, admire, and have new experiences rather than working every waking hour and not taking a holiday and not having friends because we had become retail bores is normal. We realised most of those ambitions except friends which pleases us.
The Cottage.
Merryhall is a cottage dating back to about 1750 and earlier probably. It was a cottage on the “drover’s trail” from the West Coast of Wales to Birmingham and London for farmers who used to drive their filer’s (flocks/herds) of animals to market in those towns. To cross the river at the bridge incurred a toll but to cross elsewhere, like the cottage, was free. The drovers used to make use of the river water for washing and R&R in general and the animals grazed the land for their R&R at a cost of a Penny ha’penny for five. Surrounding the cottage were cider apple and pear trees, descendants of which remain and from which cider was made and sold. Other earthly delights were no doubt on offer from the villagers which helped to name the place locally as “Merry hell”.
Location
Take a look a a map of Wales and stick a pin in the middle – chances are that is us. Two hours to Chester (John Lewis) in the north, and two hours to Cardiff (JL) in the south. The sheds (B&Q et al) are an hour and a half away at Hereford or Aberystwyth which is where the local hospitals and crematoria are. Local towns are Llandrindod Wells (Llandod – the Wells bit is a Victorian addition not recognised in Welsh), Builth Wells (ditto) and Rhayader. We are in the middle of all three outposts.
As a result, Amazon Prime in particular and mail order in general is our mail shopping. When we moved here in 2016 mobile phones didn’t really work, and Broadband was virtually non-existent, but thank goodness that has changed even in mountainous Wales.