Just up the mountain is a lovely medieval church, with a wonderful history, though now de-consecrated. St Illtyds is surrounded by farm land and was once part of an old Cistercian sheep farming Grange.
Last year, in the November snow, though not as seen here, it looked like this, a white pre-Christmas scene.
A year on and things here are unbelievably different. Yes, this morning we had deep dark skies and very blustery winds but inside this recently designated, wild flower conservation area, I was to find a few very unexpected, late flowering surprises.
Such as holly in flower, when we should be gathering red-berried branches to decorate the inside, ready for the December festivities. The annual Carol Concert is only two weeks away. But that was not all I witnessed today, new buds on the Knapweed >>>
and a sturdy, small but seasonally defiant Hogweed has managed to produce these late flowers ...
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and a sturdy, small but seasonally defiant Hogweed has managed to produce these late flowers ...
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An old, remnant of a gravestone, against the drystone wall ... just a few days ago had a small group of tiny Oxeye daisies, white with their lovely, egg-yolk coloured centres, warming gently in late autumnal sun.
But today, the most surprising find of all was this wonderful, bright yellow cowslip.
There is however, a perpetually flowering Lilly of the Valley to be seen here ..
Next door and as I have mentioned before, also known locally as "The Old Church" the landlord is now well prepared for keeping his regulars warm with a wood burning stove in the bitter winter nights ahead of us or on dark, cloud racing days like today when the westerly winds and rain are having a rare old time, creating havoc all over the country. A good time to be inside safe, warm and dry.
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