Tim & Denise Tiner Travels: September 2023

Friday, September 15, 2023

2023 England - September - Day 12 - Gad Field Elm and Trip Home

It is Wednesday, September 13th and we are headed towards our home. We decided to swing north a bit and visit the oldest chapel in our church called Gadfield Elm. It has an incredible history. A group of 600 people in the 1840’s built this chapel and called themselves the United Brethren. I believe it was Elder Wilford Woodruff who met a gentleman in Canada who had a brother in England named John Benbow. When Elder Woodruff came to England, he was welcomed by John Benbow at his home. Elder Woodruff was invited to preach to the United Brethren and eventually all 600 were baptized in a pond on John Benbow’s land. The chapel was then used by the church for many years until it was sold to get funds to help english saints migrate to America. The chapel became a barn for many, many years and became in very bad disrepair. Later, a group of members of the church bought Gadfield Elm and began to fix it up. After it was fixed up, they deeded the property over to the church and the church manages it today as a historical site where people come to camp, hold fireside’s and so on. It is way out in the middle of farm land on small little roads. But as the church does, it is really kept up and nice. There was no one there while we were there. But in the window there was a piece of paper that had about 6 or 7 church related questions that produced a letter or a number. This was used to enter the combination of the lock. It worked like a champ and we were in. Inside the chapel area were benches, a pulpit and and electric piano\organ. Guess what…I played it. It has been 2.5 months since I touched a keyboard and it was really fun to play a couple of hymns that I had practiced before coming on the mission here. It was well worth the extra time spent to drive over there to see this site. Well…that’s easy for me to say as Pat did ALL the driving. I can’t say how much I’m grateful to him for doing this. 11 days of lots of driving in a foreign country and we are still alive…well done Pat!!!

Our trip from Gadfield Elm was a straight shot. We arrived back to our flat at the lodge around 3:30 PM or so. It is nice to be back but sad to know our trip has concluded. And our travel partners were the best. Thank you, thank you Wallace’s for such a good trip and seeing so much with us. Forever grateful we are to you both. And we look forward to working together again soon in the temple!

Pictures:

Entry hall into Gadfield Elm Chapel. It had some nice displays of history information about Gadfield Elm. But the Christus Statue was amazing of course.

Outside Gadfield Elm.

This is the narrow street that took us to this site. It felt like we were out in the boonies.

The questions that needed to be answered to create a code to get into the building.

Me testing myself to see if I answered the questions correctly.

A couple of the history boards that you can expand and read.

The piano man….not!!!

The little chapel inside….

Outside Gadfield Elm.

An old water well that was found outside the chapel.

A memorial plaque.

Happy missionaries….

The miracle boot (trunk). Each time we loaded it, we were amazed that it all fit! Well done little Audi!

Happy travelers at the end of a wonderful journey. May God bless the Wallace’s for their wonderful service that they are rendering here at the temple and in the Epsom ward that they are assigned to.

2023 England - September - Day 11 - Wales (Dinefwr Castle, Norman House and Swansea City)

It is now September 12th, Tuesday, last full day of seeing things before we head south to our flat in Surrey. Fun trip we’ve had. Pat provided a yummy breakfast to start the day. He made us potato cakes, toast, scrambled eggs and mushrooms. We all loved it!

Today we decided to stay close and not drive as much…at least that was the plan. Close by us was a castle and house under National Trust administration. The castle was called Dinefwr and the house was referred to as the Norman House. The town nearest by it was named Llandeilo. To get to the castle from the car park, you had to hike for it about a 15 minutes through pastures and wooded areas, up and down some hills. I’m pretty sure that Denise and Lisa would have preferred driving to it. But that was not a choice as you could only walk to it.

Seeing this castle was not the highlight as much as seeing the valleys around. Oh my gosh, the area was so green and spectacular. The castle was nice too. Like most castles, it was old and this one was a bit run down as it probably needed more maintenance. I don’t think the National Trust has responsibility for the castle, only the house nearby. We walked through the castle, took some photos and then headed back to where we parked the car and then to the Norman House there. We took a different route back to the car park than we took going to the castle. We actually ended up in a pasture for quite awhile walking in nice warm sunshine.

What do I say about the Norman House? They are all starting to feel the same to me. And I’m running out of words to describe them. Big, amazed that people lived in these things, all the art, rugs and old things shown. Very nice…nothing like this exists in America. So I really should be impressed…and I really am.

After leaving the castle, we decided to drive into Swansea. We wanted to go into the National Waterfront Museum there…and we did. It was an interesting museum that really told the industrial history of Wales. It had lots of info on lots of things from music, sports, mechanical things, mining, family life, etcetera. You could spend a long time there. But we did not. As a matter of fact, we did some video chats with some of our family members as they were starting to wake up and begin their day. But we saw lots. Denise got into a language session with an usher who did his best to teach Denise how to pronounce some of the welsh alphabet. So funny to hear them speak it…funnier to hear us try!

After the museum, we headed into downtown as the Swansea castle was quite close…walking distance away. There was also a ‘market’ there that had stalls of people selling various wares. We were able to go to both but the market started to shut down on us. It was only 4:30 PM and was supposed to stay open until 5 PM. I guess they wanted to get home early. The Swansea Castle…not much there. You will see this in the pictures. But it sits in the center of their downtown district where there are plenty of stores and things to go into. And it is a place where kids come to hang out and do no good. As a matter of fact, we watched a man across the way grab a young man on a bike who was stealing the bike. Someone had left the bike outside a store with a grocery bag on it. The young man set the bag down and started to ride off when this man and his partner yelled at him to get off and bring it back…which he did. Later, Pat and I were sitting on the bench still waiting for Denise and Lisa to come out of stores when we say another guy come up to the bike. He looked kind of homeless. When we started to get on the bike, I yelled at him asking if the bike was his. He said it was, got on it and rode off. It must have been as know one else came out to it and we were sitting there for a good while.

After seeing the castle and spending time in shops and at this known market, we headed to an area called ‘Mumbles’. Now apparently Mumbles is the word for ‘breasts’ in French. And lo and behold off the coast there are two small islands that look like a couple of breast out in the water. Quite unique I must say. Now we can say we experienced Mumbles. We thought we might eat there. Instead we headed back to our flat where we had left overs. However, I had no left overs and along the road very close to our flat was a fish and chips place. We stopped there and both Pat and I ordered fish and chips to take home. We both ordered a single piece of fish and small chips. The fish looked like a tuna and the chips filled a garbage bag! However, the oil it was cooked in…to me… to not taste right. I ate the fish…but not many of the potatoes. Oh well, after that, we were in for our final night and an episode of Poldark. :-)

Pictures:

Beautiful views from the Dinefwr Castle.

A view of the inside entrance to the castle and its grounds.

I could look across one of the open columns and see Denise in the large window.

Me looking at Denise from a higher tower than what she was on.

Pat and Lisa speaking with a couple who was over from Colorado. Fun to run into some near our homes in the states.

Looking down into one of the large rooms from one of the towers.

The entrance to the Dinefwr castle.

The pasture we crossed to either get back to the car park or the castle. Not sure which.

Sitting in the courtyard relaxing. Every National Trust site tends to have a coffee shop to raise money. This house was no different.

The Norman House.

Swansea Castle….

Old record player in the old house…

Ceilings are amazing in these old houses.

Really nice staircase here. The wood work was impressive.

The courtyard in front of the house.

In Swansea, we grabbed some lunch in a cafe by the museum that sat on a marina. It was nice to relax a bit.

Another view of the marina.

Swansea Castle.

Old castle with new castles…. :-)

Swansea Castle. I believe it was used to hold prisoners for a time.

Interesting boards that described some who frequented this place in the past.

Some hats at one of the booths at the Swansea Marketplace.

In LLandybie, they had these crocheted figurines all over the town. This is but one place that had a bunch.

Showing off their big purchases for day after a day of shopping!

2023 England - September - Day 10 - Wales (Pembroke Castley, Tenby)

It is Monday, September 11th. Our trip is fast coming to a close. It has been a wonderful trip to see parts of England and Wales that we’ve never seen before. Everyday has been eventful and memorable for its own reasons. Today, we decided to drive to see Pembroke Castle. And this castle did not let us down. Before heading out in the car, however, Pat and I did our normal morning walk to discover food options. We found a Co-Op market nearby and a bakery that was pretty good too. So we bought breakfast supplies and returned them, as usual, to our wives who were getting ready for the day. The walk was about a 5 to 10 minute walk to get to the store. Nice.

Pembroke castle is a castle that sits close to the sea. It is one of many important castles in the history of Wales. They talk a lot about a knight named William Marshal, who they claim was the greatest knight in Wales. The history is immense of which I’m not going to go into as I cannot remember it all so well. :-) I’ll let the pictures of the castle do the talking below. We did take a tour by a guide that was free to take while we were there. That was fun, he was fun in his approach to sharing information. Nice visit it was for us.

On our way home, randomly, we decided to go check out another castle in a town called Tenby. Upon arriving there, we were shocked how cute and quaint this town was on the bay of water that we were seeing. I would have to say that the town of Tenby was probably the highlight of all the towns that we visited. The castle, well, there was not much there. But the view of the bay, the town, boats, etcetera was incredible there. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Pat and I got separated from Denise and Lisa a few times. Once we had to move the car from the free, very nice parking, to a paid lot close by. Together, we decided that we would walk up to the castle and tell the girls to come up where we were. They were in shops and stuff checking things out. As we approached the climb to the castle, there was an option to head to the beach and there were toilets there. Pat said he needed to use one. As we arrived to the toilets, they required 40 pence to get in. We did not have 40p. But you could use your phone in a contactless way to pay. Pat got his phone out and went in. I was slow and for some reason I thought there was two doors for the men’s bathroom. Pat had gone to the left, so I went to the right. I paid, went in, did what I needed to do and came out. I was out before Pat. But as I waited, I noticed a lady coming out of the door that Pat had gone in. I looked up and sure enough, he had gone in the ladies bathroom. While I stood there, two ladies approached the bathroom to enter and noticed this man coming out. They began to laugh and then Pat realized what he had done. He thought it was odd that there were no urinals where he was at. We have laughed and laughed over this many times. Stuff happens all the time here.

Lastly, I believe our best meal occurred in Tenby for dinner. At one point, Pat and I were returning to the High Street to find the girls when we passed a restaurant that smelled amazing. I even turned to Pat and said, wow, that smells awesome. It was overlooking the marina with chairs on the sidewalk. When we got back into town, Denise and Lisa (and us too) were ready for dinner. So Pat and I suggested the Italian place that we had passed. They agreed and off we went to it. It turns out this place is run by a guy from Florence, Italy. And all his staff was Italian that we met. The food was AMAZING and plentiful. I had delicious Carbonara and Denise had Lasagna. We ate outside and enjoyed the cool comfort of the bay and view of the beach as we watch people stroll by. Such a great way to end the day.

Some pictures:

Enjoying Tenby seaside restaurant.

The church near the Co-Op market that we walked to daily from The Cowshed.

Another picture of the church near where stayed.

Interesting clock in front of a little church on our path to the market.

Statue of William Marshal.

Doves were everywhere in the Pembroke Castle. I think we invaded their home.

A cavern that you could take stairs down into from the Pembroke Castle.

A pond outside the castle. It was a real pretty view.

A monument near the Tenby castle.

The bat and beach at Tenby.

Many cannons were on display overlooking the bay at Tenby.

The entrance to Pembroke Castle.

Squinty eyed Tim and smiley Denise taking a selfie at the castle.

Nice shot of part of the castle. Apparently the day before they had a real large crowd of ‘Christians’ having some function here…per the guide.

The castle entrance from inside the castle.

Dinner time in the castle. They had some of these mockups as you visited parts of the whole castle.

A picture of a picture of the castle.

Our guide….

Pat, I and another fellow were asked to participate in a demonstration describing a time when one person out of three had to be sacrificed and I was the sacrificial lamb1

Looking up one of the large towers. At various levels, they used to have floors built across hat were used.

View of part of the castle from highest point.

You can see a large map that you could walk on that is placed in the courtyard showing all the castles in Wales that were key in its defense. So many there are….

Happy travelers…

A nice shot of the whole castle. Unfortunately the sun was in a crummy place for the photo. Oh well.

Every restaurant in Wales accommodates dogs. You have nothing for cats or other pets. Just dogs. And if you don’t have a dog on a leash, well, you are not Welsh!