Life in Cardiff Part I

May 2019

Back in Cardiff a few days later, it was time to begin my new job. I was nervous, but the staff were lovely and I soon settled into the rhythm of small library life.

Our first exploration of Cardiff was down to Cardiff Bay, we took the little river boat down, which provided us with an informative tour. 
Apparently the docklands area here were owned by the Third Marquess of Bute, who was the world's richest man due to the coal mining industry. This area is also well known to Doctor Who fans, as a number of episode shots were filmed here. You'll probably hear me mention the Butes family a bit, as they had a lot to do with Cardiff.

I also popped into 'Fabulous Welshcakes' in Cardiff Bay to try the famous Welsh sweet treat. Sort of a mix between a pikelet and a biscuit. I didn't adore it, but it was rather enjoyable, especially fresh and warm.

My favourite thing about Cardiff was Bute Park, a huge park running alongside Cardiff city, also including a castle on the grounds, once residence to the Bute family. Restored by the Third Marquess (the one with loads of money) it was eventually given to the people of Cardiff in 1947, by the Fifth Marquess. 

And that's what makes Cardiff so special, it's so green, with all this beautiful land gifted to Cardiff, on the condition it would never be built upon. 

The park wasn't only trees and the river either, way out to one side where we lived in Maindy was a cricket pitch, which if you walked through that and the park for long enough you hit the city. Being able to walk all the way into the city (about a 30-40 minute walk) entirely via the park was fantastic. Then in the centre of the park stood a cafe, and a private garden called The Nursery, surrounded by a brick wall and beautiful architecture. 

It reminded me of the Secret Garden, which funnily enough is exactly what the cafe was called. Within the walls is apparently a garden once used to grow produce for the Bute family - but its not open to the public. 

Arriving in Cardiff when we did, we were lucky enough to stumble on some sort of spring ceremony with dancing around a flagpole - it was very enjoyable to watch.

On one of our first weekends in Cardiff, we discovered one of our favourite pubs in the city, Tiny Rebel. They had a large range of tasty beer, and delicious loaded fries.

The one issue with Wales is, like Scotland, their public transport is somewhat lacking, so it was difficult to find places to go outside the city serviced by trains or buses. My biggest wish is that we had a car in Cardiff, as there were so many places to explore that we couldn't get to! 

One place we could day trip out to however was Llantwit Major, which was meant to have interesting rock formations by the sea. 

The beach was a thirty minute walk from the town, down narrow country lanes. It was certainly worth the trip, with wonderful cliff walks and views, and it apparently has amazing Jurassic period fossils. 

We didn't see any fossils (that we know of) but we thoroughly enjoyed the beach and the views even with the cold wind blowing. It was only May, so I imagine it would be much warmer in the summer months.

Although there was no footpath to follow from the beach back to the town, it was an enjoyable walk with very few cars and rather picturesque countryside, including these flowers reminding us that summer was finally just around the corner!