East Riddlesden Hall...

Another smoke-blackened building, almost lost in the outskirts of Keighley...

Kirkstall Abbey...

Back in Leeds, albeit briefly. Kirkstall Abbey has always looked rather dreary to me. An important monastic site, no doubt, but smoke-blackened and gloomy. It's still smoke-blackened, but at least it seems bettered cared for these days. The light was good... for a few seconds...

Welcome to the Wharf...

Had a beer in the Wharf, close to the Macclesfield Canal...

Lyme Park...

Another day, another huge house: Lyme Park in Cheshire. These lasses knew a good place for a picnic...

Garden of Eden...

Spent a productive afternoon at Lower Brockhampton Hall, a medieval manor house with its own moat. Buzzards wheeled overhead and swallows took sips of water from the moat as they flew by. Rows of damson trees near the house were in blossom. Visitors looked dazed... by the clarity of the light, the wamth of the sun and the feeling that spring is well and truly here...

Farmers own seed...

You know times are tough when farmers have to sell their own seed…

Mist...

Very misty along the coast, but I liked these two couples: fishing from the end of the pier and gazing out to sea...

Felin Uchaf...

Dafydd, at Felin Uchaf, on the Llyn Peninsular, using local reeds to thatch a roundhouse. There’ll be storytelling inside another of the roundhouses on Thursday evening, so I’ll go along for that…

Ospreys...

Had a relaxing afternoon at Cors Dyfi, an RSPB reserve near Machynlleth. The people in the panoramic (360-degree) hide were getting quite excited, as a male osprey had been spotted earlier. I’d missed it by minutes! Never mind; I saw a couple of peregrines and my first swallow of the year. I scanned the horizon for ospreys, but no luck…

Saw Elvis, though…

CAT...

I spent the morning at the Alternative Technology Centre, near Machynlleth: somewhere I’ve long wanted to visit. I was rather disappointed; like me it looked old and tired. Surprisingly, for Good Friday, it was’t particularly busy. But at least the kids I saw seemed to be having a good time, making boats in Blue Peter style, then - by using tiny solar panels to power propellers - sailing them across the pond.

I’ve been looking for a wind-up radio, to keep me company through the night, even when the leisure batteries are low on power. But the shop was distinctly understocked… except for books and toys. I ended up buying a book called How to Read the Landscape - which looks interesting - and some toys for the grandchildren.

Yesterday in Machynlleth...

The Bishops...

Going for a beer in St Davids, the smallest city in Wales...