Pictures of St. Fagans, October 15th - lovely open air museum
previously: Arriving in Cardiff, Bay & Dinner
The morning started with a very nice breakfast. Later we all compared the breakfasts of the different hotels - seems we got the best selection. There was a huge line with eggs and bacon and sausages and grilled tomatoes and mushrooms and black pudding and hash browns. You could also have toast and different jam or different kind of cereals, there was a selection of cheese and salami, and I especially loved the fresh fruit. One day they even had Marmite.
At 10 PM we met with Giotto and Ranvaig at the central bus station and took bus number 32 to St. Fagans. At least we intended to, but we were there a bit early, and the driver of bus number 320 offered us a ride there also, so who are we to refuse?
Why St. Fagans, you ask? First, there is the Museum of Welsh Life, and second, the Doctor Who episodes “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood” were shot in there. Here we are standing on the front stairs to the entrance.
First we went to the left, though, to the shop and the penny press, as both Giotto and my brother like to collect those coins you put in there and get a picture pressed on them.
The best part - the museum itself was for free, only the map was costing unbelievable £ 0,30. First we went into the rooms which showed some objects of Welsh life like furniture, kitchenware, clothes and how the Welsh women carry their babies with a shawl. There were also some clothes which children could try on. When I got tired I wanted to sit down and folded down a seat - suddenly there was noise from a stadium! Whenever you folded the seats, loud shouting could be heard. Turned out, those seats were from a stadium. I didn’t dare to sit town then ;)
I do have pictures from inside the museum, but I leave them for another day, as I am eager to show you the outside part.
So we went outside, and we were lucky with the weather - blue sky and sunshine. What else to ask for? The museum of Welsh life is a big park with all kinds of buildings from different centuries, which were torn apart somewhere else and then rebuild here.
First thing I spotted - sheep! I love sheep. There were sheep and cows and pigs also. Very fat pigs.
The first house we went to was the red Kennixton Farmhouse, you also could go inside and have a look into all rooms which were furnished. You even could go up the stairs to the bedrooms.
The round thing next to it was the pigsty. Understandable to have this a few feet away ;)
Next was the Melin Bompren Corn Mill which in the episode doubled as the Cartwright’s Cottage, the one with the set table where they hid at the end. The bench on which Martha and Tim sat outside while waiting for John Smith to decide to become the Doctor again was not there, though. Today even the miller was in to answer questions. It also had a big water wheel.
Then we went down the path to another big farm building, Llwyn yr eos Farm. It is the only building in the park which still stands in its original place. Apparently the scenes of Martha and Jenny talking outside the pub and everyone watching the light in the sky were shot here.
There were a lot of ducks and geese and turkeys. We sat down on a bench and suddenly they all came running over to us, almost tripping in their haste. It was so funny to watch, all of them heading into one direction, but we were so astonished that nobody made a decent picture of it. No idea why, maybe this is the place somebody feeds them regularly? But even if we had wanted to, there was a sign not to feed any of the animals.
Then we came to the Celtic Village, three huts with thatched roofs. In one of them a fire was burning and the smoke came out of the door. The guy that was there said it would be better when going inside and standing next to the fire, but the smoke was still very bad. I wonder why they did not have a hole in the roof for it to go away?
I need to do a break here, as I have so much more to show you - come back for seeing some lovely old fashioned shops, little houses the Welsh lived in, their gardens, a cute school and post office, the place where the Doctor threw the racket ball, the barn where the TARDIS was hidden, and the dance hall from the Big Waltz!
next: part 2 of St. Fagans - Dr. Who filming location
.
.
The morning started with a very nice breakfast. Later we all compared the breakfasts of the different hotels - seems we got the best selection. There was a huge line with eggs and bacon and sausages and grilled tomatoes and mushrooms and black pudding and hash browns. You could also have toast and different jam or different kind of cereals, there was a selection of cheese and salami, and I especially loved the fresh fruit. One day they even had Marmite.
At 10 PM we met with Giotto and Ranvaig at the central bus station and took bus number 32 to St. Fagans. At least we intended to, but we were there a bit early, and the driver of bus number 320 offered us a ride there also, so who are we to refuse?
Why St. Fagans, you ask? First, there is the Museum of Welsh Life, and second, the Doctor Who episodes “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood” were shot in there. Here we are standing on the front stairs to the entrance.
First we went to the left, though, to the shop and the penny press, as both Giotto and my brother like to collect those coins you put in there and get a picture pressed on them.
The best part - the museum itself was for free, only the map was costing unbelievable £ 0,30. First we went into the rooms which showed some objects of Welsh life like furniture, kitchenware, clothes and how the Welsh women carry their babies with a shawl. There were also some clothes which children could try on. When I got tired I wanted to sit down and folded down a seat - suddenly there was noise from a stadium! Whenever you folded the seats, loud shouting could be heard. Turned out, those seats were from a stadium. I didn’t dare to sit town then ;)
I do have pictures from inside the museum, but I leave them for another day, as I am eager to show you the outside part.
So we went outside, and we were lucky with the weather - blue sky and sunshine. What else to ask for? The museum of Welsh life is a big park with all kinds of buildings from different centuries, which were torn apart somewhere else and then rebuild here.
First thing I spotted - sheep! I love sheep. There were sheep and cows and pigs also. Very fat pigs.
The first house we went to was the red Kennixton Farmhouse, you also could go inside and have a look into all rooms which were furnished. You even could go up the stairs to the bedrooms.
The round thing next to it was the pigsty. Understandable to have this a few feet away ;)
Next was the Melin Bompren Corn Mill which in the episode doubled as the Cartwright’s Cottage, the one with the set table where they hid at the end. The bench on which Martha and Tim sat outside while waiting for John Smith to decide to become the Doctor again was not there, though. Today even the miller was in to answer questions. It also had a big water wheel.
Then we went down the path to another big farm building, Llwyn yr eos Farm. It is the only building in the park which still stands in its original place. Apparently the scenes of Martha and Jenny talking outside the pub and everyone watching the light in the sky were shot here.
There were a lot of ducks and geese and turkeys. We sat down on a bench and suddenly they all came running over to us, almost tripping in their haste. It was so funny to watch, all of them heading into one direction, but we were so astonished that nobody made a decent picture of it. No idea why, maybe this is the place somebody feeds them regularly? But even if we had wanted to, there was a sign not to feed any of the animals.
Then we came to the Celtic Village, three huts with thatched roofs. In one of them a fire was burning and the smoke came out of the door. The guy that was there said it would be better when going inside and standing next to the fire, but the smoke was still very bad. I wonder why they did not have a hole in the roof for it to go away?
I need to do a break here, as I have so much more to show you - come back for seeing some lovely old fashioned shops, little houses the Welsh lived in, their gardens, a cute school and post office, the place where the Doctor threw the racket ball, the barn where the TARDIS was hidden, and the dance hall from the Big Waltz!
next: part 2 of St. Fagans - Dr. Who filming location
.
.