Outside my back door this morning

[cremedemonthe]

SO different to being back in Surrey!
Although where I used to live in Caterham on the Hill it was rural once upon a time until the rot set in with over crowding and anti social behaviour came a long in abundance and where I used to live in the Tandridge area it has just been announced by Surrey Police according to their statistics my area IS the most dangerous place to live in the Tandridge area. Am I glad we moved?
Hell yes!
I still can't get over being able to leave things outside and NOT locked up, they are still there in the morning.
In Caterham they would have been gone before I got back indoors!
Customers of mine in Surrey were having their tack stolen on a regular basis along with other equine related equipment, there's none of that here.
Gates and doors are left unlocked here and there really isn't any worry about it.
We've been here just over a year now and certainly would not go back to Surrey to live, when my Mum goes back up for a visit she says she notices how noisy, smelly and over crowded it is.
Wales where we now live is like Surrey was 50 years ago, sad how times change and I am sure this rot is happening all over the UK.
This is outside my backdoor and what I am greeted by every morning and the rest are of our little stream down through our woods. all the Bluebells down there will be out soon too,
Oz

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

 

[LD&S]

It's very beautiful.

 

[JillA]

So pleased you enjoy it after all the effort you put in to moving. Are you learning Welsh?

 

[monte1]

wow, what a great view, sounds like a really idyllic place to live. after reading some of your old thread on the search to find the right place, I think you truly deserve it

Enjoy.. not jealous in the least ...LOL

 

[cremedemonthe]

So pleased you enjoy it after all the effort you put in to moving. Are you learning Welsh?

Thanks all and Jill, I have enough trouble with English and it is not through lack of trying. I now have a lady friend further up the lane from me who has taken me under her wing and tries (very hard) to teach me Welsh names but she laughs at my pronunciation!
If you haven't learnt the pronunciation by the age of 13, forget it is what I have been told and I think this is true.

 

[Fragglerock]

Does it rain a lot? My friend moved there last year and didn't realise how wet it would be - her fields were still too wet in the summer to get the heavy machinery on to put drainage into her fields. I envy her though.

 

[cremedemonthe]

Does it rain a lot? My friend moved there last year and didn't realise how wet it would be - her fields were still too wet in the summer to get the heavy machinery on to put drainage into her fields. I envy her though.

A little more than when I was in Surrey but not a lot more. It was very wet last Winter and talking to the locals they said that was not normal for round here.
Hasn't rained for around a week now and to be honest I'm used to wet,windy and cold coming from the North Downs about 1,000 feet up so it's not a problem for me.

 

[JennBags]

It looks wonderful Oz, whereabouts in Wales are you? I adore Wales but must admit the rainfall element puts us both off moving there.

 

[cremedemonthe]

I'm about 5 miles south of Newcastle Emlyn in a place called Tanglwst, Carmarthenshire.
It really isn't much wetter here than in Surrey and they have so many drains, ditches and streams it drains away well.
They really are geared up for rural life and the weather , they've had plenty of practice.

 

[JillA]

If you haven't learnt the pronunciation by the age of 13, forget it is what I have been told and I think this is true.

Don't give up on it - I had to learn place names as well as others PDQ when I went to work for the Forestry Commission in my early 30s - two colleagues who would almost wet themselves when I got it wrong ensured I learned fast lol. And it has never left me

 

[Pinkvboots]

I'm about 5 miles south of Newcastle Emlyn in a place called Tanglwst, Carmarthenshire.
It really isn't much wetter here than in Surrey and they have so many drains, ditches and streams it drains away well.
They really are geared up for rural life and the weather , they've had plenty of practice.

I know where that is my mum lives in Newcastle Emlyn it is very pretty around there, do you run your own tack shop there?

 

[cremedemonthe]

No, there is a saddlers in N.Emlyn and I don't sell the mainstream retail saddlery now and even if I did wouldn't tread on their toes out of respect.I have a private workshop here on site and
only sell what I make, various products which the other saddlers don't sell plus non equine related products (cable parachutes and cockerel collars for example) I also sell to the equine wholesalers and retailers so more of a trade saddler now than anything else.

Experimenting this Summer with making a micro foundry to smelt various metals to make my own fittings. I have loads of scrap metals to recycle in to things!
I have everything here I need from cut down hard wood (Ash) in the woods to turn in to lump charcoal to heat it with to the clay in the soil to lag the cylinder that I am using to make the foundry out of. I need to make moulds too using greensand, lots of research done and lots of experimenting and learning to do!
Oz

 

[cremedemonthe]

Went up to the listening station (MOD) at the top of the hill behind our bungalow this afternoon/evening and managed to take some photos.My friend from up the lane from me, Helen, is showing me around and trying to teach me to pronounce the Welsh names!
The hills in the distance are the start of the Prescilli mountains/hills and the first one of the distance shots you can see the sea over at Cardigan bay but it was a little misty and hard to see it.

[/URL]

[/URL]


Beacon up there

[/URL]

Sea in the distance

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

 

[Pipkin]

Have just bought in Brongest so wont be too far from you. Have lived in Carms for the past 8 years, moved around a bit. Can't wait to have the horses back home, they've been on livery since Oct, love it, love the riding, love the owners but I just like my guys at home.

 

[cremedemonthe]

Well done, perhaps some of us on here can all meet up when it's warmer?

 

[Annagain]

As a Welsh speaker, the best advice I can give you is not to try to read them as if they're English. The biggest stumbling block I have had when helping people to learn is that they can't get past English pronunciations for certain letters. If you can get past that, Welsh really is quite easy as the sounds the letters make never change so you're never in doubt as to how to pronounce it. Some of the combinations are much easier than you think too.

dd - th as in "that" (lose all thoughts of "d"!)
th - th as in "thin" (I actually think it makes more sense to have two different combinations for the two different pronunciations of "th". In Welsh you always know which sound to use!)
f - v as in of - just the same as English!
ff -f as in off - just the same as English!
ch - as in loch - very throaty noise, (gross but imagine you're trying to get phlegm out of your throat!)
ae - I (as in the name of the letter)
au - I (as in the name of the letter) Very slight differences if you're a proper Welsh speaker (especially up north) but "I" would be acceptable.
si - sh
r - rrrrrrrrrrrrr. Really roll it!
io - (often at the end of a verb, like "ing" in English. "Eeyore" would be the closest in English, but say it quickly.)
u or i - ee
y - eurgh (imagine you hate it!)

The most difficult - especially when followed by another consonant is "ll". To do this one, stick your tongue behind your teeth and blow either side of it. Think Mutley from Wacky Races. If you're really struggling, "cl" would be closer to the Welsh than just an "l".

Good luck!

 

[Pipkin]

As a Welsh speaker, the best advice I can give you is not to try to read them as if they're English. The biggest stumbling block I have had when helping people to learn is that they can't get past English pronunciations for certain letters. If you can get past that, Welsh really is quite easy as the sounds the letters make never change so you're never in doubt as to how to pronounce it. Some of the combinations are much easier than you think too.

dd - th as in "that" (lose all thoughts of "d"!)
th - th as in "thin" (I actually think it makes more sense to have two different combinations for the two different pronunciations of "th". In Welsh you always know which sound to use!)
f - v as in of - just the same as English!
ff -f as in off - just the same as English!
ch - as in loch - very throaty noise, (gross but imagine you're trying to get phlegm out of your throat!)
ae - I (as in the name of the letter)
au - I (as in the name of the letter) Very slight differences if you're a proper Welsh speaker (especially up north) but "I" would be acceptable.
si - sh
r - rrrrrrrrrrrrr. Really roll it!
io - (often at the end of a verb, like "ing" in English. "Eeyore" would be the closest in English, but say it quickly.)
u or i - ee
y - eurgh (imagine you hate it!)

The most difficult - especially when followed by another consonant is "ll". To do this one, stick your tongue behind your teeth and blow either side of it. Think Mutley from Wacky Races. If you're really struggling, "cl" would be closer to the Welsh than just an "l".

Good luck!

See now I'm welsh (non fluent) and I cannot roll my r's, find it impossible. Pretty good on pronunciation, work with an office of welsh speakers

 

[Annagain]

See now I'm welsh (non fluent) and I cannot roll my r's, find it impossible. Pretty good on pronunciation, work with an office of welsh speakers

And as a Welsh speaker (not 100% my first language, my parents don't speak Welsh but I went to Welsh nursery at 2, never remember learning and can switch between the two without even noticing) I can't understand how people can't, it's so instinctive to me!

The best advice I'd give is if you can't roll it, at least say it as if you would saying "Harry" rather than "theatre" especially at the end of a word when English speakers usually don't. Pencader, the place in Carmarthenshire is one example - that last "er" needs to be pronounced with the "e" as in elephant and make the "r" noise. No letter in Welsh is silent. If you see it, say it!

One more tip is think of the letters as a child would sound them out - that's how they're pronounced 99.9% of the time in Welsh (with the exception of certain combinations as above) a for apple, c for cat, e for elephant etc

 

[JillA]

And while we are all learning Welsh.............one thing that really helps is to remember that the emphasis is always on the last but one syllable. So, PenCADer, AberYSTwyth, ambWLans (yes, really!!) PlynLIMon etc. That will make you sound like you belong!

 

[cremedemonthe]

Thank you all, I might have a Welsh girlfriend now so she can help me and I knew a few of the one's listed, Oz

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Thank you all, I might have a Welsh girlfriend now so she can help me and I knew a few of the one's listed, Oz

Ooh, exciting times

 

[Snowy Celandine]

It's beautiful Oz and how exciting to have a new Welsh lady friend I would love to learn Welsh and try in vain every year. I can roll my R's so maybe I'm half way there, ha ha Not sure that OH would let me have a Welsh man friend to help me but I'm coming to Wales (N Wales) in 4 months time for my annual fix and I can't wait

 

[cremedemonthe]

It's beautiful Oz and how exciting to have a new Welsh lady friend I would love to learn Welsh and try in vain every year. I can roll my R's so maybe I'm half way there, ha ha Not sure that OH would let me have a Welsh man friend to help me but I'm coming to Wales (N Wales) in 4 months time for my annual fix and I can't wait

Thanks, have asked her out and now we are an item

 

[JillA]

Thanks, have asked her out and now we are an item

Awwwww..................that's lovely. See I always reckon fate plays a part in finding the right property.

 

[cremedemonthe]

We meet up by the old Chapel as in photo below, my bungalow can be seen in the distance. We go up the lane arm in arm to walk the dogs, so relaxing here.

[/URL]

 

[ChwaraeTeg]

GREAT to see you have found heaven CremedeMenthe We managed to sell our house in heaven (Pembrokeshire) - but have found a different type of loveliness in Monmouthshire Very very pleased for you xx

 

[cremedemonthe]

Thank you, very happy thanks and glad you have found somewhere equally as nice, well done, Oz

 

[RidesWestern]

Hello Oz - its just clicked with me who you are! When did you move over the Border? Do you still make bespoke saddlery items?

 

[cremedemonthe]

Hello Oz - its just clicked with me who you are! When did you move over the Border? Do you still make bespoke saddlery items?

Moved in Feb 2016 don't make bespoke saddlery now, just set items and the occasional mad flurry and make something different which I then just put on my website or facebook. There's too much pressure on me when making bespoke, you have a time scale to do it in and no room for errors, I am too laid back to want to be rushed now!
Oz