Well OK, as a headline this isn’t terribly unusual, but we went to Lampeter, home of University of Wales, Trinity St David’s, which is where the 18yo now hangs out. I’ve never been to Lampeter before and the powers that be made sure this visit was memorable and will stay with me for a long time.
Lampeter is a delightful little town. It has everything, it isn’t cluttered, it isn’t too busy, and it doesn’t have its quota of boarded-up shops (like so many towns these days). One thing the town does have is charm. Lots of charm; it’s a gorgeous little town; a fraction the size of Abergavenny or Brecon, but unlike those town, Lampeter is really pretty and isn’t swamped by global brands on the High Street.
Oh yes, and the weather was perfect all weekend. I know! In Wales – and the weather was perfect! Whodathunkit?
The university car park had been given over to the Farmers Market; We sat on benches in the sun, listened to a brilliant five-piece folk band, watched people pressing apples and we ate cakes and drank hot drinks. We bought things (books, dog treats, other things) and tapped our feet and just tuned out and enjoyed ourselves.
Later we wandered around the university campus. Trinity St David’s must be in the running for the smallest university campus in the UK. Apparently there are fewer than 300 students on campus, though the buildings looked as though they could cater for more than ten times that number. The library was particularly impressive. Student accommodation was what one would expect and did I mention the hot sunny weather? I did? OK, well I didn’t mention how friendly everyone was. I particularly loved the people ordering their Chinese meal in Welsh, that was a nice piece of culture shock.
We left our four spanners at home with a house-sitter. I missed them all to the extent that I talked to every dog we encountered. We encountered one particular spaniel, Susie, who was a lovely little person we would like to get to know better. Maybe we will. We’ll see.
The journey in both directions could have been better. The route there took us via the winding roads one expects from that area. The journey home was absolutely awful; we endured two road closures and an impromptu diversion which added what seemed like days to our journey. The satnav diverted us south through Brecon and Abergavenny then up through Monmouth to the M5/M42. That was a really l-o-n-g diversion.
We’re now scouring estate agent websites just to see what our budget would buy us in the Lampeter area if we sold up here.
Lampeter (never heard of it) sounds lovely.
Glad you had a great day out… journey home excepted.
I’ve never really visited Wales, apart from a three-week stay in Cardiff for a training course in the middle of Winter (no fun at all) and a murder-mystery weekend in Abergavenny (lots of fun).
Aber used to be a lovely town but in the last decade or two it’s become very ordinary and slightly rundown. Lampeter, on the other hand, has great atmosphere.
You should have stopped for a restorative brew with us, you were very close with that diversion.
That’s very generous of you Rich, but as I said to my nephew (lives in Aber), two grumpy adults and a grumpy 15yo would not have made good company for anyone 🙂