Brecon & Y Nueadd

Getting back in the car we headed to Brecon - the 'gateway to the Brecon-Beacons national park'. We'll, we'd been in the national park nearly all day, and didn't actually find the town that fascinating. Did have a tourist information office though. And a nice gift shop where I spoke with the owner's 10 year old daughter about the pronunciation of "Sun Pony" in Welsh - because the owner himself didn't speak any Welsh. It's "Merlin Haul" which she said was pronounced more like merlin heil, merlin being pony.

The town did also produce a suitable dinner solution:






After sitting out by the river with our beer, it started to sprinkle so we headed inside for dinner - where Wimbleton was playing of course. It was still very early in the tournament and we didn't know either of the players, but it made for good entertainment to accompany our Chicken Curry and Beef Stroganoff.

We decided to head on down the A-40 before finding a B&B. Just prior to reaching Llandovery, saw a B&B sign on the road that had the magic letters hanging underneath: WiFi. So we followed the signs. It said it was a mile down this lane:



We think it was actually further, but once committed, you're committed, yeah? Besides, it was getting more charming by the second.





Y Neuadd is 'uh niath' or 'oo niath', the double d being a th sound. It means 'the hall' which this house was for this little vale once upon a time. The owner, Sarah, was fantastic. We stuck our heads around a bit and saw a number of large dog runs. She has a rare breed of American Indian dog from the Pacific Northwest. We hadn't heard of them, but they had some husky look to them. So we talked dogs a bit. She also had 3 free range hens who decided we were pretty darned exciting when we first pulled up. I would generally say I'm pretty comfortable around animals, but I had sandles on and these three seemed determined to get a peck at my toes! The suitcases distracted them a bit, but I was getting pretty flustered that they would not shoo! They did, however, produce lovely eggs for our breakfast.

Before bed we took a walk back down the lane. Unfortunately we couldn't see a whole lot because nearly the entire lane was lined by hedges taller than we could see over! LOL.



But we did wander up as far as a placque talking about some local fellow and what he did. The next morning Sarah gave us a number of brochures about attractions in the area, and one of them ('highlights of Llandovery' or something like that) had a picture of that same plaque! Well, had we known that was such a feature we might have paid more attention when we read it. This was our favorite B&B by far. Sarah took the picture of the two of us outside the next morning, and then gave us a pebble to remember Y Neuadd by. It's joined my sand/beach glass/pebbles collection from Hawaii, Pacific Grove, the Wushan valley and the Three Gorges Dam construction site.