Newbridge on Wye

The next day, we had a very long drive to Newbridge on Wye which is in Wales. It took well over two and a half hours to get there, as we missed the by-passes to Evesham and Worcester and then got a little lost at the end. It is in the middle of nowhere, but spectacularly beautiful. These hills covered in bracken and sheep, tiny little villages and not much else. My aunt Pam lives here. At eighty two, she is very similar to my Mum. We couldn't get over their simlarities. Pam was even dressed like my Mum would - in jeans and a polo shirt. Her daughter Julia is staying with her at present, as she has just been suffering an eye infection, which has not been responding to treatment. She had just had day surgery and they had scraped the eye - very painful.

After lunch, sitting at her kitchen table - I loved her kitchen, filled with lots of knick knacks and colour and warmth and vibrancy, we explored the garden and went down to the river Wye which is below the garden. This river winds its way all through parts of Wales and through the town Hay on Wye, which we would love to visit as it is filled with second hand book shops.

The boys had much fun skipping stones across the river - I think the best was ten and reached the other side. We then played liar dice and a form of scrabble with dice.



Pam has this magnificent quilt on her dining room table. It was made by someone in the family back in the late 1800s - according to the label on the back. She had it sitting in her cupboard for years and years and finally decided that it was too beautiful to hide away. I had photos of quilts I had made, which made Pam quiver - I don't think she can imagine how anyone could be bothered to cut up fabric and then put pieces together again. She is a gardener and spends all her spare time in the garden. All the Byass girls are mad, keen gardeners and all have wonderfully beautiful gardens. They also know the botanic names for most plants - Ursula claims that this knowledge is intuitive. Mum's botanical knowledge is impressive.



My mother has four sisters and the five Byass girls make a formidable team. There is a huge age gap between them - the eldest was eighteen when Ursula was born and Mum was seven. Pam was six years older than Mum. The only time that they all got together was in 1968 just after my grandmother died, and we went back to England for Christmas. I have one cousin who also lives in Sydney. Last December, her son got married, so another of my cousins came over for the wedding with her three sons. We had a lovely day with them at Mum's and Caroline and Belinda enjoyed looking at photographs of that Christmas - they had never seen them, as their mother Daphne never took photographs. Daphne is Byass number two and died about four years ago.