Worldcon Trip Day 34: Hunting for Deer

[kevin_standlee]

No trains today, but with my main work day not starting until after Noon local time, we had a few hours this morning to go deer hunting.



That is, we went to Dinefwr Park in Llandeilo, the estate of which include a park with a herd of fallow deer.



Near the front of the park is his herd of rare White Park cattle. The little one at right seemed curious about me until I came close to the fence, whereupon he scampered away.



We entered the deer park, and I was pleased that a short distance inside, we came upon this young buck.



My phone's camera only does 4x and really isn't up to taking photos at this range. Click through to see the other photos of this deer. He stood still long enough for me to get a few shots.



At the far end of the deer park is a murky pool with a dark hole in the distance that was evocative of the west gate of Moria from The Lord of the Rings. Fortunately, there was no Watcher in the Water.



This is really the mill pond for this mill.



We walked around the mill pond on a boardwalk through old-looking-to-me forest with ferns and gnarled trees. I commented that based on LOTR, this could be taken for a land once loved by elves but which had fallen under the Shadow.



Circling back around toward Newton House, we got this view of Dinefwr Castle. It's a bit of a hike to get there, however, and we did not have enough time for it.



We did have a short time to do a quick trip through Newton House, which was for three hundred years the family home of the descendants of Lord Rhys, the powerful Prince of the Welsh Kingdom of the Deheubarth. This includes not only the family's living quarters, but the downstairs rooms that housed the butler and the other staff that kept the household operating. It has been in the care of the National Trust since 1900.

We did stop to have a cream tea in the cafe before getting me back to work. While today was Bank Holiday Monday in the UK, it's not a holiday for me, although it will be next Monday. I am glad I got to visit here. Like so many other places I've seen on this trip, it's very nice and I'm grateful for the opportunity to see it.

Comments

[frith]

The deer with the palmate antlers is a fallow deer. 8^)

[msconduct]

It's ironic that because of the movies a lot of people associate NZ's scenery with LOTR, when of course it was British scenery like this that Tolkein was thinking of.

[kevin_standlee]

Yep. Some of the gnarly old trees in that forest reminded me of Old Man Willow even though they weren't willow trees. Those trees are old. Not the oldest I've ever seen (I've hiked in the bristlecone pine forest in California, so I've been near the oldest living things on earth), but certainly old looking.