Holiday at Hotel Metropole, Llandrindod Wells, Wales
Monday 23rd - Friday 27th December 2013.
Abbey-Cwm-Hir Hall
The area was the site of a Cistercian Abbey and the ruins can still be seen close to the present garden. The present house was built in 1834, doubled in size in 1869 by the Philips family who also added the snooker room in 1894. The Philips family had made their money in the Lancashire cotton trade. The house is in the Victorian Gothic Revival style. The current owner, Paul and Victoria Humpherston, bought the house in 1997 and spent 10 years restoring it. See their own website for more details and for visiting. The house was decorated specially for Christmas - 52 rooms with 57 themed Christmas Trees.
Elan Valley - Dams and Reservoirs.
The Elan Valley resertvoir systems were built to supply clean drinking water to Birmingham, the first phase being built between 1893 and 1904. The dams are of granite casings with rubble core. Other phases were added over the next 50 years, the final phase being built in the 1950s from reinforced concrete with stone facings to blend with the other dams. There is quite an extensive tour around all the lakes and dams.
