We took a short weekend trip away recently to celebrate Mark’s birthday and the girls’ half-term breaks. We didn’t go far, wanting to just explore an area nearby that we haven’t seen yet. We drove about an hour northwest and thanks to some amazing weather, had a brilliant Saturday of great views and experiences. As I was writing about our trip, the post became too epic. So this is Part 1.

THE LOST ARC of RHAYADER

We drove up late Saturday morning and arrived in Rhayader just in time for some lunch. Mark had spotted this interesting cafe and it turned out to be a lovely spot. We had lunch there and also went back after out next adventure for some coffee and cakes.

*Mark’s lunch was the most picturesque and traditional in it being a Welsh Rarebit. It’s basically a large piece of toast with mustard and melted cheese.*

*Our afternoon coffees, hot cocoa and cocoaccino in gorgeous mugs.*

The cakes were the best bit of the whole thing in my opinion. All gluten free optoins and delicious. An orange blossom cake with the best buttercream frosting we’ve ever had (no joke), a chocolate orange brownie, and a chocolate granola cake.

*A pretty great bookstore and antique shop we stumbled upon in Rhayader. I think we all found a book here, which really shouldn’t surprise me.*

GIGRIN FARM

Next we went to Gigrin Farm to see the most epic feeding of wild Red Kites. We arrived just a little before our time slot and walked out to the hides where we could wait to see the feeding. Red Kites are the national bird of Wales and appear on many logos. We often see one or two swooping overhead, but this event was pretty epic.

We waited in our designated hide with a few other groups. They do a huge daily feed at the same time every single day at Gigrin Farm, so there was already a pretty large group or wake of Red Kites soaring in the sky.

At 2pm, a tractor arrives with a load of feed that the farmer throws with a huge shovel into various spots around the land. It lasted about 45 minutes watching the Red Kites swoop down to collect their feed.

We took so many photos and just sat there in awe as the birds swooped and soared. I’ve never been that close to Red Kites and it was truly cool.

Here’s a video of the first few minutes of it if you want to see it and hear my girls’ quiet gasps and whispers:

It really was such a unique experience. I’ve been pondering painting a little series of Red Kites now. So cool to actually be able to see their colorings and wings and movements. I have lots of pictures and videos to watch for research!

*This is what the hides looked like. There were two other families/groups in ours.*

About halfway through the feeding, black crows started showing up on the edges and cautiously trying to scrounge for scraps. It was fascinating to watch them interact and keep their distance from the Red Kites. You can see them perched on poles in the background and a few cheeky ones getting closer.

*The girls were chatting away about it on the walk back to the farm.*

*An informational board about Gigrin Farm for those interested.*

Such a cool experience. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I’m so glad we gave it a go. These raptors really are so gorgeous. And I’ve never been so close to birds before for so long to actually get to study their movements and wings and all the sounds they made as they swooped around each other. Just incredible.

Posting this painting again that I did last week inspired by our visit to the farm and seeing Red Kites up close for the first time.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our weekend adventure. Hopefully Wednesday….

weekend adventure Part 1: Red Kites

THE LOST ARC of RHAYADER

GIGRIN FARM

weekend adventure Part 2: The Elan Valley

February reads & Friday links