Postcards from... St Fagans

I had long intended to go to the food festival at St Fagans National History Museum, but I didn't wake up till 09:30. This wouldn't be such a problem if (a) it didn't take me a long time to get moving in the morning, (b) I didn't live so far from St Fagans, and (c) I already had a plan of action. But being the disorganised sort I am I still had to figure out how to get there. A quick Google told me that my choices were getting the train to Cardiff followed by a bus right to the door of the museum or getting the train to Waun-gron Park and walking the rest of the way. As it was such a lovely day I opted for the latter.

I caught the 10:42 from Treff to Radyr, where I changed for the City Line to Waun-gron Park. From there it was a two-mile walk to the museum. The walk up St Fagans Road took me past all my old driving lesson haunts – Wellwright Road where I used to practise parallel parking, Fairwater where I turned right into my favourite route (and the one I eventually passed my test on), and of course Norbury Road where the test centre is. But I'd forgotten that as you get into the village of St Fagans the pavement completely disappears and thus I found myself walking perilously close to the traffic on a VERY narrow road.

Nonetheless, I reached St Fagans National History Museum in one piece at 11:45 (just four minutes after the bus) and walked through the gate into the deceptively quiet gardens.

The entrance to St Fagans

St Fagans castle, a late 16th century manor house

One of the gardens in full bloom

Having snapped a few pictures I started the long walk across the stream and into the main complex. That was when I realised how busy the place really was. I literally could not move for all the people and quickly found myself hemmed in by wheelchairs, pushchairs and wobbly toddlers. I managed to sidestep the immediate obstacles and then picked up my pace forcing elderly people and parents with children to one side. Then as the crowds went left, I turned right down a quiet woodland path where, for a few minutes, I enjoyed complete solitude.

Crossing the stream

A woodland path

I soon located the two marquees housing the food stalls. Unfortunately, so had several hundred other people. They were rammed. That's the problem with tasting stalls – people park themselves in front of them and refuse to move, seemingly unaware of the massive queues behind them. My persistance paid off and before long I too was in front of one of the stalls. Not the cake stall unfortunately. No, I found myself standing in front of one selling relishes and chutneys. I tasted a few and then bought N a hickory-smoked naga chili BBQ sauce and moved on.

I bypassed a stall selling cookbooks (nothing to taste there!) and another selling cheese (the crowd was too large). Next up the paté stall. Well it would be if I could just get past the woman and her friend who were shamelessly devouring everything in sight. Eventually I managed to sneak a tiny taste of a smoked mackerel paté but that was it. I was wondering whether to simply shove the greedy woman out of the way when I spotted a cake stall three places up. Keep your paté, bitch. I'm all about cake. I treated myself to a miniature banoffee pie cheesecake (which was delicious!) and a miniature carrot cake and all but ate them on the spot.

Delicious miniature banoffee pie cheesecakes

Temptation

A little further down I noticed a Persian foods stall and went to investigate. Having taught some Iranians over the summer and befriended their group leader, I was intrigued. As with most of the other stalls I objected to their pricing structure which was unfairly weighted towards bulk-buying. What's wrong with selling them individually? Maybe I don't want five, six or nine pastries! Nonetheless I succumbed and bought five pastries for £5 (approx. €7/US$8). I was a little disappointed to discover that the Welsh woman manning the stall knew very little about the products. Thus I ended up playing 'guess the pastry' with most of my purchases.

Some of the Persian pastries

Feeling a little sick (that's what happens when you skip breakfast and pig out on pastries instead) I went outside to get some fresh air. Keen to find an unoccupied patch of grass I walked away from the marquees. My travels took me past a field with two huge pigs in it. As I rather like pigs, I stopped to have a look. One of them approached the fence so I stuck out my hand and went to stroke it. And would you believe it, it f***ing bit me! In front of a crowd of people! I hastily snatched back my hand and inspected the damage. The savage beast had drawn blood. Seriously, only I could get bitten by a pig!

The pig that bit me

Thinking it best to avoid all other animals, I headed instead to the second of the two marquees. This one boasted a range of stalls selling coffee, cider, chocolate brownies, tea, bread, pasties and pies among other things. After circling the marquee a couple of times I gave into temptation and bought a box of chocolate brownies. I then pretended I was keen to learn Welsh in order to get a free canvas shopping bag (I wasn't the only one I hasten to add!), after which I bought myself a cup of tea and went to sit in the sun.

Chutneys, jams and preserves

Chocolate brownies (and yes, I bought some)

Cider

Interesting choice... and no, I wasn't tempted

The bread stall

Having seen everything the marquees had to offer I walked past the pigs (not stopping this time) and down to the market stalls, which contained nothing of interest. As I had already stuffed myself earlier with miniature cakes and pastries, the outdoor food stalls held no interest for me either.

I had really been looking forward to this event and yet it was something of a letdown. The food stalls were samey, the market disappointing, the crowds unbearable. So by 14:30 – less than three hours after I had arrived – I had to conclude that I was done. And so I made my way back down the woodland paths, over the stream and through the gardens, pausing just long enough to take some photos of flowers. Then I walked the two miles back to Waun-gron Park and caught the train back to Treff. The verdict? It was too beautiful a day to just stay at home so I'm glad I went but it really wasn't all that.

Thistle

Strawflowers

Summer flowers in the walled garden

In full bloom

Sunflower