Downtown Austin Living visits Wales for Christmas

This Christmas my wife and I traveled from Austin to Brecon in South Wales to spend the holiday with my family. In this post I will stray from my usual topic of living in downtown Austin and describe my experiences in Wales and the small town where I grew up.

The Location - The Town of Brecon

Downtown Brecon

Brecon is a small market town in South Wales set amongst the Brecon Beacons National Park. With history dating back to 1093, Brecon has always been an important town in the region. I was born in Brecon and can honestly say I loved living there. I soon realized, however, that if I was to pursue a career in Information Technology, I would need to move closer to London. When I was twenty two, I packed my bags and moved about eighty miles outside of London. My career blossomed and I ended up moving to Cleveland Ohio and then Austin in 2007. I come back to Brecon to visit family every year and my first sight of the Brecon Beacons never fails to draw out my emotional side. With a population of less than eight thousand people, Brecon is a small town set amongst big scenery. Said another way, Brecon could not be much different than living in downtown Austin.

The Scenery - The Brecon Beacons National Park

A View of the Brecon Beacons

The Brecon Beacons National Park is over three hundred and thirty thousand acres and is one of fifteen national parks in the United Kingdom. It offers stunning scenery and one thousand two hundred miles of trails for people of all abilities. With more than four million visitors a year it is the adventure playground for South Wales and much of the West of England. At the heart of the park are the Brecon Beacons themselves, a mountain range with the highest mountain being Pen Y Fan at 2,906 feet the second highest mountain in the United Kingdom. Wales often gets short thrift from the likes of Ireland and Scotland when it comes to beautiful scenery and the only explanation I can give is that these other countries have better marketing talent. There is no doubt in my mind that Wales can match anywhere in the world for breathtaking scenery that will leave you yearning for more and the Brecon Beacons National Park is an ideal place to start.

The Food - Traditional Sunday Lunch

My family all met up for lunch on the Sunday we arrived at a new restaurant called Foyles in Glasbury-on-Wye. This was a brave move. We had just driven to Houston for three hours, flown for eight and a half hours and then driven another three hours to Brecon from Heathrow airport (that does not even count waiting at the airport). The sight of my family gave me a huge burst of energy and we enjoyed a great meal (although I did need a cup of coffee make it through the whole meal awake). Sunday lunch is a traditional meal in the UK, normally involving a roast meat, roast vegetables and gravy. I had locally sourced roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Yum! This is a hearty meal that hit the spot after fifteen hours of travel.
Foyles presents a relaxed atmosphere with a sophisticated decor that makes you feel you are out for a special meal without the stuffiness that some formal restaurants have. Foyles was re-born this year from a major renovation of the old coaching inn called the Maesllwch Arms. It is a little more expensive than some other local gastro pubs and was only about half full the day we went. They will need to find their market soon as the upmarket restaurant/pub food market is pretty competitive in this part of the country.

The Caffeine - Coffee Shops

Like Austin (and the rest of the western world it would seem) coffee shops are taking over the high street and Brecon is no exception. For a town with a population of less than eight thousand people, having more than ten downtown coffee shops seems like a lot to me. With national chains such as Costa Coffee and many small local establishments, Brecon offers the full compliment of coffee and tea options. I did observe that the people of Brecon are way less snobby about their morning brew. I went into Costa Coffee five time during the week we were there and I never heard anyone asking for a half caf soy latte!

The History - A Historical Visit

My sister setup a visit for us to see a Elizabethan style house in Abbey-Cwm-Hir. I am not the worlds greatest fan of visiting historical sites but it was a great chance to get out an about with my sister so I was looking forward to it. Built in 1834 by Thomas Wilson the great Victorian improver, Abbey-Cwm-Hir Hall was doubled in size by the Philips family in 1869.
Our visit took the form of a guided tour with a guide and nine other unsuspecting victims. With the house having fifty-two rooms, needless to say it was a lengthy tour. We visited nearly every room and were given a brief history of each room and it's contents along. The first half dozen rooms were fine but by the time we got to the second floor (four floors in all) we were ready to go!
Aside from being trapped in a three hour guided tour, the main problem was there really wasn't anything to see. The house was full of stuff (the polite version) that had been cobbled together by various owners of the house over the years. There were collections of stuffed animals, sign-age, dinner sets, books, you name it. Hardly any of it was from the time period that the house was built and it had all the makings of an posh flea market. To add insult to injury, our guide proceeded to extol the virtues of the current owners and regale stories of their families' comings and goings. When we saw our shoes at the end of the tour (we were made to take them off when we started) we nearly knocked each other over trying to get them on and escape!

The Holiday Excess - Hitting The Trail

One thousand two hundred miles of trails

As you would expect we ate more than we should have over the holiday break. Thankfully we were staying slap bang in the middle of some of the most beautiful scenery there is. This helped motivate us to get out for three five mile walks over the week. While this did not prevent me from gaining five pounds it probably prevented me from gaining ten! Even though we were not assisted by the weather, there is nothing more satisfying than a cup of steaming hot tea after returning from a five mile walk in the driving wind and rain. While the Butler trail in downtown Austin is an amazing trail, being the only person for miles and looking out over the breathtaking landscapes of Brecon is tough to beat. As testified by my aching legs, I would also add that a five mile walk in the hills of Wales provides a stiffer challenge than the relative flat of the Butler trail.

The Weather in Wales - Enough Said

It has been a wet year in Brecon

With an average annual rainfall of more than forty-six inches (twenty-five percent more than Austin), Brecon meets all of the stereotypes regarding the weather in Wales. During our Christmas week in Wales all of those stereotypes were proven as it rained every day (and I mean every day) and comfortably exceeded the averages.
Put another way. The old timers in Brecon say that if you can't see the Brecon Beacons then it is raining and if you can see the Brecon Beacons then it is going to rain soon. Needless to say we did not see much of the Brecon Beacons during our stay! In spite of this we still had a great time. In my opinion the dramatic Welsh countryside is as stunning (if not more so) with the added mood of dark rolling clouds and occasional bursts of sunlight.

Is Home Downtown Austin?

I will always call Brecon my home town and I still feel pangs of loss when I see pictures of the scenery. I am immensely proud of the country of Wales and there is no doubt that part of my spirit yearns for the hills and valleys, the moody weather and the proud people. Having said that, after completing our long return journey and looking out of my living room over downtown Austin, I felt like I was home (at least most of me was).