Places beginning with C

Can you tell where Stamps is standing? No it's not a prison, or a jewelry store or a wishing well...

It's one of our many many castles in Wales. This one is on the hill above our town and is called,(strangely, considering it's condition) Newcastle. That's because it replaced the old Roman fort that was originally on this site.

There it is in full view. It's only a little castle, but it's our very own.

As a treat for being such a good climber and getting to the top of Newcastle hill, we took him to the cinema. Looks like he hasn't stopped climbing yet. This huge stuffed dog was in the lobby advertising the new movie "Marmaduke" Can't wait to see it.

Bridgend - town of many bridges.

This is another of our sweet little towns - Pen-y-bont or Bridgend as we all call it. Outside the main council offices Stamps finds three large signs.
One is the Bridgend crest and the other two are the towns that we are twinned with. Langenau in Germany and Villenave D'ornon in France. We sometimes exchange students from schools and colleges; it is great fun. But as Stamps says, "that's two towns you are twinned with; surely that should be two towns you are tripletted with" LOL Stamps; you are a funny one.

Bridgend is also known as "little Venice." The river runs right through the center and in one mile of river there are 11 brdges of different kinds crossing it including one that runs the entire length of the river. Those little weirs don't stop the local canoe club from using it. The water level is usually much higher but we have been having lots of sunshine these last few weeks - lucky us hee hee.

Stamps in Wales

Hello Stamps and welcome to Wales. My word, you are the little traveller; look at all those badges you've earned so far! I've given you a little Welsh red dragon for your collection since he is the star of our country's flag.

Isn't Wales known as the "green, green grass of home?" Well, yes it is. And with good reason too. I live in the Llynfi Valley where the fields stretch out in all directions. Back when I was younger, many of these hills were black from the coal mining - St John's colliery was the last to close in 1985. But now we have lots of pretty countryside to walk in.

We are proud of our little Victorian town. This is the Town Hall "Neuadd y dref" in Welsh.
In other places the Town Hall is where the Mayor lives and works, but in Wales it is a much more important place. It was built by the coal miners and is the center of town life. The basement is a working market place and the upstairs is a huge concert hall. Many groups and clubs meet here and our local dramatic society put on plays, we even have touring groups to visit - Stereophonics even played here once.

Not one to be all upset about no coal mining anymore; many of our old buildings have been recycled. This is the Ironworks. This is the whole reason that our town was built here. No iron is smelted anymore but this huge venue is our Sports Centre.