One aspect of our lives I want to continue is traveling. One way to do that, and one that may pair with consulting jobs, is pet sitting. I joined Trusted Housesitters and found a stay in western Wales. It's a good fit for our travel style. We prefer houses to hotels, and on our big trip we realized how much we prefer staying in places where there are animals. We want to travel with J in the future, so house swapping is something else to look into. This is just a way to tip our toes in the water, and it does seem like a good idea. I often describe our travel style as living life in a different place. We sightsee, but we prefer off the beaten path destinations, and days off between outings. So Wales has been mostly living life. We have a great dog and cat to spend time with.

The house is very comfortable, and unlike many Airbnb set ups, the kitchen is well stocked for daily life. The first couple days were spent recovering, settling in, renting a car, getting groceries, and running a few other errands such as electronics repairs and getting boots. We decided to ship two bags of school stuff and hot weather clothes ahead. The summer weather here is nice, about like the winter weather we left behind in Madagascar. The area around the house is beautiful for walks, and walks are even better with a dog.

We planned a few activities, but also planned plenty of time with our pets. Thursday we went to Llanerchaeron Manor, a 1790 villa which is a national trust site.

When we were in Britain before I learned to love the National Trust. I wish American historical sites were as well preserved and accessible. Many are, but usually through private associations, so it's a little haphazard. I especially love how every room at Llanerchaeron had something hands on geared for kids, even though Sean is getting past that stage. Collin loves history, and I think it's because of the hands-on approach I used when he was younger.

There's some farm history there as well.

We strolled around the grounds and had lunch at the cafe.

We had read about a ruined 1,000 year old fortification that Collin, the history buff, wanted to see. We followed Google maps down a private road with the logic that if you don't want people poking around your ancient fortification you don't post it on Google maps. We found this beautiful stream.

We thought those squared rocks might be the remains of a structure, but we weren't really in the right spot. Eventually, the property owner showed up on her quad and showed us the actual site. It's true, she was happy to share her knowledge. It's not a well known site; the last people to turn up were a German family on holiday three years ago. So again, we saw a spot few folks have and made a new friend.

Friday and Saturday were taking care of business days. The bags we're shipping got picked up Friday so we had to be home to wait for that, then Saturday we all went to Lampeter to pick up the kids’ Switch that we had repaired. I really appreciated Dragonbyte electronics for testing my laptop and confirming that it's fine, only the charger is dead, and repairing the Switch. It's much harder to get things repaired in the US and we often end up buying new ones, which isn't sustainable.

Sunday we went just across the street to Cae Hir gardens, and since we didn't have to drive we brought our dog friend. The gardens are beautiful and the kids got to try scones and clotted cream.

Monday we drove about 20 minutes to the seaside for a walk and picnic. We found blackberries to add to what we had packed.

Tuesday was cleaning up and organizing for our trip to the Scottish Highlands.

Wednesday, the owner of the home and pets was returning, so we spent the morning moving everything to a small cottage on the property. In the afternoon we went to a Roman mine called Dolaucothi. It was used in Victorian times, and again briefly in the 30's. We had an interesting tour starting at the Victorian period entrance, and a nice hike after to another site used exclusively by the Romans.