Day 6 Centre for Alternative Technology and Powis Castle

 Today was spent in Wales, which is a beautiful country. Today's theme was about sustainability and conservation. The city where we stayed, Machynlleth, is known as one of the most "green" cities in Wales. 

This is one of the menu options for breakfast.  Who doesn't like cheese for breakfast?

We slept in a little bit (until 9am) before getting on the bus and heading to the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT). CAT was founded in 1974 by a few volunteers from an old quarry. The centre now functions as an education center. It prides itself on having a low impact on the environment. The CAT offers several master's degrees and also offers short courses for students and the public. There are more than 3 hectares of displays and while there was not as much vegetation (because it's still winter), there was still a lot to see and do.

Dr. Fisher talks about the impact of agriculture on the environmentand the work that the CAT does. 

We hiked up several (58 or so) steps to the top of the mountain where the centre is located. We were greeted by Dr. Jane Fisher, head of the education department. We received two lectures: one about overall sustainability and agriculture and the second one about a new initative in the UK called Zero Carbon Britain. 

Students had a lot of good questions about this project. 

We also got to tour the facilities and see a lot of interesting things. We saw how (and what) they composted, eco-friendly construction (such as using hay for insulation), renewable sources of energy (like wind, water, and sun) as well as recycling. We ended our tour we some scrumptous banana and date cake as well as coffee and tea. 

Hike to the top of the mountain. 

Daniel has a look at the water purification system.  




After the visit, we headed to Powis Castle. The castle looks as if it's floating over the trees and inside was just spectacular. The original castle was constructed in the 13th century by a Welsh prince and was turned over to the British Trust when the last owner was no longer able to upkeep the castle and gardens. The insides are incredible but unfortunately (like most castles including Edinburgh) there is no photography allowed inside (at all!). However, the volunteers and staff that were placed in each room were incredibly helpful and knowledgable about the castle, its previous owners, and just the overall history. Inside the castle there were elaborate taperstries in many of the rooms, there were murals depicting various biblical scenes, and amazing furniture pieces and paintings. The castle also has the rosary beads of Mary, Queen of Scots and a book of hours that dates back to the 1200s. 

Powis castle 

Close up of the statue 

We also got to shop at this really neat bookshop where many students were able to find both new books (like Goodhouse Keeping Cookbooks) and old ones (like a 1903 edition of all of Shakespeare's plays). Payments were made through the honesty box, i.e. a suggested donation box.

We stayed until the castle closed at 4pm and were ushered out by the volunteers. We then traveled on the bus to the historic Iron Bridge Gorge. We had time to settle in and get ready for a meal at The Meadow Inn. 

Students were pretty tired after a nice day in Wales. How many do you see asleep?

We finished the evening with a meal at the meadow inn. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 7-Harper Adams University

Image
We spent the first half of today at Harper Adams University touring their facilities and meeting with their faculty and students. We were able to learn about the way they run their schools, facilities, and operations.  Here students learn a brief history of Harper Adams University from Dr. Catherine Baxter, one of hour hosts for the day. Harper Adams has a unique history in that it was founded in the beginning entirely by a wealth man in the late 19th century. Upon his death, he left his entire estate to set up a trust in order to set up a college whose only purpose was "to teach practical and theoretical agriculture". The college has about 3500 students (roughly the size of CALS population).  Here students listen to a lecturer from Harper Adams discuss her research with Holstein cows. One thing we noticed as toured the facilities at Harper Adams is that most (if not all) of their units (beef, swine, etc) are located on campus, so students are able to walk to their facilities...
Read more

Day 7-Harper Adams University-Student Perspectives

   Day 7- Harper Adams University and Afternoon in Iron Bridge Gorge  At Harper Adams today we had an opportunity to tour the grounds and the units. The first thing I noticed were the sheep in the front lawn. I thought to myself, wow I sure would love to go to a school that had sheep to welcome you! Harper Adams is a very old university that is settled within the countryside of Newport Shropshire, England. The school was opened in 1901 that had a total of 6 students. Needless to say it had grown rapidly since then in size and technology. We first had a brief introduction from one of the staff Mitch Crooks. We then, toured the dairy unit which housed around 300 milking Holstein cows. I have been to the unit back at NC State but this one is off the bat much larger an seems to be much more advanced than ours. They offer a carousel milking parlor that has been on the grounds since 2005. They also have a lot of research going on at this time. One was that the researchers added...
Read more