Our Anniversary Tipi at Cledan ValleySee all the pics here
It's mad to think that we have been married a year. Is it really 12 months ago that we had the sun shining at Bramhall Hall? 12 months since we had all our friends drinking champagne at Manchester Art Gallery? Crazy how quick time goes when you are having fun!
Anyway, to celebrate our 1st Anniversary we booked two nights sleeping in a Tipi at Cledan Valley ( http://www.cledanvalleytipi.co.uk/ ). The weather didn't look favourable all week ( so different from the sunshine we were lucky to have on our wedding day ), but being hearty souls we packed our thermals and down jackets and headed into deepest darkest Wales.
Unfortunately with the constant rain our little 'Honeymoon' tipi by the river was a little too damp to be comfortable ( yes, even with all our kit! ), but fortunately there was another larger Tipi ( 6 person, woohoo! ) which was fitted with an 'Ozan' ( I hadn't heard of one either ). Basically an Ozan is a type of half inner tent ( there is a gap for the smoke from the fire to go up to the top of the tipi. If you keep all your stuff under the Ozan ( not hard in a 6 person tipi ), then you stay dry in pretty much any conditions.
The rain stayed with us during our day at the Centre for Alternative Technology, but is was an awe inspiring place ( if not a bit of a guilt trip, which made us really think ). We also managed to get a lovely meal in at the award winning recommend 'Talkhouse' restaurant ( http://www.talkhouse.co.uk/ ).
The rain calmed on Saturday evening, but was replaced by gusts of wind which you could hear build up miles away down the valley. Like huge old school locomotives they hit the tipi all night, but it stood strong and tall, a testament to it's design.
Would we stay in a Tipi again? YES! ( but if the weather was looking bad, we would make sure it had an Ozan fitted ).
One year down, one anniversary done....70 odd to go...bring them on!
