Hello – is this a dream or is it reality? I don’t know, you choose!

Today we are travelling back in time again to my summer holiday in Wales, and visiting Skenfrith – a filming location for the Eleventh Doctor episode Amy’s Choice ( 2010).

Before we start I would like to tell you two facts I have learnt this week. Firstly I became Kids Blog Club‘s first ever Kid Blog Star of the Week which was quite good. What am I saying? It was AMAZING! Secondly, Project Indigo has now reached 10,000 views. Woooh – hooo! Thank you all so much for helping me do this, I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures so far and will keep reading about them in the future.

Now, time to get on with the post. Skenfrith is a small village near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, South East Wales and is  close to the English border. On the way there my TARDIS got stuck on a never ending muddy road and it took me a while to find it! When I landed my TARDIS I could recognise that I was in Upper Leadworth where Amy is pregnant and Rory has a pony-tail. Or is it? Are they just dreaming? Are they in Leadworth or are they in the TARDIS slowly freezing to death?  Luckily for me there was no sign of the Dream Lord when I visited – or was there? I don’t know! It was all so confusing, just like in the episode.

When I parked my TARDIS it was right opposite Sarn,the Residential Care Home where the Eknodines lived in disguise as VERY old people.

Straight away I went across to Skenfrith Castle, or what is left of it. In Amy’s Choice this is where the children were playing on a school trip. The Doctor, Amy and Rory fell asleep and woke up to find the children have been turned to dust! I was pretty brave to go there, wasn’t I?

The play park was not there anymore which was a shame as I was looking forward to playing on the swings like the Doctor, and saying ‘bow-ties are cool!’. But there was a mysterious circle in the grass, maybe the ghost of a roundabout?

Skenfrith Castle is managed by CADW and the National Trust and it is free to explore. It is in the centre of Skenfrith on the banks of the River Monnow.

Along with White Castle and Grosmont Castle it is one of the ‘Three Castles’ in the Monnow Valley built during the Norman Conquest. It was probably built in the early 13th Century by Hubert de Burgh.

It was fun exploring the ruins and it was amazing to be in an 800 year old ex-building!

Next I explored the village which the Doctor raced around in a camper van rescuing the young people. Much of the village is built with stone that was originally used to build the castle! It was so quiet and peaceful that I did not see anybody – perhaps the Eknodines had come back?

In the middle of the village stands St Bridget’s Church which was consecrated in 1207. This medieval church is one of the oldest in Monmouthshire. The original altar stone was hidden in the church floor to protect it during the Reformation!

It was at this spot beside the church where the Doctor realised that ‘this one is going to be tricky!’  It was a little bit tricky, yeah!

I spent a bit of time looking for the Doctor’s ‘nice benches’ where he, Amy and Rory  kept nodding off- there were lots of benches to choose from so I tried them all wondering which one was the one. I might not have found it but it was worth a try! For such a small village there were A LOT of benches!

I had such a nice time in the beautiful village of Skenfrith, it was great and I really felt as if I was in Upper Leadworth. I kept imagining that I was in a dream and the Doctor would walk round the corner at any moment!

Thank you for reading about my Skenfrith adventure, I hope to see you back again soon.

Night night, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite! Sweet dreams!