Elan Valley

Welsh word of the day: Cwningen: Rabbit
Happy Birthday to my BFFL, Alysha Bobo!

So I haven't updated in a while because I am officially in Aberystwyth and we had no internet all weekend! (Yes it was quite difficult). So I'm going to do an update about the Elan Valley which is a hydro electric power station/ aqueduct for Birmingham, England/ a nature preserve! It's a truly beautiful place and shows how power and sustainability can be beautiful. The architecture is Victorian and all the extra decorations are completely for show. 

The first dam we saw, it seems plain but the decoration on the front is totally unnecessary. The structure that looks like stairs on the far side is for migrating fish.

Just one of many beautiful views of the Elan Valley.

 This is a bridge which is also completely for show. It looks up to the dam shown below and was for Victorian tourists to come and admire the man made structures and how they interacted with natural beauty.

 Perhaps the most ornate of the dams, the structure is for monitoring the water levels of the reservoir behind it. 

 Now this waterfall isn't actually at the Elan Valley but at the Hafod Estate, which was also supposed to be a representation of men and nature but this was to made the nature look 'picturesque' and is where the term is from. Hafod turned his land patch into a place for artists to come and already have the landscape framed in a way that was aesthetically pleasing to paint.

http://www.elanvalley.org.uk/

This is the link to the Elan Valley, I recommend you check it out to get the whole scope of the valley and see the types of animals and plants that can be found in the area. It is owned by a private company and the company seems to me to be incredibly responsible about water preservation, water awareness around the world, and preserving natural habitats as best they can.