Neko Atsume: Two rare cats and Peaches

I'm just back from a whirlwind weekend away with the family and it's been wonderful, and I will actually post something publicly here that is not about cats, real or cartoon, in the very near future. But for now, as I wade through the accumulated mass of unanswered messages from 2.5 days disconnected from mobile, wifi and 3G signal, I would like to share a moment that made me think I must have reached the apex of Neko Atsume play.

Observe the lower left hand quandrant of the photo above. Peaches (the not-rare cat who visits less frequently than any rare cat), Frosty, and Guy Furry turned up simultaneously. Two rare cats and Peaches? Definitely almost time to quit.

Poultry Cottage, Welshpool, Wales

[Humuhumu jumps off a stone outside the gingerbread Fowl House (strictly for the birds).]

On Friday, we piled into the car and drove to Wales to our fourth Landmark Trust property. It's become traditional for us to stay in one over the weekend nearest the bloke's birthday that isn't Valentine's that holiday which seems to have been designed to make people feel bad about enjoying being alone February 14th.

This one is called Poultry Cottage. Once it was part of a great estate that included a model farm. The estate is now broken up, and the Landmark Trust acquired the cottage (where the fowl-keeper lived) and the Fowl House (where the chickens, pheasants, turkeys, pigeons and doves lived). I'm afraid the keeper's cottage is rather plainer and smaller than the one intended for the galinaceous neighbours.


[Pretty Poultry Cottage, fit for humans.]

We used the cottage as a base for exploration nearby during the day, and as a cosy nest at night after the children were in bed. There was no mobile or data signal, no television and no internet connection. I'm not evangelical about disconnecting - we had some BBC programmes downloaded, mostly for Humuhumu to watch - but both the bloke and I do find it helpful for our mental health to be forced, for a few days, not to check our e-mail or spend our evenings constantly half-distracted by our computers.

Below the cut, some shots of the cottage interior, with children (and adults).

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