If you stroll through St Fagans National Museum of History in August you will be exposed to an exuberant display of color, texture and fragrance at the Dutch Garden. Located at the parterre next to the Castle, this is one of the most beautiful historic gardens in Wales!

As you walk through the symmetrical paths you will find a variety of grasses such as the impressive gold Stipa gigantea, the bright green Sesleria autumnalis and the graceful Sporobulous heterolepis surrounding the Cherub statues. These all add texture and the dreamlike feel to the garden. There is also plenty of colour in a palette of purple, blue and red from flowers contrasted with the gold and bright green of grasses. You will notice the Verbena bonariensis with tall stems and clusters of purple miniature flowers, the vigorous blue Geranium Rosanne and the Helenium Moerheim Beauty with dark orange red flowers amongst a variety of Sedums and other cultivars.

I suggest that you visit this magnificent garden through different seasons of the year as it goes through a magical transformation.

This garden has changed a lot over the years. The most recent design was created by our talented Deputy Head Gardener Ceri Goring and maintained by a team of gifted gardeners and volunteers. This sustainable and drought tolerant garden has been carefully planned to withstand dry summer months, saving not only water but also the gardener’s hosing time.

If you walk around the fountain on a warm summer day your senses will be awakened by the fragrance of the lavender hedges, the buzzing of the pollinating bees, the tranquil sound of the cascading water and the impressive visual display of one of the most beautiful gardens in Wales.

I went with a friend to a CC Skills open day for the Cardiff sector. I didn’t know anything about it and I wasn’t interested in it because the venues didn’t interest me. I spoke to Jo Esposti about other venues and she mentioned that the Newport sector would include Big Pit as a host venue and I was instantly interested. I have always had a very big interest in Big Pit from a young age because of my grandfather telling me stories and taking me to Big Pit as a child.

Once I thought there would be a chance that I would get to work there I took the opportunity. Even though not completely feeling 100%, I couldn’t leave the opportunity there so I applied. I got through and had an interview and I didn’t shut up about Big Pit through my whole interview because I was so nervous about doing it.

When I heard I got the job I was beyond excited and couldn’t wait to start. Within a week of working at Big Pit I had a lot more confidence and could easily talk more to the public and other members of staff.

Since I started my placement 6 months ago I have worked in all areas of Big Pit. When I first started I worked a lot in the Pit Head Baths and the King Coal: Mining Galleries Exhibition where I was interacting with visitors and meeting and greeting. I learnt a lot of facts about the pit that visitors often asked and wanted to know.

Then I started assisting with the educational workshop  ‘Servants of the Empire’  which is a lesson for key stage 2/3 pupils to have them learn about what it would have been like to work underground in the 1800’s, they have to find out about the girl that worked as a drammer girl underground. I was supervising the students in the second part of the activity where they have to draw a dram and feel coal, while the facilitator would be with half of the class showing them the clothes they would have worn, food they would have taken underground and the weight of the drams. I was helping them get the positions right for pulling the dram whilst making sure the children did not hurt themselves and help them answer the questions on their worksheets.

I have also worked in the office with Kathryn the Marketing and Communications Officer learning how Big Pit promotes itself and offers events and activities to the public to encourage visitors to come through the door. I have also worked in the reception, meeting and greeting people as they come into the museum, booking people in and telling visitors about the site and anything they want to know about the facilities.

I found working in all these different areas of the museum gave me a really goood idea of how the museum works and what goes on behind the scenes to make the museum run as it does and how the different departments work to keep the museum efficient and open to the public as expected.

Since working at Big Pit I have grown in confidence and, as a person from suffering anxiety and depression for 3 years, coming into an environment where everyone onsite is friendly and encouraging has helped me become a better version of myself.

I have really enjoyed my time working at Big Pit and I am very grateful to everyone who works there for their time and everything they have done for me. I am also very grateful to Paul Green, Deputy Mine Manager, who has been my mentor and who has been great and very supportive since I started.  I am glad that this was the first placement I had as it has given me the confidence to go to my other placements and feel at ease there. 

Our summer exhibition, Snakes! gives us a sneak peek into the secretive and captivating life of the snakes of the world. We are posting a series of snake blogs over the summer to share some of our snake related stories.

At the back of our Snakes gallery we have made a map of the snakes of the world. Here you can find out which are the longest, the fastest, even the one that has the longest fangs! And this is where you'll find a picture of rarest snake in the world – the Saint Lucia racer.

Unbelievably, there are fewer than 20 individuals of this relatively small, non-venomous snake left in the world. And they are all confined to a tiny, nine-hectare islet off the mainland of the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia.

Fauna & Flora International (FFI), is an international conservation charity dedicated to protecting our planet’s threatened wildlife and habitats. In partnership with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and national agencies, FFI is working to bring back these snakes from the brink of extinction.

This species was once the second most common snake on Saint Lucia. So what happened?

In the 19^th century small Asian mongooses were introduced to the island. They found the ground dwelling racers easy prey, and their population plummeted to the point that they were thought to be extinct. So now an emergency project has been set up to protect the remaining racers and spread the word about their importance.

But with such low numbers, can they really be brought back?

The answer is a resounding yes! Until fairly recently, the world’s rarest snake was considered to be the Antiguan racer, another Caribbean snake species found only on a handful of offshore islands in Antigua and Barbuda. In 1995, only 50 individuals remained, but thanks to the help of FFI and other national and international organisations, they are making a comeback. Their numbers have increased 22 fold in that time, with numbers now exceeding 1,100 individuals. So there is still hope.

How did they do it? They have focused a lot of work on eradicating the harmful invasive species – particularly ship rats – that have been introduced to the islands and introduced strict controls to help protect these sensitive ecosystems.

Snakes are often maligned and misunderstood, so they have also focused on changing attitudes and raising awareness. This has been so successful that many Antiguans and Barbudans have become enthusiastic advocates of their unique snake and its unique island ecosystem.

So, the hope is that by protecting the remaining Saint Lucia racers, and the tiny islet they live on, their populations will begin to stabilise and grow. It is so inspiring to hear a positive conservation story. I wish them all the luck in the world.

If you are interested in finding out more about snakes – come down to our exhibition! It is on until 15 September. For more details check out our What’s On page.

You can find out more about Saint Lucia racers and the work of FFI here, here and here.

You can find out more about Antiguan racers and the work of FFI here.

You can find out more about FFI here.

You can find out more about Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust here.

You can read our read our previous blogs here and here.

Cliciwch yma am fideo Cymraeg.

A volvelle is a rotating paper ‘wheel chart’, often found in early astronomy or mathematical books.

They were constructed from a number of circles, layered over each other, and fastened together in the centre with string so that they could spin. Volvelles were typically used to make calculations or predictions.

The design was based on astrolabes, very thin engraved metal discs that when rotated in various configurations made calculations, and were often employed as navigational devices. As astrolabes were quite costly to make, the paper versions were introduced as a cheaper alternative.

We believe that volvelles came to Europe from the Arabic world during the 11th and 12th centuries in medicinal and astronomical works. In the 16th century, books describing how to construct and use your own volvelle often came with printed sheets, so that the buyer could cut up and assemble their own.

We have a number of these types of books in our Vaynor Collection of astronomical books donated to the Museum in 1939 by John Herbert James of Vaynor Cottage, near Merthyr Tydfil. Some of these books still have their volvelles intact and working!

One example is a mid-16th century copy of The Sphere by Johannes de Sacrobosco. Johannes de Sacrobosco wrote Tractatus de Sphaera or De Sphaera Mundi, meaning On the Sphere of the World, in the thirteenth century when he was teaching at the University of Paris.

It remained a standard text for students of mathematics and astronomy for centuries, which is why we have this version from 1577, revised and expanded.

In 1548 Gemma Frisius produced his version of Peter Apian’s Cosmographia, a book which had originally been published in 1524, and was said to be one of the most popular books on cosmography ever published. Apian, more commonly known as Petrus Apianus, was a mathematician, designer of sundials, and publisher of manuals for astronomical instruments from his print shop in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. He was well known for his volvelles designs which is why they are sometimes also known as "Apian wheels", and this edition of Cosmographia features a number of them, although they are in a very fragile state.

However, in a few of our Vaynor books, the owner never got around to assembling the volvelles, and instead the printed sheets were bound in at the back of the book like regular pages.

This book Quadrans Apiani astronomicus... from 1532 is also by Peter Apian, and explains the use of quadrants, scientific instruments for measuring angles or time, derived from astrolabes, and used very much by sailors for navigation.

Our copy contains printed sheets for the construction of a volvelle, all the separate sections can be cut out and then assembled. The largest piece would serve as the base, and then all the corresponding circles would all be stacked up on top of each other in order, until the smallest was on the top. Then the whole thing would be secured through the middle with string.

We’ve reproduced a set from the Quadrans book, so have a go at constructing your own volvelle by downloading and printing this worksheet . You can use a split pin to secure the circles instead of string!

Back in 1998, long before I started my current job as Senior Textile Conservator at St Fagans National Museum of History, I spent two work experience placements at the museum, helping my predecessor Clare Stoughton-Harris.  I had just started on my 3-year post-grad course in Textile Conservation the previous year.  The course was based in apartments within Hampton Court Palace.  I saw an ad for a placement at St Fagans on the Centre’s noticeboard and decided to apply. A few weeks later, I found myself driving over to Cardiff to start my placement.

My first stint was for 3 weeks, over the Easter Holidays.  The work mainly consisted of preparing St Fagans castle for re-opening after refurbishment, so it involved a lot of surface cleaning, but we also got around to wet cleaning a carpet.  The image shows Clare sponging the carpet in the detergent bath in the studio. 

When I came back in the summer, my project was to improve the storage conditions of the shoe collection.  Most shoes were stored on open shelving, with several pairs stacked on top of each other.  Some were not wrapped at all and were gathering dust, and others were wrapped in yellowed newspaper as you can see in the 2 pictures below.  That’s me, unwrapping and examining some children’s shoes!

As they were, the shoes were also very inaccessible as it was impossible to know which pair was wrapped in each bundle of tissue paper.  So I remember assembling endless flat pack boxes and re-packing the shoes… so here they were in their lovely new storage boxes:

Once the contents of the Old Costume Store moved into the Collection Centre at St Fagans in 2008, the project was improved upon by adding thumbnail images of each pair, clearly attached to the outside of the box, so here they are in their current configuration!

From 1998, it took another 7 years, and jobs with the National Trust, in Norfolk, a private studio in Dublin and 2 years at the British Museum before I was became the Senior Textile Conservator at Amgueddfa Cymru. Now I have the occasional pleasure of overseeing students myself and can return the favour of giving them the chance to expand their experience and help them along their career path!