Farmhouse

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Downstairs

Kitchen  Well equipped with a Kenwood 5 hob gas cooker with 2 ovens, a modern Belling electric cooker with 4 ceramic hobs, with oven and grill. Larder fridge (also see buttery), 2 dishwashers, microwave and capacious cupboards, working surfaces and drawers. There is a slow cooker, a Dualit 6 slice toaster. Great views of garden and mountains.

Cegin Fawr (aka Dining Room)  The old oak refectory table seats 16.  Charming Welsh dresser contains the cutlery and crockery. On the side table you will find the Alexa Dot   A log stove is on hand to provide extra atmosphere and should you wish for a cabaret or other dramatic production while you eat, the minstrel’s gallery above you offers the ideal stage.

Cruck Hall (aka Music Room)  Plenty of relaxing room to appreciate the Eavestaff piano and the multi room speaker system which controls the 4 sets of speakers for dining room, lounge, kitchen and hall.  Also the hall shows off the 1490 cruck construction. significantly mentioned in Nicholas Pevsner’s book of historic Welsh houses.

Lounge – comfortable seating and a woodburning stove is provided, and In the drawers of the 17th century oak chest you’ll find Scrabble, packs of cards, chess, and dominoes, plus the dictionary and many other books in the bookcase.. If you need the lounge extra snug, drawing the big curtains will do the trick.

Garden Room (aka Breakfast Room)  This has stunning views down the valley, and is good for relaxing over coffee, watching the buzzards and kites as they quarter the valley, or for children to do drawing activities.  This entrance from the car park also provides accommodation for boots and jackets etc.

 Buttery (aka Laundry)  Here, butter was made up to the 1950’s, and looking down on to Jenny’s garden you will see the original slate sinks which were carefully removed to create this water feature..  So now the old buttery houses the washing machine, tumble-drier, and “sheila maid/Barnes airer on a pulley to winch clothes up to the ceiling for brilliant drying), iron and ironing board plus Belfast sink (excellent for bathing babies!). There is also a 4-drawer extra fridge – good for all the drinks – and a 4-drawer freezer,

Lavatories  (aka Loos, toilets) There are six of these littered around the house so even those of you operating on the shortest fuse should seldom be caught out!

Outside

There’s much to see when you step out of the Farmhouse. Firstly the stunning views all round – the twin Berwyn mountain peaks of Mynydd Mawr and Gyrn Moelfre framed between the rolling walls of the Nant y Brithyll valley, and behind you Foel Knoll from whose summit of hewn granite was sledged, some 500 years ago, the stone to build the farmhouse and its outbuildings.

A gentle walk beyond the Bunkhouse and up the farm track passing the new barn and yard brings you to a minor road perched on the side of the valley which you can follow down to the village, stopping frequently to admire the roadside profusion of wild flowers and the aerobatic grace of buzzards.

You may well meet a couple of neighbours on horseback and if it’s ‘rush hour’ maybe a car or even two. You’ll get a wave or an offer of a lift. Happily, city ways have not yet reached these parts. The same friendliness is to be found in The Railway Inn where, over a pint of local ale or a superb lamb shank you soon lose any sense of time,  urgency or stress.

High above the disused quarries there still remain traces of Craig Rhiwarth, the large Celtic Hill Fort from which, until his eventual defeat by Scapula, Caratacus (Caradoc) King of the Ordovices launched successful resistance to Roman occupation.

A few miles to the west of Llangynog, hidden away at the head of a valley stands the Shrine Church of St. Melangell, a tranquil, spiritual place to which anyone seeking peace of mind should pay a visit, as pilgrims have done for many hundreds of years.