Inspiration
Pieces for Places | Retail Therapy In Barmouth Just Hit The âJackâpot!
Pieces For Places is a new furniture come lifestyle store that has just opened on Barmouth High Street. Off the back of seeing lots of people proudly clutching their ‘Pieces for Places’ brown bags this week, I thought I must go and visit. It is the brainchild of Jack Brooks, who when you walk into the shop, clearly has an innate sense of interior design. With his brother Fred, the two have bought the old Caersalem Chapel back to life and installed 3 floors which now house a fabulous eclectic mix of furniture and homewares. The product offering is great and everything is covered, the idea being that you can kit a full house out from this one shop. From sofas, beds and beautiful chests of drawers to the smaller bits like candles, photo frames and vases, there is a lot on offer and everything has clearly been chosen carefully, including a bijou gardening collection! It…
Free ÂŁ15 Voucher To Spend At The Local Butcher
For every 1 week holiday booked to stay in November or December 2014 at Cefn Isaf, Gareth, the owner is offering a free ÂŁ15 voucher to spend at the local butcher – the award winning Paul Wellings Butchers located in Dyffryn Ardudwy. Cefn Isaf is a 2 bedroom barn conversion in a truly idyllic location just outside Llanbedr. With the Rhinog Mountains sitting behind you and the Cambrian coastline in front, it really is stunning and the perfect retreat to get away from it all. The barn itself is 17th Century and the conversion has created a very relaxed and family orientated environment – very light and airy with high vaulted ceilings. With a touch of modern against traditional, it has a very welcoming feel and combined with its location makes it a really special place to holiday. For more information on the property, please click on the link below: CEFN-ISAF
What To Do With All The Blackberries....
If you are lucky enough to be with us in sunny Snowdonia this September, you will find it hard to miss all the blackberries – the crop is good and there’s plenty for everyone. So what to do with all the blackberries? You could go all nouveau cuisine and spend hours boiling and reducing for some fan dangled jus or if you’re on holiday, a good old traditional Welsh blackberry pie or a Welsh blackberry pudding could be your preferred option – they are simple, quick and absolutely delicious. Welsh Blackberry Pie: Take an oven proof plate and roll enough short crust pastry to cover to the edges. Put 400g of your freshly picked blackberries over the pastry and sprinkle 200g of granulated sugar over the berries. Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the blackberries, using a fork to crimp the edges of the pastry together, trimming the edges as you go along. Prick the…
Wild Swimming Snowdonia StyleâŠ.
Wild Swimming Snowdonia Style, not only enriches the soul and pushes you out of your comfort zone, but quite honestly its really good fun! It always amazes me how many people visit Snowdonia without experiencing it. Snowdonia is full of waterfalls (Rheadar in Welsh) and rivers and its such a unique part of the area that if you come to visit, you really should jump into at least one waterfall pool. Its exciting, its fun, its an adventure, its a challenge andâŠ. its free⊠There are many ways to enjoy the pleasures of wild swimming; be it getting suited and booted for a 1 mile lake swim with a group, or, like me, grab your kids, the dog and a towel and go forth looking for the waterfalls and river pools for a quick dunk or a swim around if the temperature allows! Yes, it is usually a cold affair jumping into the pools, but that’s…
PORTMEIRION FESTIVAL NO 6
Portmeirion Festival No 6 is coming to Snowdonia for the third year running and is set to be the best yet. The festival has made the Daily Mailâs the top 10 UK Festivals as well as being voted Best New Festival and Best Small Festival. It is magical â hard not to be when the location is Portmeirion Village in North Wales. Clough Williams-Ellis created this little piece of the âItalian rivieraâ in wales during the earlier part of the 1900 – a true visionary. A visit here transports you to a fantasy world of beautiful buildings and gardens. So what is it all about? They say its an intimate, bespoke weekend of music, arts and cultureâŠ.it doesnât disappoint. This year sees the likes of the Pet Shop Boys, Kellis, Beck and Nineh Cherry take to centre stage and the DJ line up is pretty good too with legendary Laurent Garnier, nordic disco king Todd Terje,…
A Really Simple Walking Guide Up Snowdon
A lot of our guests here at Dioni ask for help on getting up Snowdon. Theyâre not especially keen walkers or experienced hikers but have set themselves the goal of ascending the highest peak in England and Wales. If thatâs you, hereâs my Really Simple Walking Guide Up Snowdon.
Dog Friendly Snowdonia
If your four legged family members are coming on holiday with you, its good to know where you can go with them so they can join in as much of the holiday fun and frolics as possibleâŠ.. The good news in that Snowdonia is a very dog friendly and so itâs not a question of whether they are allowed to go to places, itâs more of a question of what to chooseâŠ.. For starters there are the vast number of walking routes available to you â whether you decide to go for the mountain trek or a more leisurely stroll around the forests and rivers, the choices are endless. A long as youâre dog is on a lead (due to sheep), they can join you on your adventure – the Snowdon train does not allow dogs but that doesnât mean they can’t join you by foot to the summit – dogs can have bucket lists too!…
Top 5 Mountain Biking in North Wales
Nothing comes close to the feel of a rugged tread plunging into the fresh soil of an undiscovered path, rushing through undergrowth, scaling up a rocky trail and emerging, triumphant, to be greeted by a breathtaking vista of endless coastlines and rugged, forested mountains â unless you have found your way to cosy pub at the end of it all as well, of course. With some of the worldâs most beautiful untouched territory at hand, the North Wales has just about everything that an avid mountain biking enthusiast can possibly thirst for â and weâve got five fantastic routes that youâll just have to put on that 2014 itinerary. Coed y Brenin Meaning âKingâs Woodâ in Welsh, this spectacular piece of land rolls out in true Welsh regal style, imposing and supernatural in its scale and presence. Part of Snowdonia National Park, it features several single-track courses as well as a dual-slalom course, and is a…
Self Catering Barn Near Pwllheli, Llyn Peninsula - Bryncaled Diary
“Despite the inclement weather we all had a fabulous break in a delightful, well appointed cottage. It was close to all amenities and yet remote enough for peace and tranquility. Facilities were spot on, in fact we enjoyed it so much, we considered taking a few extra days onto our fortnightâs holiday, but unfortunately it was booked. It was our granddaughters 1st holiday, 1st time at the beach, 1st tooth, and 1st paddle in the sea, many other 1sts â so memorable we will have to do it again very shortly. Cannot recommend it highly enough.” – Alan Jones, Shropshire As it was such a lovely day, we decided we would spend our first day in Aberdaron so the girls could enjoy the beach. The village of Aberdaron, not too far from where we were staying could only be described as one of the most idyllic little seaside villages weâve ever come across. Set right next…
Holiday Diary - Holiday Cottage near Snowdon in Rhyd Ddu
“The cottage was absolutely beautiful. It was quiet but within easy reach of amenities. The cottage is very high spec, well decorated, furnished and just felt comfortable like a home from home, and the views are absolutely spectacular. I would really highly recommend it, as a good location to North Wales with a very relaxing atmosphere.” â Cathy McAllister, Ellesmere Port. When we arrived to this cosy little holiday cottage near Snowdon, we were so surprised that this was an old quarrymanâs cottage, given the clean-cut and contemporary feel to the place. Still, it didnât lose its character with its little inglenook and log burner. Once my partner and I had set our things down and unpacked a bit, one of the first things we did was light a fire (which was enough to heat the whole house). Another favourite part of the property had to be the little stream running at the bottom of the…
A Family Day Out at Coed Y Brenin
Coed y Brenin was the first forestry to be developed into a mountain biking premier location and we had heard great things about it. With plenty of walking paths and beautiful scenery the family and I thought it would be a great day out for us. When we arrived at the park, we thought it was great to see so many facilities, especially with two children. There was a visitor centre shop and cafe, trail maps and even a bike wash there. If you didnât bring your bike with you on holiday you can just rent one here at Beics Brenin. You can rent specialist mountain bikes from just ÂŁ25 for the full day. Considering the fun you can have in this forest Iâd say that itâs well worth the money. Donât forget to book in advance though, because bikes cannot be guaranteed during busy periods of the year. The routes available are so diverse, we…
Free Dinner in the Local Pub for Llwyncelyn Guests
Paul and Diana, the owners of Llwyncleyn, our self catering cottage in Dinas Mawddwy, have teamed up with their local pub, âY Llew Cochâ. Guests staying in their romantic picturesque cottage during July and August are eligible for a free dinner for two in this this most traditional of welsh pubs. Wholesome food, real ale, welsh village atmosphere, and a wealth of local information guaranteed! Offer applies for guests booking a weeklong stay in Llwyncelyn with an arrival date falling within July and August. Voucher will be provided on arrival. For more information on the cottage and to view prices and availability [click here..]
Delicious Homemade Welsh Cakes
Traditional, and delicious, homemade Welsh cakes will be waiting for guests who arrive at Moelfre during July, order quick before they go! Best served slightly warm with a large knob of real butter and a cup of traditional welsh tea whilst sitting outside looking at the spectacular view over the cambrian coastline and the snowdonia mountains. The perfect afternoon treat. Here’s the recipe Louise uses Ingredients 225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved 110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter 1 egg handful of sultanas milk, if needed 85g/3oz caster sugar extra butter, for greasing Preparation method Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, then form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed. Roll out the pastry until it is a 5mm/ÂŒin thick and cut into rounds with a 7.5-10cm/3-4in fluted cutter. You now need a bakestone or a heavy iron griddle.…
Bloodiest Castles in North Wales
Caernarfon We should start our tour of the Bloodiest Castles in North Wales with the largest of them all perhaps. Caernarfon Castle. Following years of bloody battle, Llywelyn, the last price of Wales, was finally defeated and killed by the armies of Edward I in Builth in 1282. King Edward I wanted to deny Dafydd, Llywelynâs brother, any chance of staging a comeback so quickly drove home his advantage by ordering the construction of huge a huge castle in Caernarfon and other strategic locations. James of St George was put in charge. He immediately employed hundreds of workers to dig the huge moat that was to surround the castle and to cut the great foundation trenches that would support the 6-meter thick walls of the castle. Any houses of the old welsh township that lay in the way were torn down and destroyed. By 1284 the castle was almost finished. Edward I and his wife Elenor…
Cycling Holiday in North Wales
If, like me, youâve been inspired by team GBâs performance in the velodrom during the London Olympics, you might want to consider bringing your bikes along when you next visit North Wales. Hereâs a couple of places for you to consider. Coed Y Brennin Probably the best mountain biking centre in the UK. Miles and miles of rugged trails with fantastic names like âBeast of Brenninâ, âDragons Backâ and âMinour Tourâ. The trails are colour coded according to difficulty similar to ski slopes. So all abilities can be confident of having a great time. All the trails start and finish from the new eco visitor centre just south of Trawsfynydd on the A470. Thereâs a nice cafĂ© there, a well stocked spares shop, bike wash facilities and shower cubicles. Bikes can also be hired from the very nice people at Beics Brennin. Mawddach Trail The Mawddach Trail is the perfect choice for a family outing out…
Horse whisperer tames Carneddau ponies in Snowdonia
This story really caught my eye. Iâve been fascinated by the wild horses of the Carneddau mountains in Snowdonia since I was a little boy. I was lucky enough to see three of the ponies whilst walking with an elderly aunt near Sychnant. We came upon them unexpectedly one cloudy morning. The encounter caught us and them by surprise. The horses stopped to look at us for half second before charging off across the fields into the mist. My auntie went on to explain how they had never been tamed and how the English king, Henry the VIII, had failed in his attempt to have the horses âexterminatedâ. They were truly magical and lived in the imagination of this 9 year old boy for a long time afterwards. But as ever, their future in our modern world is far from certain. So, in an effort to make the breed more commercially viable for Snowdonia farmers, efforts…
Surprise!
Some of our guests were lucky enough to be staying in Nant when Magldi, one of our Kune Kune pigs gave birth. A bit of a surprise as we didn’t know she was pregnant. We had borrowed Hafren, a pedigree Kune Kune boar from some friends before Christmas. His breeding abilities weren’t proven however and unfortunately he didnât seem very interested in our girls. We tried playing a Barry White CD and introduced some soft lighting to the pig sty but eventually presumed that the âchemistryâ just wasn’t right. 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days later (the length of a pigs pregnancy) and Hafrens credentials are irrefutable. And now that weâre paying a bit more attention our other sow also seems to be âin pigâ. Iâll keep you posted. [nggallery id=31] Well our other pig, Pauline, did have piglets. This time luckily we were more prepared. A holding pen complete with warming lamp and clean bedding was all ready. They all…
Glyder Fawr promoted to Super Mountain
G and J Surveys have been busy again. You might remember that they were checking to see if Tryfan qualified as one of the 14 peaks in Wales over 3000 feet. Well they must have bought a new tape measure as this time theyâve gone metric. Glyder Fawr, previously recorded as being 999m high has been measured at 1000.8m. The Guardian headline reads âWales celebrates promotion of peak to ‘super-mountain’â and The Telegraph writes how this will lead to an increase of people climbing the mountain and that â..the famous Welsh 1000m Peaks Race will have to consider becoming a longer race with five peaks instead of four..â. Itâs a nice news story, but it would be wrong to think that the mountain has changed, improved even. Itâs just our perception thatâs altered. I guess thatâs what I like about mountains. Theyâre fixed, permanent, a reassuring constant in an ever-changing world. The five peaks over 1000m…
Back To Work Blues
I know itâs sad, but its time to admit that the summer is over. Everybodyâs back in work and the nights are drawing in. But I was reading an article online on how to avoid âback to work bluesâ. One method apparently, is to âplan your next weekend awayâ. That and tidying your desk!? So Iâm here to offer our services. With the weekend away I mean. Youâll have to tidy your own desk. Most of our cottages are happy to take short breaks now that the summer rush is over. And the prices always come down a little bit at this time. So imagine walking deserted beaches and windswept mountaintops, before coming home to a real log fire and maybe a mug of hot chocolate. Fill in our [enquiry form…] and Iâll email you back with a couple of suggestions. Itâll help cheer you up if nothing else.
Last Minute Bargain
Stabal (Sleeps 2 adults + child) 3 nights from Friday the 11th of June ÂŁ250 We offering this short break as a last minute type deal. So if you fancy a quick romantic gateway in this lovely cottage down by the beach drop us an email or give us a ring quick! [Read more about this property..]
