Inspiration
How To Be Happy | The Answer Might Be in Snowdonia
50% of happiness is determined by our genes, 10% is from our circumstances, job, house, status etc, leaving the remaining 40% down to us to manage. Whats the secret? The chemical in our bodies that promotes happiness is dopamine and from our teenage years onwards, if we do not actively try to create it in our bodies, it will naturally decrease and not be reproduced. If you don’t use it, you loose it. How do we create it? There are 4 recognised ways in which to increase dopamine levels: Close Network. Having a close and supportive network of family and friends. Spending time with them is important and those that do tend to me much happier and fulfilled. New Experiences. Changing the way you do things or going on adventures is a high dopamine releaser. It could be as simple as a different running route every morning or the big adventure. But either way, variety being…
New Quadcopter Footage Shows Snowdonia At its Very Best
We’ve all heard that Snowdonia is a stunning part of the world, but its not until you actually see it can you believe how mesmerisingly beautiful the area is…. So Gwion has been out making use of his quadcopter to show some of our properties in all their glory. Where photos simply cannot capture the true beauty of the sweeping mountains and landscape, it is now possible to see the real Snowdonia with the use of Gwion’s new toy! New Quadcopter Footage Shows Snowdonia At its Very Best…enjoy! https://youtu.be/fhbW_suMfkM
Geocaching Snowdonia Style
An any day, any time adventure. Geocaching is a great way to explore new places. ‘Hidden treasures’ that have been concealed throughout the world (2 million in fact) have their locations and GPS coordinates logged onto a central geocaching website. Anyone can go onto the website, get the GPS locations and go hunting for treasure. All for free. So if you are trying to entice the kids out for a walk or looking for something to do when on holiday, geocahing is a great way to add a bit of adventure to the trip. Needless to say, there are lots of Geocache treasures here in North Wales. So if you want to give it a go, what better way to start than geocaching Snowdonia style!
5 Family Walks For The Easter Holidays
Walking in Snowdonia is a must when visiting, but not all of us are up for the full mountain experience, especially with children in tow. So we have put together 5 family walks for the Easter holidays that offer beautiful views along with a mix of terrain suitable for all ages and abilities….. BARMOUTH The Panorama Walk: This Barmouth classic that boasts 3 different walks; short (1.7Km), medium (7.1Km) and long (10.2Km). The views are totally breath taking when you look down the Mawddach Estuary from the gardens. You might want to take a picnic to sit and eat here as there is a bench for the adults and great stones that look like chairs for the kids! DOLGELLAU The Precipice Walk A 3 mile walk through the Nannau estate offers great views down the Mawddach Estuary and the principal mountain ranges of Snowdonia; there is not much climbing or descending involved and it is an…
Top 10 Things a Kid should do before they are 11
So the National Trust launched a campaign last Autumn to encourage our ‘cotton wool’ kids out into the great outdoors by listing 50 things a child should do before they are 11 – all back to basics, simple fun with not an electronic gadget in sight – we LOVE this! EVERYTHING on the list can be done in Snowdonia, so if your coming to stay with us this year with younger ones in tow, make the most of it and get them ticking things off the list. To get you started, here are our top 10 things a kid should do before they are 11 that we think are unique to Snowdonia and can be done in that extra special way, creating those memories for life: 1 – SKIM A STONE – whether its by the sea or on the lakes, its so satisfying when you finally get the stone to jump (for adults too!). 2…
Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda | Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all of your support during 2014 – we hope you all enjoyed your holidays with us here in Snowdonia. With so many new and exciting things opening in the area for 2015, we are set for another great year here in the mountains, on the beach and by the rivers – we’ll keep you posted. But for now, get your Christmas jumper on and enjoy the festive season! From the Llwyd family.
5 Favourite Star Gazing Spots In North Wales
The wonder of the night sky has inspired countless generations, poets, scientists and dreamers. Today this natural resource is threatened by the careless use of artificial light and so the International Dark-Sky Association works to protect and preserve the night sky for future generations. Much of Mid and North Wales is prime dark sky territory and with this in mind, Snowdonia is currently bidding for Dark Skies Status with the which would further protect its beautiful landscape offering some of the worlds best stargazing. If you are here over the winter period, you will have plenty of opportunity to see the night skies in all their glory; with less day light hours in an area with little light pollution, it’s a great opportunity to get to know the dark side – see the milky way, ponder Orion’s belt and of course make a wish upon a shooting star. So wrap up warm, fill the flask with…
Foodie Gifts From North Wales....
Its no secret that being a foodie these days is up there in the cool stakes…….garlic mayonnaise is now commonly referred to as aoli, chilli jam goes with everything and salad creme is definitely something you eat in secret! North Wales is home to many small, artisan food brands that are fast becoming popular and we love them not only because they put us on that ‘cool’ foodie map, but they also taste delicious! So if you’re looking to give your friends and family something different for Christmas that also tick the useful box, look no further as here is a list of the best foodie gifts from North Wales …. The Snowdonia Cheese Company: With names like the Little Black Bomber, Green Thunder and Red Devil , the cheese board has gone up a few notches from a simple offering of cheddar and red leicester. Beautifully packaged in colourful waxes, these cheeses will be a…
Pieces for Places | Retail Therapy In Barmouth Just Hit The ‘Jack’pot!
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…
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 Style….
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 and…. 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 Mail’s the top 10 UK Festivals as well as being voted Best New Festival and Best Small Festival. It is magical – hard not to be when the location is Portmeirion Village in North Wales. Clough Williams-Ellis created this little piece of the ‘Italian riviera’ 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 culture….it doesn’t 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,…
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 – unless you have found your way to cosy pub at the end of it all as well, of course. With some of the world’s most beautiful untouched territory at hand, the North Wales has just about everything that an avid mountain biking enthusiast can possibly thirst for – and we’ve got five fantastic routes that you’ll just have to put on that 2014 itinerary. Coed y Brenin Meaning “King’s Wood” 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 fortnight’s 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 – 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 we’ve ever come across. Set right next…
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/¼in 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, Llywelyn’s 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, you’ve been inspired by team GB’s performance in the velodrom during the London Olympics, you might want to consider bringing your bikes along when you next visit North Wales. Here’s 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 ‘Beast of Brennin’, ‘Dragons Back’ and ‘Minour Tour’. 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. There’s a nice café 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. I’ve 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 “exterminated”. 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 didn’t 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 ‘chemistry’ 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 we’re paying a bit more attention our other sow also seems to be “in pig”. I’ll 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…
Royal Welsh, Spring Fair
We escaped from the farm last week to go to the ‘Small Holders Fair’ which is held every year in Builth Wells on the Royal Welsh Show ground.
