Cocker Spaniel Puppies

Trixie's babies are now four weeks old and will be ready to move to their new forever homes from the 21 May. They are excited to meet their new families and if you think that could be you collecting your new adorable mini Trixie in four weeks, drop us a line! I think Trixie will thank you from the bottom of her heart as she'll be ready to wave goodbye to them by then!

There are four brown/liver working cocker spaniel puppies for sale. They are from pedigree KC registered parents and will be KC registered themselves. There are 3 girls and 1 boy, one is all brown, one has a tiny white star and the other two have white chests and toes and all of them are lovely, healthy, happy and mischievous little bundles of fur. They can be seen with their mother who is our family pet, and since birth they have lived in our home, handled loads on a daily basis, and have grown up with children, cats and another dog.

Walking the coast path, Aberporth, Mwnt to Cardigan Island

A day out exploring the Cardigan bay coast path from Mwnt to Aberporth, towards Cardigan Island. Some beautiful wild unspoilt coastline and interesting historical features, including slate quarries and water wheels

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Hello from Ted in his new rug

Hello from Ted in his new rug, helping to show off the lovely view you can enjoy from the decking at the back of the Stables. Overlooking the fields, woods and stream, it's the perfect spot for a bit of peace, and sunshine if you're lucky! How better to recharge the batteries?

What this photo doesn't show is that moments later, Ted, in aforementioned new rug, rolled in the mud and now it is the same colour as the old one... brown....!

Its Snowing…!

It’s a cold day in Ceredigion today, although I suspect, not as cold as the rest of the country. We even have a few inconsequential flakes of snow! That may not seem like much to many of you, but its big news here. Not only because we have two young children, but also because we don’t really get snow.

Its true. Whenever the weather-folk predict snow to fall in tranches across our fair isle, a state of high level excitement occurs in camp Troedyrhiw. Sledges get dusted off, and cold weather gear is dug out from the echelons of the hat box. And then…nothing. Today however, it is snowing. Good, proper, fat, fluffy flakes of snow. And whats more, they are sticking! The children are in school, so we can only imagine the fever-pitch there!

Anyway, it probably won’t last long enough to build a snow-elf, never mind a snowman, so it’s a good time to start thinking of spring, which is just around the corner.

Our little corner of west Wales is the perfect place for a few nights break and is beautiful all year around, here are a couple of photos to show you Troedyrhiw Holiday Cottages and the surrounding area in all its glory, all year round.

Until next time,

Cofion Cynnes / warm wishes

Michelle and Rob

What is Calennig?

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda/Happy New Year to you all! Here's looking forward to 2023, onwards and hopefully upwards!

At one time in Wales – New Year’s festivities were even more important than Christmas. In fact, one resident of Cynwyl Elfed, Carmarthenshire, in the 1860s, said that the chief importance of Christmas was , ‘that it was within a week of New Year’s Day, the biggest day of the year’.

Calennig, a well-known Welsh tradition, still seen in some areas, is the collection of calennig (New Year’s gift) where children rise early and carry from door to door, as bearers of good luck, a decorated apple, pierced with three sticks and adorned with a sprig of box and hazelnuts.

The children usually sing a simple verse and in return usually received a gift or food or money for their troubles. Rhymes and songs were concisely worded and their message was to announce the New Year's arrival, to wish the family a prosperous twelvemonth, and to ask from it ‘calennig’ or (New Year's Gift).

Www.troedyrhiw.com

#welsh traditions #calennig #Newyear

https://museum.wales/articles/1188/New-Year-Traditions-Collecting-Calennig/

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower”

Albert Camus, the French philospher beautifully encapsulates this time of year when the new colours of autumn are everywhere.

Its easy to see this time of year as the end of things.  Summer has ended, taking with it the warm days, or in the case of this year, the too-hot days, and the balmy nights.  The flowers are fading and wilting, the butterflies are gone for the winter, and the days spent on the beach playing in the sand and sea seem to be a memory, however, Albert Camus sees it differently.  A second spring, a new start.  I remember a quote by an unknown writer, “Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go”. 

The fading pinks and yellows of the vibrant summer blooms are replaced by glorious cosy reds, and oranges, the very colour of autumn. Piles of leaves are building up on the lanes, just waiting to be kicked into the air by small welly-booted feet. What a joy that is for children! It never gets old, the feeling of wading through a heap of crunchy, beautiful leaves. And who can forget the sycamore ‘helicopters’? I will never tire of watching one spin to the ground after it has been thrown in the air. I collect them up in their hundreds and keep them in a pot, ready to throw from an upstairs window for the children to enjoy! They collect them all up and shout ‘Do it again, Mummy!’ Hard to imagine that there is a purpose for those helicopters, other than just giving us pleasure! Isn’t good old mother nature clever?

This beautiful place we call home takes on a different kind of pleasure at this time of year. Maybe it is too cold to enjoy the sea fully, shrieking with delight at the welcome cold on your hot skin, but the sea is glorious and wild in the autumn and winter, and the beaches are now almost deserted by contrast to the busy days of July and August, making them a perfect place to blow away cobwebs and work up an appetite. We even managed a picnic there this weekend, we don’t care if its cold, as long as we are on the beach! At this time of year, the restrictions concerning dogs on the beaches start to get lifted, so our four legged buddies can come to play in the sand and the frothy surf, and wow, do they enjoy it! There’s no happier doggy than a dog on the beach (except maybe a dog with a leg of lamb!).

One beach that is not open to dogs yet, or people for that matter, is Mwnt.  Beautiful Mwnt, where we spent so many summer evenings watching the dolphins is now temporarily out of bounds because a seal pup and its Mum have set up camp there while it grows up enough to go it alone.  Seal pups have to be left completely in peace for their own protection, so for now, Mwnt has to be left alone.  

I wonder how much that family had to pay for exclusive residency at one of our most lovely beaches?!

Our personal favourites, the butterflies are now all gone away for the winter, along with many of the bugs, which means our bird feeders are now teeming with activity once again, now their buggy-takeways have run out. Masses of bluetits, tree creepers, wag tails, nut hatches, gold finches and woodpeckers adorn our feeders battling for their share of the loot, including homemade bird cake, and our local family of squirrels are back.

These regular cheeky chaps come to collect sunflower seeds for their winter stash, and are not averse to sitting on the fence staring in at us, like we are exhibits in the zoo! I wonder what on earth they think of us? Whatever they think, we think they are awfully cute!

Around the cottages

The weather is being really lovely to us this week. We must have been ever so good! The daffodils are ìn full bloom now, bluebells are in the queue awaiting their turn to flower, the tadpoles have all hatched, and new life and summery sounds are everywhere! Even the butterflies are venturing out.

The low spring sun looks especially beautiful when it shines through the trees, casting stunning light and shade patterns in the fields, making our little valley look as pretty as a picture.

New arrivals

We’re welcoming six new arrivals here this week, a sure sign that spring has finally sprung!

This little orphan lass and five flock-mates arrived on Sunday, just a few days old, and have already made the stable their home.

They're eager to get out into the field and meet the sheep and last year’s lambs, and Blossom the Shetland Pony is desperate to know who is making all the noise in the next door stsble, but for now they'll all have to wait as they are just too small.

Also spotted in our pond is a lovely big batch of tadpoles, so we’re keeping an eye on them too, to protect them from birds, cats and other monsters! It’s a regular maternity ward here! Lovely to see new life all over the place.

#holidaycottages #westwales #selfcatering #farming #ceredigion

Happy World Book Day 2022

Today marks a celebration of one of my favourite things - Books. We’ve just spent a rather literary few days away, visiting the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios in Watford, and the Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden. Our eldest daughter was lost in wonderment at the magic of Harry Potters world, brought to life before our very eyes. I have to be honest and admit it was pretty magical for us too.

The Roald Dahl museum, by contrast was tiny, but charming in its own way. Perhaps more for me than the children as one of them is a bit young for Roalds books and one has somehow passed them by without noticing them . For me, it was a wonderfully nostalgic way to spend an hour or so, reliving the books of my youth, written by a fellow Welshman, and the youngest daughter has gone into school today as Matilda, complete with lizard to pop into Miss Trunchbull’s drink!

Our day trip into London while we were there reminded me what a bunch of country bumpkins we must be. So many sirens, so many cars, so many people, and I didnt know any of them!

The busy life of the towns and cities is a great novelty to us in the country, and its nice to go and have tea with the Queen occasionally, but I am soon ready to get back here to our quiet corner of Wales, where everyone says hello to you, even if they don’t know you. As I sit here writing this, I am appreciating the peace and quiet of the countryside, and thinking what a wonderful place this would be to write a novel. Maybe I should try!

#harrypotter

#wbstudiotour

#worldbookday2022

#welshwriters

#selfcateringcottageswales

#holidaycottageswales

#westisbest

Where’s Wally (the walrus)?!

A new visitor to our shores has featured in the news recently, so we decided to combine a business trip to beautiful Tenby to check him out.

The giant walrus, affectionately named Wally, thought to be from the Arctic, has been making himself at home on the lifeboat slipway at Tenby and proving a great pull to bring the visitors back to Tenby after the long lockdown!

We popped down to say ‘Hi’ to Wally, and he was suitable underwhelmed by all the attention he was getting, preferring to just keep chilling!

The lifeboat crew have to make some noise to get him to move when they have a shout and when they’ve got out of his, he just gets back on to keep sunbathing!

After a damaging year of lockdowns and restrictions, Tenby is doing well out of Wally. We popped into The Nook in Tenby, and found a plethora of lovely handmade Wally gifts, along with other beautiful handmade local items, plus slates and driftwood items from our very own Siani!