Poppit Sands Beach, Pembrokeshire
We love Poppit Sands, not far from here. Flat, clean sand, stretching for what feels like miles, with Cardigan Island on the horizon. Different in all weather, but always beautiful, Poppit is a hit for everyone, its lovely to walk on, there are dunes to explore, it's a safe place to paddle and swim, or splash about with a bodyboard, and the dogs love it too! #poppitsands #poppitsandsbeach #visitpembrokeshire #visitpembs #visitpembrokshire #walescoastpath #visitwales #visìtwales #visitwales
We love Poppit Sands, not far from here. Flat, clean sand, stretching for what feels like miles, with Cardigan Island on the horizon. Different in all weather, but always beautiful, Poppit is a hit for everyone, its lovely to walk on, there are dunes to explore, it's a safe place to paddle and swim, or splash about with a bodyboard, and the dogs love it too! #poppitsands #poppitsandsbeach #visitpembrokeshire #visitpembs #visitpembrokshire #walescoastpath #visitwales #visìtwales #visitwales
Sunset at Troedyrhiw Holiday Cottages, Cardigan Bay, West coast of Wales
It's always beautiful here where we are! Every day, every season, the skies and the landscape looks different, and this sunset was no exception. After a really miserable and rainy day, where it actually felt like our little river might burst its bank and flood the field, the rain stopped, the clouds broke, and this happened! I guess tomorrow might be a good day after this shepherds delight.
Sunset at Troedyrhiw Holiday Cottages, Cardigan Bay, West coast of Wales
It's always beautiful here where we are! Every day, every season, the skies and the landscape looks different, and this sunset was no exception. After a really miserable and rainy day, where it actually felt like our little river might burst its bank and flood the field, the rain stopped, the clouds broke, and this happened! I guess tomorrow might be a good day after this shepherds delight.
Other Voices Cardigan, Wales 2024
Other Voices is an annual music festival taking place in a range of locations in Cardigan. This year's event runs from the 31 October until the 2 November, and early bird tickets are available now!
Other Voices Cardigan, Wales 2024
Other Voices is an annual music festival taking place in a range of locations in Cardigan. This year's event runs from the 31 October until the 2 November, and early bird tickets are available now!
#othervoices #othervoiceslive #othervoicescardigan
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/kBAPY1J14MFVtPgi/
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....!
THE WELSH DAFFODIL
There’s nothing quite like coming across the distinctive yellow blooms of a clump of wild daffodils on an early spring day.
The daffodil is the national flower of Wales and is traditionally worn on St David’s Day, which celebrates Wales’ patron saint, David (Dewi sant in Welsh), on 1 March every year, and there are several theories as to why the daffodil came to be a symbol of Wales.
THE WELSH DAFFODIL
If you had to think of an image that represented Wales, three things spring to mind...the dragon, obviously, the leek, and the daffodil, traditionally worn on St Davids Day, which celebrates Dewi Sant (St David) on the 1st March every year. Dewi Sant is the Patron Saint of Wales, founding a large monastery in West Wales on the site of St Davids Cathedral in the sixth century.
The daffodil is thought to have been a symbol of Wales since the 19th century, when it conveniently blooms just in time to celebrate Dewi Sant. Some believe that the popularity of the flower comes from its Welsh name, Cenhinen Pedr, meaning 'Peters Leek', since there is far more historical precedent for wearing leeks, with records of this going back to the 6th century. Welsh folklore has it that Dewi Sant ordered his soldiers to wear leeks to go into battle against the much reviled Saxons, while in the 14th century, archers wore leek themed uniforms of green and white.
The popularity of the daffodil is thought to have grown in the era of David Lloyd George as Prime Minister. A Welsh man himself, Lloyd George would wear a daffodil in his buttonhole. Lets face it, they are a little more attractive to wear than a leek, and smell considerably better!
There are 36 species of daffodil, with over 26,000 cultivated varieties! So which one is the true Welsh Daffodil? Many people consider the Tenby Daffodil to be the traditonal St Davids Day daff, with its smaller uniform yellow flowers and short stiff stem. Either way, we dont mind, we love them all!
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus! Happy St David's Day!
Dydd Gwyo Dewi Hapus! Happy St David's Say!
#DyddGwylDewi #HappyStDavidsDay #WelshPride #CymruAmByth #CelebrateWales #WelshCulture #SaintDavidsDay #ProudToBeWelsh #March1st #DewiSant #visitwales
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!
Where to eat in Cardigan
If you are like me, then the meals, snacks and treats that you enjoy on holiday form a big part of the memories you take home with you, and Cardigan has no shortage of special places to help you create your own foodie memories of your holiday here. From ice cream, to fine cuisine, pizza in a tipi, Mexican street food and locally sourced sea food, Cardigan has a diverse menu on offer.
A foodies guide to Cardigan
One of the things I remember best about holidays is the meals. Not just the food, but where we ate them, the atmosphere, the smells, the sounds.
I can remember eating spit roast chicken on the beach in Spain with my parents like it was yesterday. My children are the same. Days out on holiday are defined by what they had for lunch, be it a picnic in the car in the rain, or a tasty Italian dish in the sunshine.
If you are like me, then the meals, snacks and treats that you enjoy on holiday form a big part of the memories you take home with you, and Cardigan has no shortage of special places to help you create your own foodie memories of your holiday here. From ice cream, to fine cuisine, pizza in a tipi, Mexican street food and locally sourced sea food, Cardigan has a diverse menu on offer.
First we eat…
“Where can we go to eat?”
That’s probably the one question we spend the most time asking on holiday. Something good, tasty, and affordable. Something different to what you can find in any town. Something that satisfies us all. Like any family, we all want something different! “Where can we go to eat?” That’s also probably the one question we get asked the most by our visitors to the area too.
For a little town, Cardigan is bursting at the seams with places to eat. For a fabulous Italian style lunch, you can’t go far wrong with Belottis Delicatessen and café. At the beginning of the High Street, just after the castle, Belottis offers a delicious range homemade meals, including anti-pasti, pasta, barra gallegas and coffee, ice cream and cakes too. If you are a lover of bacon and cream, like me, the carbonara is the dish for you. Otherwise the Italian meat platter is a feast, and one I can also personally recommend!
Belotti's
While we are at that end of the High Street, lets not forget about the Cegin 1176, at Cardigan Castle, which offers deli takeway boxes and a tasty sit down menu in a glass walled restaurant overlooking the river and quayside from a majestic elevated position. On the other side of the road from here, close to the quayside, hidden away behind an archway absolutely covered in ivy, is a personal favourite destination of ours, the Pizza Tipi. Nowhere in the UK could make you feel more like you are abroad than this place! Outside seating, right on the rivers edge, or under the shelter of the giant tipi, around open fires, breathing in the warm, smoky aromas of pizzas cooking in wood fired ovens, time seems to lose its meaning here. Your doggy friends are very welcome here, and this is a lovely place to kick back and chill out with a cold drink on a sunny evening. Oh, and the pizzas are amazing too!
Pizza Tipi
Right at the other end of the High Street, you will find Food for Thought café, a homely café with an extensive lunchtime menu, including omelettes, savoury pancakes, sandwiches and hot meals, as well as wonderful homemade cakes and, my personal favourite, Teapigs tea. Loads of seating, in a quirky and cosy environment, as well as kerbside seating. Just up from here, La Fontana is your destination for delicious ice creams and snacks for either take away or eat in. They offer a delicious dairy free hot chocolate too.
Cardigan Bay Brownies, right in the middle of the high street are masters in the art of the brownie, with more divine varieties than you could shake a stick at, all package conveniently in boxes for you to bring back for tea, or for your picnic. Directly opposite there, you can find Truly Scumptious, who make a wide range of sweet treats, including macaroons and other tasty delights, and also take away lunches. Also in the middle of town, you’ll find Taste the Bay, a newly opened take away offering a mouthwatering array of salad boxes and sandwiches comprising local ham and locally sourced sea food, perfect for your picnic. If you prefer to make your own packed lunch, Queens Bakery, Bara Menyn and Crwst are all wonderful little local bakers with a range of traditional and artisan breads guaranteed to put you into carb overload! Get there early though, when its gone, its gone!
The aforementioned Crwst also have a seating area for you to consume their delicious lunches, and if you’re there, it would really be rather rude not to try one of their yummy donuts, or other sweet plates of deliciousness!
Crwst Cafe
Hiding away in a car park at the lower end of town, is El Salsa, a casual cantina style barn with unique Mexican décor and Mexican street food that is making my mouth water just to write about it. Tacos, burritos and nachos, paired with a cocktail in the sun. What could be better? Tucked away in the corner of a different car park, overlooking the river Teifi, is the Fishermans Rest, where the catch of the day is turned into wholesome and tasty chowder, fishcakes and more.
If you like a steak, don’t miss The Copper Pot. On the high street, The Copper Pot has tasteful indoor seating. And a hidden secret garden for outdoor dining, where you can enjoy a cocktail in the sun before devouring a divine meal. Our personal favourite is the highly recommended Delmonico steak from local high class butcher, Tom Samways, cooked in garlic butter, with fries coated in Maldon sea salt and parsley.
Yr Hen Printworks, so named as it occupies in the newly renovated newspaper press, offers small plates, great for sharing in a tapas style. Each one a taste sensation, the menu here is unique and creative, the atmosphere is casual and cosy, and the cocktails are superb.
Yr Hen Printworks
On a sunny day you might prefer fish and chips on the beach, and there are several very good fish and chip shops to choose from also, all of which we can vouch for! In Cardigan town itself, you will find Cardigan Arms and Pendre, or further afield, Mor Ffein in St Dogmaels and Taten Eirw in Blaenporth come with our taste test stamp of approval!
If you are looking for somewhere to eat out of town, there are sea and river views from the Teifi Waterside waterfront restaurant and The Ferry pub in St Dogmaels, The Flat Rock and the Carreg Restaurant at the Cliff Hotel at Gwbert, and The Ship at Tresaith, all of which offer very good pub food, or you could try The Nags Head at Abercych for tasty homecooked pub food.
And that, as they say, is a wrap, as it is now lunchtime and all this talk of food has made me hungry!
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
Our latest arrivals
Today sees the arrival of twins here at Troedyrhiw!
Today sees the arrival of twins here at Troedyrhiw! Clever Cocoa has presented us with two healthy, adorable lambs. Born late this afternoon, they will soon be gambolling in the field next to the cottages. How lovely!
New twins ❤
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!
Not your usual guests!
Someone has been making themselves cosy and making the most of the lockdown here at Troedyrhiw this spring…
Whilst getting the Coach House ready for the return of visitors very soon, we spotted this little nest tucked up against the window pane in the narrow window. We aren't sure if it's been abandoned, or if it's a work in progress, or who it belongs to, so we'll watch this space for activity!
Who would live in a house like this….?
Let's hope they stick around and raise their babies here!
Freedom, or sort of!
We’ve waited for what seems like a lifetime for this moment! Finally, we are allowed to do what used to seem the most normal thing of all. At long last, we are allowed to get into the car and drive. Not far, admittedly, as we are still under ‘stay local’ restrictions here in Wales, but drive, all the same. And lets face it, round these parts, staying local is pretty darned beautiful!
Sunday saw the four of us, and the dog, pack walking shoes and a picnic and hop in the car (which until recently has been doing roughly three months to the gallon) and vroom off to the fabulous Pengelli Forest.
Just a short ten minute drive from here, with the Iron age fort of Castell Henllys for a neighbour, is this national nature reserve which forms part of the largest block of ancient oak woodland in West Wales, and is home to wildlife including badgers, polecats and doormice. We even saw deer hoof marks on our walk.
With a variety of paths to follow, or varying lengths, we whiled away a good three hours with our three mile walk and picnic, and never saw a soul. Social distancing at its finest!
The great Troedyrhiw bake off
Not much else to do but bake in this weather. By the time we're allowed visitors again, I won't be able to get out of the door! These little gems were requested by my ever chocolate-hungry nippers, and went down a storm. Thank you BBC Good Food!
www.troedyrhiw.com
#baking
#Chocolatebiscuits
#bbcgoodfood
www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk
As long as there is chocolate….
The sun still shines
Finally, a beautiful frosty day in our little valley. Long overdue after weeks of rain, at a time where the last thing we need are grey skies, it put me in mind of one of my favourite Welsh sayings. “Daw haul eto ar fryn” or the sun will come again on the hills, is a beautiful and poetic sentiment for the world in which we find ourselves these last few months.
It's awful odd here these days without our lovely guests too share this beauty with, but we have to keep moving forward. As Annie says “the sun'll come out tomorrow". We hope….
www.troedyrhiw.com
Count your blessings
It's a crazy mad world at the moment, but in a dry moment this morning it struck me that nature is carrying on as normal. This tranquil haven was full of birds and squirrels, going about their business as usual.
www.troedyrhiw.com
#welshwildlifecentre #wetlands #ceredigion #selfcateringcardigan #wildlife
