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

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

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!

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 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….

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