Saturday 28 July 2012

Make hay while the sun shines!

 While the field has been looking quite wild and attractive recently, it has become increasingly difficult for our guests to find lost balls while endeavouring to play rounders or football.





To the rescue came Ed, Rob and most of Rob's family. Earlier this week they cut the grass, and yesterday they turned the grass, turned it again and again until they baled it up and took it away this morning. A good job done!
The only problem is, since I went out to take photographs, I haven't stopped sneezing. Damn hay fever!
This afternoon we attended a quintessentially Welsh village Summer Fete- brass band, cream teas, book stall, pin the tail on the Welsh dragon, coconut shy, etc. Only spent £1 !

Monday 23 July 2012

What to do at Pentre Bach when it's sunny!!!

Well at last the jet stream has changed course and the sun has well and truly decided to show its face! What a difference!
So .......what to do when its sunny around Pentre Bach http://www.pentrebach.com/?

  • Just chill out and relax on one of our four patios, with a cool glass of wine , gazing out to sea (pods of dolphins have been spotted in the last 2 weeks by our guests)


      • There's lots of space in our gardens and field to sunbathe, enjoy the scenery, play rounders or fly a kite.
      • Climb a mountain




      • Go sailing, kayaking, fishing, kite surfing or even surfing!

          • Go for a walk (see our previous blog 'Lots of lovely walks around Llwyngwril')


    •           Build sandcastles or just go for a paddle
  • Go for a bike ride to the adventurous trails in Coed y Brenin or for a more leisurely ride along the Mawddach Trail stopping off for refreshment at the George III on the way
      • Go on a train ride
      • Visit Portmeirion
      • Play golf
      • Go birdwatching at Ynys-hir
      • Go crabbing off the piers at Aberdyfi or Barmouth
    The list is endless! Just enjoy!

    PS Mike's been taking advantage of the good weather and started the huge job of painting Pen y Lon!

Monday 16 July 2012

Twitching around Pentre Bach

Great news from the Dyfi Osprey Project this week. The chick that the volunteers saved by removing from the nest and virtually force-feeding has matured into a handsome young osprey. On Friday Ceulan (named after a local river)  was once again carefully removed from the nest, weighed, checked all over, ringed and fitted with a satellite tracker. They also established that he's a boy! This good news as apparently male ospreys tend to return to the same area each year. Well done to all at the Dyfi Osprey Project , both human and avian! Visit http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/ for more information.


The DOP is only a 40 minute drive from Pentre Bach http://www.pentrebach.com/ , very close to the RSPB reserve at Ynys-hir (host of the BBC's Springwatch for the last 2 years.
In the other direction from Pentre Bach, near Portmadog (also about 40-50 minute drive) is the RSPB Gaslyn Osprey Project, where an established pair of ospreys have managed to rear 3 chicks this year.
Also less than an hour away from Pentre Bach, is RSPB Lake Vyrnwy where ospreys and peregrines have been nesting this year.
Further afield at Llanddeusant in Carmarthenshire is the Red Kite Feeding Station where at around 3pm each day you can watch the amazing spectacle of hundreds of these magnificent birds swooping down to feed on carrion.

Closer to home we've had 4 swallows/house martins or even swifts (opinion has been very much divided- can anyone inform us?)  hatch from our nest in the barn. The young birds fluttered around in the barn for a few days,making quite a mess, before they were able to use a window of opportunity in the weather and eventually leave the safety of the barn.


However, yesterday, much to our delight, we heard some more twittering coming from another part of the barn, and have discovered another pair of swallows/house martins or swifts, in another nest. So fingers crossed for some more chicks- so we better cover every surface with polythene yet again!
Also spotted yesterday evening were some pipistrelle bats circling around outside our windows as the light was fading- always a great sight.
Oh ..... and more dolphins we spotted out in the bay last week..... but we missed them again. Drat!

Monday 9 July 2012

Summer came to Pentre Bach!

The weather forecasters told us to expect another weekend of dreadful weather , that there were 140 flood alerts across the country and that some places would have a month's worth of rain in a few hours so on Thursday we welcomed the first of our guests to Pentre Bach http://pentrebach.com/ main house and Y Popty with some trepidation. They had come to celebrate Mo's 60th birthday (although Mike was convinced she was 50!) and intended to go pony trekking on Friday and have a barbeque on Saturday.
Thursday evening was beautiful so we began to think that west Wales was going to escape the worst of it. The birthday party relaxed outside of the patio and enjoyed the sunset. What a pity they'd missed the pod of dolphins swimming past earlier that day.
However on Friday we all woke up to rain, rain and more rain. Oh dear, the weather forecasters were right after all. It rained non-stop all day long from morning until night. That evening our other guests arrived, one group of lads and dads from Macclesfield in Pen y Lon, who had come to go mountain-biking. Really? The other group was a couple plus mother from south Wales who are here for a week.
But.........on Saturday morning , we all woke up to glorious unexpected sunshine. It was lovely all day long. The cyclists went off to Coed y Brenin and spent all day cycling, no doubt knee deep in mud but when we saw them eating their evening meal later that evening they all looked squeaky clean and very healthy!
The couple plus mum went off visiting friends then relaxed in and around the cottage , while the big birthday party group made the most of the weather by going to the beach, walking above the village, and relaxing in the garden. Their evening was finished off with a sumptious barbeque , buffet and champagne prepared by Hilary from Cafe Ceunant in Abergynolwyn.





                                            Happy Birthday Mo!

A great day was had by all.
3 of our cottages unfortunately all had to leave on Sunday which turned out to be another glorious day.
We , meanwhile spent our weekend, cleaning , gardening , picking bowls and bowls and bowls of raspberries ( which were distributed to each cottage as we had more than we knew what to do with!), power spray cleaning of the outside of Pen y Lon,  playing table tennis , oh and going to Tywyn cinema to see Men in Black 3. Waited until 5pm on Sunday to welcome new guests into Pen y Lon (while watching tennis but we won't talk about that) then back to Macc and our other lives.
Oh and nearly forgot.......our house martins/swallows have now fledged and eventually left the safety of the barn.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Sizzling Summer Deals at Pentre Bach!

We still have a few weeks available in some of our cottages this summer. Do you know of anyone who's still looking for somewhere to stay this summer? Tell them about Pentre Bach http://www.pentrebach.com
There's up to £200 off a week on the main house. Check out our website for details.
Don't miss out!



Monday 2 July 2012

Where is the gold?

So does anyone actually know where this gold seam is?
Answers on a postcard please to Pentre Bach, Llwyngwril, Gwynedd. We won't tell anyone else!

Sunday 1 July 2012

Gold Rush in Llwyngwril!

A fairly quiet week at Pentre Bach http://www.pentrebach.com apart from one broken window pane in the main house lounge window, which will be repaired anytime soon.
The weather was very changeable but Llwyngwril seems to have faired better than lots of other places in the UK. We did, however, have some spectacular sunsets this week!


thanks Rhys for this one!



Don't tell anyone but rumour has it (cue Adele), that there is a seam of gold that runs from Cader Idris down to the village! Potential prospectors can stay very comfortably in one of Pentre Bach's cosy cottages!