Carmarthenshire self catering cottage in Wales

Planet

Our farm is an organic dairy farm in the Teifi Valley of north Carmarthenshire in west Wales comprising just over 200 acres. The farm has been licensed by the Soil Association since 1997 and our committment to the organic ethos encompasses all we do here. As well as farming organically we use only organic or environmentally friendly products in the gardens, the farmhouse & cottage.

We grow as much food ourselves as is practical and our home-reared meat is slaughtered at a local abattoir thus reducing food-miles. Our nearest small town is 6 miles away and there we can get everything we need from independent shopkeepers without having to drive to larger towns to shop in supermarkets.

The farm has worked in a Welsh Assembly environmental scheme for many years. With 40 acres of woodland the management plan ensures that we have a constant supply of firewood & timber for building and furniture making. Most of the furniture in the vacation cottage & the farmhouse has been made from our own trees that were harvested, processed & made into beds etc. by ourselves. No wood-miles, just wood-metres!
All the fuel for the several wood-burning stoves in the farmhouse & cottage comes from our woodlands.

The woodland management ensures that the woods are suitable habitats for a large variety of species. We have badgers, foxes, rabbits, bats, owls, buzzards all in residence and on the small river that is the northern boundary of the farm there are otters, herons, kingfishers, trout, sewin & salmon. Red deer and red kites are also often seen in the locality.

We have our own private water supply (therefore no chlorination or fluoridation) from springs on the farm. It is quality tested annually.

The fine stone buildings on the farm including the cottage, date from the mid-19th century though the main farmhouse dates from 16th-17th century. All the buildings are Grade 2 listed by CADW. We make every effort to maintain these buildings appropriately and they are still in use as farm buildings housing the milking parlour, calf pens, workshops etc.

People

Over many years we have hosted visits by local, and not-so local, schools to the farm when we show the children where their food comes from and what a real farm is all about.
We also host farm walks, free of charge, for any other interested parties & individuals.
The farm is a member of the Soil Association.
We have worked with the Countryside Alliance Foundation, FACE (Farming & Countryside Education) & have been part of Open Farm Sunday. We are CEVAS accredited.

The Teifi Valley is little known corner of Wales yet a number of initiatives have developed to promote the area including the Visit Teifi Valley tourism group of which we are members.
There are many artists & craftspeople in the area and we all try to work together to our mutual benefit. Vacation makers can visit craftmarkets & artist's open studios as well as the wonderful local museums & historic sites.
There are also a large number of artisan food producers in the area & organic market gardeners who supply local pubs, restaurants & shops.

Our guests are encouraged to ask us about the locality and we are able to give them a lot of information on good places to eat, wonderful places to walk and to where to shop locally instead of driving many miles to the nearest supermarket. We provide maps of the area for our guests as well as offering them useful local information over a cup of fresh coffee in the farmhouse kitchen.

Public transport is available within walking distance of the farm.
There are a number of Sustrans routes in the area.