‘What’s that?’ You may well ask!

Toilet Twinning has been running since 2010 and funds global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes run by Tearfund. ‘Tearfund’s partners work alongside communities, bringing people together in workshops and action groups focused on issues that concern them – such as farming. Lasting, whole-life transformation comes from working alongside someone, not making decisions on their behalf. Toilet Twinning’s approach is about dignity and self-respect as much as it is about alleviating poverty and accessing safe sanitation.’ (words from Toilet Twinning’s website).

Our Carbon Footprint…

We’re really happy to receive results of our Carbon Emissions Survey from Ecollective, in collaboration with Canopy and Stars. We’re super excited to report that our carbon footprint per cabin per night is currently 1.0kg CO2e. This amount can be compared with the National average for UK Hotels of 14.9kg (CO2e) per bedroom per night.

Huge thanks to Kevin who came down on one of the hottest days of the year to give Bear, Jasper and Rosemarie a pedicure!

Big brave Bear went first and showed nervous Jasper and Rosemarie how it was done. All three of them behaved themselves and then bolted off together into the cool shade of the trees once it was all over! They’ve been enjoying cooling off in the river and streams during this warm weather.

We were very pleased to support fundraising legend SpeedoMick over the weekend, by putting him up for a night in Llwynbwch Barn.

SpeedoMick (Michael Cullen) is well known for his incredible fundraising efforts wearing his trademark speedos and little else! He’s walking through Wales as part of the ‘Giving Back Tour 2021’ a mammoth five-month, 2000 mile trek across the UK and Ireland, taking him to all five capitals. He’s raising money as well as handing out from his previous fundraising adventures.

May Day, May 1st, Beltane. Half way between the spring equinox and summer solstice. And if there’s ever been a time to look forward to summer, this surely has to be it! We are open once again after the most recent lockdowns. Having guests returning has brought a smile to our faces, to see people sitting round the campfires, hear children playing and for all you lovely folk to be able to explore our little corner of Wales after all that time at home!

As the snow and ice has made way for milder days we’ve been so happy to be outside more, starting clearing for spring.

One of the positive things to have come out of this past year during the pandemic and its various lockdowns has been the growth of some great local initiatives and businesses. Like many, we’ve been trying to keep our footprints small and have been very happy to shop and support local. We wanted to share some of our finds with you and hope you may explore them too!

We’re feeling excited, tired and muddy. Very muddy!

We’ve finally started work on our new build – the next stage for Under Starry Skies. We’re creating a communal building for use of our guests in Hafan & Derwen cabins. It will have a lovely light & homely room for cooking, eating & chilling together and an outside deck for enjoying summer days. We hope this will be the perfect place for families or friends to hang out together. There will also be two shower rooms and a new home for our teeny tiny honesty shop. The building will be off-grid and made from local materials where possible. It will be located a short walk from the cabins, near to the car parking area, so everything will be close together.

We hope you’re keeping well during these uncertain times. We’re missing welcoming you to our little spot in the Welsh hills. It’s been very strange indeed to have to close our business for most of this year and we understand it has been upsetting for those of you who’ve cancelled holidays. Thanks for your understanding and support, especially to those who have rescheduled dates.

What do you do when you’re put in lockdown and have to close your business? This is the first stretch of time that we haven’t had any guests here at Llwynbwch since we opened in 2012 & it has definitely been very strange! We thought we’d write a little update about what we’ve been up to behind the scenes this year…

We’re really excited to welcome four beautiful Exmoor ponies to help us with our land managment and grazing here at Llwynbwch. Gypsy, Rosemarie, Sienna and Ursula arrived a week ago and have to come to us from a local Welsh breeder, with help from The Exmoor Pony Society. Ursula and Sienna have recently been grazing a nature Reserve in nearby Ystradgynlais. All four of them are very friendly and inquisitive and have the distinctive Exmoor features of a reddish brown coat and honey coloured ‘mealy’ markings aound their eyes and muzzle. It’s a good job they’re hardy little ponies, as this past week we’ve had a lot of rain! Their shaggy thick coats and wide nostrils mean the cold and wet is no bother to them.