Mix n' Match Quality Cottages with Surfing Beaches

Wales has a coastline of roughly 1680 miles including Anglesey and Holyhead and so it is not surprising that we have more than our fair share of wonderful surfing beaches. Why not mix n match Quality Cottages with your favourite surfing beaches for an ideal holiday.


Type the name of your favourite surfing beach into the text search box on http://www.qualitycottages.co.uk/ and see what comes up.


Here is a list of surfing beaches to help you:


Surfing Beaches in Wales


South West Wales


Aberavon


Tenby


Freshwater East


Freshwater West – voted 1 of the top 10 in the UK by the Guardian
                                & venue for the 2011 Welsh National Championships


Newgale


Abereiddy


Pembrey


Manorbier


Broadhaven South


Freshwest Reefs


Whitesands


North Wales


Anglesey


Aberffraw


Church Bay


Rhosneigr


Trearddur


Cable Bay


Traeth Lligwy


Silver Bay


Gwynedd Beaches


Aberdaron


Llwyngwril


Porth Neigwl – voted 1 of the top 10 in the UK by the Guardian


Tywyn


Barmouth


Porth Ceiriad


Porth Oer


Conwy Beaches


Llandudno


Rhos on Sea


Mid Wales Beaches


The Harbour Trap Aberystwyth


Borth


Morfa Bychan


North Beach Aberystwyth


Llangrannog

The Biggest Surfing Event in Wales 22nd - 25th April 2011

Notice posted by the Welsh Surfing Federation

Organisers will look to run the event over the Saturday, Sunday, Monday but may utilise the bank holiday Friday should conditions dictate. The event which showcases Wales best surfing talent in a variety of disciplines and age categories is the biggest surfing event in Wales and thanks once again to Quiksilver, promises to be even better than last year.

Current Open Champion Adam Jenkins will be looking to defend his crown from a rejuvenated and fully fit Lloyd Cole who was unable to defend his title last year due to injury. The Swansea duo won’t find it easy though as they face an in form and on a hat-trick George Schofield, who recently took both Elusive Welsh Open and Tsunami Cup titles.
In the Women’s Beth Mason is also on hat-trick as she looks to fend off the challenge from local girl Jo Dennison and close friend Gwen Spurlock.
The Quiksilver Welsh Nationals have been blessed over the last few years with excellent conditions and good weather, organisers will be hoping the good luck remains unchanged and that Fresh West in Pembrokeshire serves up some great waves.
With the added bonus of a possible four days of competition available, organisers will be able to make to most of what ever mother nature provides. As always our champions skills and fitness will be tested to the max.
On behalf of the WSF we look forward to seeing you at the event and wish all the very best of luck, entry forms are available through the WSF website and should be received no later than Tuesday 19th April.
Mark Vaughan

Cultural Capers at the Laugharne Weekend 15th - 17th April 2011

Literature, music, poetry and cultural capers will be taking place at the Laugharne Weekend 15th - 17th April 2011

Kate Quill of The Times recommends Laugharne for a great British weekend. She suggests you listen to a recording of Richard Burton reading Under Milk Wood on route to appreciate fully the spirit of West Wales where Dylan Thomas lived and wrote.


Carmarthenshire inspired Thomas all his life and the town of Laugharne was where he wrote some of his best work.


Laugharne has no Dylan themed tea shops or cheap souvenir shops spoiling its fine Georgian streets. It is populated by cheerful people who greet you warmly like neighbours. Clearly tourism hasn’t made them cynical.

His ‘seashaken house built on a breakneck of rocks’ is now a museum dedicated to the life and work of Dylan Thomas. Visit The Boathouse alongside the beautiful ‘heron priested shores’ of the Taf Estuary. Enjoy the snug homely place, have a cup of tea and a piece of Bara Brith (fruit cake) and peep into Dylan’s shed, a charming untidy writing den, preserved just as he left it in 1953.

 Laugharne has other attractions to offer beside Dylan Thomas. Take a stroll alongside the river, visit the castle, browse the handful of interesting shops, eat and drink to your hearts content.

Why not make it more than a weekend and explore the superb surrounding Carmarthenshire coast and countryside .

                                               Laugharne Castle

                                   Cefn Sidan Sands

Laugharne shop

An example of how Quality Cottages will go that extra mile......

Once a new property has been taken on it must be photographed for advertising on the web and in the brochure. The interior and exterior must be recorded as well as the surrounding locality.

Photography is a weather reliant pursuit. Recently it was necessary for two members of the procurement team to spend two whole days achieving the quality property shots necessary. A third member of staff attempted and aborted four visits to the locality before achieving the necessary pictures of the local area on the fifth visit.

A total of seven visits finally resulted in the high quality material deemed essential for an honest and complete representation of the property.

Quality Cottages will always go that extra mile to maintain its high standards of service to all of its clients, owners and guests.

The Lost Garden of Pembrokeshire......

Penty Park Walled Garden in Walton East, Pembrokeshire is currently being restored by local business woman Lesley Lewis, proprietor of The Georges Restaurant in Haverfordwest.

After years of neglect Lesley plans to restore the once productive fruit and vegetable area of Penty Park Estate using a sympathetic approach to its history and ecology with sustainable and organic development.

 After 4 years hard work the gardener's cottage has been restored using original materials where possible and the garden is beginning to produce food again including honey, strawberries, organic herbs and leaves for the Georges Restaurant. A large green house has been reinstated along with its original wiring system where soft fruit and salad crops will be nutured. Much of the area will retain its natural peace and beauty as parkland nurturing wildlife, birds and ancient shrubs and trees. Lesley hopes in the future to open the garden as part of the National Garden Scheme open gardens for charity.

It is important to gather as much information as possible to guide and inform the work as it progresses.

If you have any information, particularly photographs or records of the garden in the past Lesley would be happy to copy and return them. She would vey much appreciate contact from anyone who can add to her knowledge. Lesley is already familiar with the book by Cecilia Jenkin nee Philipps Lloyd, who grew up at Penty Park in the early part of the 20th C but information from local families or workers on the estste with memories of the garden would be very useful. You may even have skills that would assist in this important attempt to preserve Pembrokeshire's heritage.

If you can help in any way please contact Lesley Lewis or Kay Fuller at The Georges, 24 Market Street, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA61 1NH
Telephone 01437 766683

                                                           Victorian Dipping Pool



Rome wasn't built in a day..

From Copper Lodge near Welshpool and Newtown Kathy and Angelo nipped over the border to visit the fascinating Roman City of Wroxeter.
An innovative Channel 4 programme instigated the construction of a recreated Roman Town House on the site. A team of modern builders built the house using traditional Roman methods supervised by Professor Dai Morgan Evans (a good Welsh name) with a Roman building manual written 2000 years ago by engineer Vitruvius.
The result is this remarkable building now open to the public.

Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr

Owain Glyndwr was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales. He led a long and unsuccessful uprising aginst Henry IV of England - the last war of independence.  Owain was never captured or tempted by Royal pardons. He was last seen in 1412 his last years still a mystery.

In 2002 Owain Glyndwr was voted 23rd out of 100 Greatest Britons. Glyndwr Day 16th September is celebrated by the flying of Welsh flags.

The Owain Glyndwr Centre in Machynlleth tells of his campaigns and plans for the future of Wales. Visit the site of the National Assembley of Wales held by Owain Glyndwr in midsummer 1404 when he was crowned Prince of Wales.

An extract from "Over half a century in a Pembrokeshire Paradise" written in 1992 by John Hayward Lavis

Walk through National Trust woodland to Abermawr

'The Closing of the Circle'
My wife and I are English born and first came to live in North Pembrokeshire in the late 1950's. Having been away for a few years in the eighties, we have now returned to view the changes that have taken place and ponder the future for this region of Wales.

I am now writing with an ink pen on paper sitting at my desk in the small first floor study of our cottage home, some three miles inland from that remote, roaring storm beach of Abermawr in west Wales. Life here is a daily delight.

The desk at which I sit is a knee-hole design of dark oak and sits directly under the window and on a level with the sill. Whilst I am writing this, if I pause for thought, or more likely for inspiration and raise my head, I look over the village green, which in its turn slopes down and away to a vast and magnificently beautiful wetland marsh, a wild and enchanting waste of reeds and water where hunt marsh harrier and the sparrow hawk. Here also live the heron, the otter and the kingfisher, all in competition, one with the other, for the frogs, eels and wild brown trout which dart over the gravelled shallows of the infant river.

The area referred to near the source of the Western Cleddau is now a National Nature Reserve ' Corsydd Llangloffan' . Otters, water shrews, water voles, polecats and badgers all use the reserve.
For a full description click on the
Countryside Council for Wales .

An accessible boardwalk runs for a kilometre along a circular route through the reserve, direct from the roadside gate.Click on John Hayward Lavis to read his full story.

The reserve lies about five-and-a-half kilometres southwest of Fishguard, just to the north of Castlemorris.

Extract continued:


We have in fact closed the circle. This is where we have finished up - where we buried our mothers and raised our children - a return to roots and a way of life that no longer exists in England. We cannot think of anywhere in the world where we would rather be or any way of life which we would rather lead. We are very lucky.

                                                               Corsydd Llangloffan

Fancy a spot of Wellie Wanging this weekend?

Wear your Wellies Day at Erddig


Splash, paddle, wade and jump your way around Erddig in your wellies.


Great day out for all the family. Wellie Whanging, Seed Planting, Pottery making, willow workshop, live Owls to hold and Face Painting. Go on a welly wander and create your own journey stick. Trails and welly hunt too!


Sunday, 10 April 2011 11am - 4pm Gates open: 11am
Last admission time: 4pm
Adult £11, Child £5.50, Family £27.50, Group £8.40

Erddig

Wrexham, North Wales LL13 0YT
Telephone: 01978 355314

Hannah Nunn lamps at home: Polly Lovegrove's dresser & Pandy Bach

Hannah Nunn lamps at home: Polly Lovegrove's dresser & Pandy Bach: "A lovely lady called Polly Lovegrove bought this lamp recently and she says, I quote 'I love it a lot, a lot ,a lot. I keep looking at it w..."

Whistling sands/Porth Oer

I hesitate in sharing my photographs of whistling sands as I don't want to spoil this couples peace and quiet as they read on the beach (10 days ago) on the Lleyn. The stretch of sand which squeaks and squeals beneath your feet was practically deserted until we arrived. I think the photographs say it all!

Fresh Air and Culture

Magical Willow Globe Outdoor Theatre & Nature Trail
Penlanole, Llanwrthwl, Mid Wales


Opening of the 2011 season on Saturday April 23rd at 3pm to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday. Entry free. Click on the name for more information.

Spice up your life.

Linda's Thai Take Away, Llechryd near Cardigan
What a lovely surprise to come across exotic food tucked away in the heart of the pretty little Welsh village of Llechryd on the Teifi River. We went to walk along the delightful riverside path to Cilgerran Castle. The last thing on our minds was Thai food. We stumbled across the hand written sign on our way out of the village homeward bound. Next time I won't be packing the picnic basket, instead we will indulge in a Thai feast along the river. Has anyone tried Linda's Thai take away ?

If you go down to the wood today......

Colby Woodland Garden (National Trust)


Head Gardener's Walk & Cream Tea


Join Colby's Head Gardener Steve Whitehead for a relaxed tour of the woodland garden followed by a Pembrokeshire cream tea in the Bothy Tea-room and a chance to chat, ask questions and pick up hints and tips


Wednesday, 13 April 2011

2:30 pm - 4:30 pm

All Tickets £10

Colby Woodland Garden

near Amroth, Pembrokeshire SA67 8PP

Telephone: 01834 811885

Put on your dancing shoes.

Upstairs Downstairs Dance



Dancing comes back to the Music Room at Plas Newyyd (National Trust), Anglesey.


Experience an evening of entertainment by joining in and tripping the light fantastic in the footsteps of the aristocracy followed by a change of mood that will get your toes tapping as you are taken through the dances enjoyed by the below the stairs staff. Don't forget your dancing shoes!


Saturday, 30 April 2011 7pm - 9:30 pm Gates open: 6.30pm
All Tickets £12


Plas Newydd Country House and Gardens


Llanfairpwll, Anglesey LL61 6DQ
Telephone: 01248 715272

Fantastic Island for Family Holidays by George Woolley from Cheshire

...from Anglesey Today Blog
I have holidayed on the island of Angelsey for over 20 years and all I can say it is one fantastic place.
A lovely place for families to enjoy, great coast views, interesting walks in the countryside.
Last year we had ten weeks at Ligwy I walked up Parys mountain 2 or 3 times and I am turned 77 years.
It is the only place to be, the island beaches are fantastic, water clean and if you talk to the locals there is so much to learn

                                                            Lligwy Beach Anglesey



Look carefully its a glove tree!

Marks & Spencers must be growing their own. The glove tree is outside Marks & Spencers in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.

Its official the Royal wedding ring will be made from Welsh gold.

The palace have confirmed that Kate Middleton will wear a wedding band made of Welsh gold from a nugget supplied by Cloggau Welsh Gold Company. Prince William who does not care for jewellery of any sort has chosen not to wear a wedding ring with the backing of his future wife. 

This Welsh gold ring is inscribed with the word 'Cariad' Welsh for sweetheart.
To read more about Welsh gold mined in Snowdonia click on the link below.
http://www.clogau.co.uk/AboutClogau/AbtClogau.aspx

Gwili Pottery has a new website

OUR NEW WEBSITE IS HERE!


We have a new website that aims to show all of our designs and shapes in an easy to use format.
Although our website is not quite finished we thought you might like to have a look at it now and bookmark it for future views.
We hope we have made it easier to view and buy our pots on line, as well as give you an idea of our ever changing gallery pieces.
We have added a new line at the Pottery. We spotted some beautiful Country style furniture made by a local maker and after meeting the guys at Country Wood crafts we asked if we could sell their furniture at Gwili pottery, which i'm pleased to say they agreed to, so now we have a beautiful range of wooden furniture to display our wonderful pots on.
We will be adding new products daily so please do come back and have a look soon.
Gwili Pottery Pontarsais Carmarthen
www.gwilipottery.com.

Lleyn Coast

Here are three of the many beaches I visited last weekend while I was staying at Bodnitho in Botnnwog on the Lleyn.There are so many hidden beaches to find off the roads. 

Dine Out Wales

Dine Out Wales



Dine Out Wales is an exciting new way to save £ 1000's each year when dining out in Wales.


With 100+ restaurants to choose from you can experience the best cuisine Wales has to offer. All you do is show your stylish Dine Out Wales card at any of the participating restaurants to get 50% off the food bill or 2 for 1 meals plus many other great offers.


"I have been a member of Dineout Wales since October 2010 and believe that it is the only way to dine in Wales! From the very first time my girlfriend and I used the card we have saved money, starting with a saving of £50 on my girlfriend's birthday! We have gone from just going out for a meal on special occasions to going a few times a month, exploring new places and finding new favourites. Needless to say my girlfriend is very happy." James Rothwell

Put on your dancing shoes

Trefor Owen is the only full time professional maker of Welsh clogs from hide and log to the finished item. He makes other styles of clog too for national and international customers. Visit his workshop in Heol Henbont near Criccieth in North Wales.

A Challenge

Can you help? How many suitable Mothers Day venues in Wales can we come up with before the weekend?

An evening out with The Kre8ers at the Fox & Hounds in Cwmcych

Great songs by, Stereophonics, Beatles, The killers, Elvis, Van Morrison, Ben E King, Free, Rodgers,Kings of Leon and many more !!

....and of course some of our very own songs. It is gonna be a great night at Cwmcych near Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire.
The Fox & Hounds is a great venue, refurbished and extended. Run by a lovely family who have recently taken it over. Bar meals served until 11pm. Friendly and warm with outside covered beer garden.
Notice from The Kre8ers



Fancy a long walk? The Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail is the single most popular visitor attraction in the county.

The 186 mile Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail follows the fine coastal landscape of the UK's only Coastal National Park and has recently won a Pembrokeshire Tourism Award for Best Day Out.
See for yourself. Walk as much or as little as you like and take one of the dedicated walkers buses back to your start point. Enjoy magnificent coastal scenery, sandy beaches, hidden coves, marine wild life, wild flowers and sleepy villages. Oh and don't worry if you can't manage the whole 186 miles. Come again. We will always keep a welcome.

Celtic Quest Coasteering has swept the board achieving Gold, Silver & Bronze Tourism Awards

Congratulations Celtic Quest Coasteering on winning 3 prestigious Pembrokeshire Tourism Awards 2011.
Bronze for Exciting New Business, Silver for Best Day Out and Gold for Best Marketing.
For the uninitiated Coasteeering is a unique way of exploring the Pembrokeshire coastline including, rock hopping, rock scrambling, jumping, adventure swimming and much more. Activities are tailored to the customers needs and are suitable for all from 8yrs + physically fit and / or physically challenged. Go on give it a try you will not be disappointed.

Bronze Award for the Griffin Inn Dale, Pembrokeshire

Congratulations to Simon & Sian proprietors of the Griffin Inn, Dale since November 2010 on achieving a Bronze Award from the 2011 Pembrokeshire Tourism Awards for Best Eating Out Experience.

The Griffin, a traditional 16th C inn located on the seafront in the delightful coastal village of Dale serves quality pub food made with local ingredients whenever possible.

Check the pub website for on going events such as delicious Sunday roasts, Seafood Extraviganza during Pembrokeshire Fish Week June25th - July 3rd, Seafood Barbeque 26th June & 3rd July, Fun Fishy Quiz, Fishy Dishes & Wine Tasting 30th June (booking essential), something special to mark the Royal Wedding and much more.
Simon & Sian look forward to welcoming you.

Foodies wil love The Walnut Tree - The Best Restaurant in Wales

No formalities, no fuss, no pomp just very good food prepared using selected fresh local ingredients whenever possible and an extensive range of decent wines to choose from, by the bottle or glass.  The Walnut Tree in Llanddewi Skirrid, Monmouthshire gained a Michelin star after 2 years in business and was voted the Best Restaurant in Wales by the National Restaurant Awards last October.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating so give it a try. See what you think. 'Bon Appetit'.

Cottage to let?

Do you own a house or cottage that you would like to let for holidays?

Thinking about buying a property to let for holiday rental income?

We are always happy to advise and help in any way we can so if you would like an informal chat or a visit (without obligation) please call us free on 0800 007 5299
http://www.qualitycottages.co.uk/

There is something for everyone at Nant.

Visitors to the Llyn Peninsula, North Wales can enjoy Nant Gwrtheyrn Heritage Centre which houses displays about the Welsh language and culture, as well as the history of the village which includes a period house set in a Victorian quarry community and information about the unique wildlife which can be discovered in this remote coastal valley and beach.



There is something for everyone at Nant


See how the quarrymen lived in 1910.


Visit the new exhibition in the Heritage Centre


Stop and see Meinir’s Tree


Take a group


Relax in the café


Surrounded by the Eifl mountains and Nefyn Bay, the unique valley of Nant Gwrtheyrn is a remarkable sight for any first time visitor to the area.