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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

No **** ups this week ....just a few hiccups

A fairly uneventful weekend. 
Thursday 20th :Arrived Thursday to find our Pen y Lon guests had left a day early due to a poor weather forecast. As it happened, the weather wasn't too bad. Oh, and there had been no hot water from that morning. Got good old Stuart came out to diagnose the problem. He fixed the burst water pipe but needs another electrical part. Good job there's no one else coming into PYL for a fortnight, except us. Still, no heating or hot water in PYL beats staying in the caravan!
Our other guests in Y Popty and Y Llaethdy had all lasted out the week, despite mixed weather, and enjoyed their stays. 
Friday 21st: Tom arrived at lunchtime, armed with lots of photography equipment to take photos inside the main house. Looks very professional! Can't wait to see the results.
Got the cottages cleaned , and our first guests for Y Llaethdy arrived around 3pm- a lovely couple who're going to be house hunting in the village all week.
Old dishwasher in the house had finally given up the ghost last week so Mike replaced it with a new one. Freezer had also packed two weeks ago and new one not arriving until Monday but main house can use the one in Y Popty this weekend. Why does everything go at once?
Tom was just leaving the house as the main house guests arrived, we then had our obligatory game of table tennis( which I won 2:0), a  quick tea then went off to Tywyn to watch The Dictator at The Magic Lantern (3/10), was funny in places but wouldn't recommend it. It was a beautiful evening as we drove back to the village.


Saturday 22nd : A dry morning so got on with various jobs around Pentre Bach, including staining new garden chairs and weeding the fruit garden and veg garden. All the rain has certainly made our weeds flourish! The nettles were taller than the raspberry canes.

Fitted in another game of table tennis, despite the all the balls being dented (I won 2:1- had to let him win one game!).


A quick shower then set off ,just as the rain was starting, for a meal at Helen and Peter's house. Had a lovely meal and lovely evening, before walking back again in pouring rain.


Sunday 23rd: Our house guests reluctantly left by about 11.20am , just as the sun was coming out and the clouds were disappearing. What a shame.
Made a start at cleaning the house. Now thinking about going out for a walk. Not going back to Macc this week as have a week of workmen coming and going, appliances being delivered and main house guests arriving mid week. 
Looking forward to watching England taking on Italy tonight. Let's hope they play a whole lot better than they've played so far or it could be very embarrassing!


Later
Well we went for our little stroll..........remind me never to let Mike lead the way again! We set off towards Cae Du campsite but took a short cut down towards the sea, and ended up walking along the railway line for a couple of hundred yards, managing just to scramble over a gap in a wall into the campsite seconds before the train came past...skin of our teeth job! 
Then we had a very pleasant walk along the beach by Salt Rock and past Glwndwr's Cave, then onwards towards Tonfanau. Decided to head inland, scrambling up some sea defence walls, through a jungle-like, extremely overgrown 'path' and ...........back onto the railway line!!!! Another swift walk of about a hundred yards, keeping an eye open for passing trains then over a fence and into another field , with no path in sight, just a suspiciously military-looking type high wall in the middle of the field. Got the other side but no gate so had to climb over a barbed wire fence. Walked along a fairly safe road until we took a left turn onto part of the Wales Coastal Path, across some marshy ground and through a few gates until we came to a field that contained what looked very much like a bull sitting in the middle. I walked a lot quicker at this point but  fortunately the bull didn't take any notice of us and we managed to reach the other side of the field without any further incident. Phew! Reached the road, then kept to the road, thank goodness, until we got back to the van.

A weekend in the lives of Mike and Wilma ......with a little bit of a **** up!

Thursday14th June -Arrived at Pentre Bach early afternoon , unpacked our stuff into Pen y Lon and set to work cutting grass, making beds, etc. in preparation for guests arriving Friday. Managed a few of games of table tennis. Mike won 3:0 I think.

Friday 15th - Rained all day! Gerald arrived and we finished off all cleaning and preparations in all cottages. De-camped to the caravan. The main house, Y Popty and Y Llaethdy were hosts to a large group celebrating a 50th birthday. The first guests arrived around 4ish then the rest of the party arrived in dribs and drabs until the birthday boy arrived to be be met by exploding paper fireworks in the drive. To be fair , some people tried to clear up all the mess but we've been picking up bits of shiny curly paper for days since! For some reason this group tried to break the record for the number of vehicles that could squash into the parking area next to the house. They managed 9 cars and a motor bike! Anyway they all had a great time over the weekend.
Meanwhile our Pen y Lon guests arrived around 7ish, just as we'd started eating our curry- but they weren't to know!

Saturday 16th - Torrential sideways rain nearly all day. Stayed in the caravan (even resorted to cleaning it!!) until about 5.25pm  when it seemed to let up a bit so we ventured out to catch the 5.35 train to Bamouth only to watch it go past as we approached the station! Rushed back to the car and drove to Fairbourne Point to watch the yachts emerge from the harbour to start the Barmouth to Fort William Three Peaks Yacht Race out in the bay. Not a great evening to start a yacht race. Rather them than me!

From there we drove up to the Cross Foxes beyond Dolgellau for a lovely meal. Nice spot!

Sunday 17th - Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. Hooray! The large party were vacating Y Popty and Y Llaethdy so we set to work cleaning those 2 cottages and preparing for guests arriving later that day and Monday. Finished Y Llaethdy, moved our stuff into Y Popty, had lunch and decided we had time for a walk before Y Llaethdy guests arrived. Drove to Llangellynin church then walked up the hillside above and over the top, walked a little bit of the coastal path and back down to the road to come back to the car- steep at first but had amazing views.

Got back just in time to welcome our new guests into Y Llaethdy- turns out that Mr ****** is a keen photographer so might be able to send us a few photographs for our website.

Played table tennis again- 2:1 to Mike then settled down in Y Popty to watch telly and make tea. Just sat down when we noticed a yellow car draw up outside. Uh oh ....... it was the *******s . They were arriving on the 17th , not the 18th!!! Why hadn't one of us spotted this?!!!

Mike ran out to tell them that the cottage wasn't quite ready so could they give us another half hour. Fortunately they were fine with this and went off to the pub. More than three hours later they arrived back but we'd only taken 20 minutes to move all our stuff back to the caravan and finish off cleaning Y Popty. So...... another night in the caravan.

Had a knock at the door at 10.45pm asking how to get the telly in the house to work. The joys of running a self catering cottage business!

Monday 18th - The birthday group left the house by about 11am., Julie arrived and we set to work cleaning.  Tom called round to discuss photographs and videos and we even managed another couple of games of table tennis- 2:0 to Wilma !!!! Brought the hanging baskets out again now that the worst of the weather was over.  Left for Macclesfield around 5 ish.

Will be back on Thursday to start all over again.