Skip dinner and go Fishing!

At the height of summer with bright, hot days and low flows in the river it is almost pointless going to the Usk to fish for trout. The trout are sleeping at the bottom and you will just get hot and bothered wrapped up in rubber waders.

However, if you take the brave decision to skip dinner (or eat something early)and head down to the river from about 8.00pm onwards you could be rewarded with some superb fly fishing. The hatches at dusk earlier this week have been enormous. These two pictures of Amelia and Matthew Wright were taken at the hotel's Llandetty Beat  where the spent the evening of June 12th under the guiding hand of, Jimmy Devoy, the Ghillie. Amelia's fish must be around the 3.5 lbs mark.

Somebody else who putting fishing before his supper was, Peter Gavan. He told me he was normally apprehensive wading out alone into the Salmon Pool Beat below the hotel as it normally hides some deep holes within it, but the water levels down he felt far more confident or mid-summers' eve. Fishing between 8-10pm with a Coch y Bondu and a Tups Indispensable he had six trout, with 3 over a 1.5 lbs.

Home Grown & Local

The mixture of sun, a couple of hours of rain and our very own compost ( made from a combination of food waste and wood chip) has meant a burst of activity from our vegetable patches at Gliffaes. Everything Peta has planted seems to be coming up now. While we can't pretend to grow anything like the quantity of veg we need we can grow salads and herbs very easily. During the summer and autumn we also get a great selection of organic vegetables from Pen Pont Estate near Brecon and Primrose Farm near Hay-on-Wye. Friday morning saw the following coming into the kitchen from our garden for Karl and his team to use over the weekend in  salads, garnishes and marinades.

Lettuces: Little Gem, Webbs Wonderful, Cos-Pandero & Catalogna.
Herbs: Parsley Flat and Curled & Coriander

Carrots, beetroot, beans,  Jerusalem artichokes and courgettes all to come as the season moves on.

Some of the good things appearing on the menu over the weekend were; (remembering that we change the dinner menu every night)

Rack of New Season Lamb, Nicoise Salad, Raspberry Vinaigrette
Fillet of Wild Sewin (sea trout), New Potatoes, Saffron Leeks, Spiced Oyster Tempura
Cornish Lobster, Spiced Potted Crab, Potato Salad, Samphire Grass
Y-Fenni Goats Cheese & Roquette Soufflé, Buttered Spinach, Horseradish & Thyme Cream

Remember the restaurant uis open to non-residents for all meals, and you only need to book for dinner. (01874 730 371)

Evening Trout Fishing

That wonderful moment when evening trout fishing is here has arrived. I fished last Saturday and started at about 8pm on a beautiful evening. I set off to the top part of Llandetty where I know good fish live and found lots happening and good sized fish. Using a klinkhammer with a grey body and a grey wolf hackle size 14 I soon found takers but all going short until a fish was hooked. It took off with no respect for the amount of line on my reel and when I finally netted this huge beast it was hooked in one of the front fins and was all of 9 oz!! That part of Llandetty, which has been cleared to make much easier access is well worth a visit.

I returned with my one fish to see Peta into a big fish which she promptly lost it so we needed another fish to make our Bar-B-Q worth while. A few moments later I hooked another just after ten about a lb. Sadly Ali (grand daughter) didn’t score but we all enjoyed the delicious Usk wild brown trout.

I was out last night on Gliffaes middle beat at 8.30pm fishing the same fly in the rough water using my standard tactics of a very short line. Lots of takes to begin with by mainly 5/6 oz fish which I  am delighted to see then, as dusk set in, fish were sipping everywhere. I returned three good sized specimens between ¾ and 1 ¼ lbs. I could have continued for another hour but my dog, who insists on staying by my side, even in deep water, was getting cold and I could not stand the noise of her teeth chattering!

Nick Brabner 

A Useful piece of Timber

We  had this huge oak tree felled a couple of years ago and have since burnt all the cordage on the fires through out the hotel but Nick decided to save the butt and get it cut into useful lengths of timber. So today, Martin and his mobile saw rig turned up and with the help of large tractor and its winch to get the timber into position they got the whole job done in around two and half hours. We now have some lovely long, thick planks to make benches from for the gardens, four six inch square solid oak gate posts and a good stack of oak boards for which we are undecided on how to use them. Even though the tree has been down for two years the timber will still take a good few months to season and dry thoroughly.

If you need a mobile sawmill contact Frazer & Small on 01874 638 827

Enjoy a Bike Ride

Although the countryside is not exactly flat around Gliffaes a bike ride along the lanes of the Usk Valley can make for an enjoyable couple of hours. Sitting up on a bike means you can see over the hedges and engage with the countryside, wrapped up in your car, windows shut and air conditioning on, your purr through the lanes filtering out most of what is so special about the landscape in early summer. By looking over the hedges I have kept track on a pair of curlews who nest every year in the same field, watched a sheep dog trial, even joined in with an auctioneer and several farmers walking over pasture they were keen to rent and seen countless red kites, buzzards and owls as I have passed quietly through the woods and lanes around Gliffaes.

Don't Have a bike? Can't fit in the car?
No excuse - we can either arrange to have rental bikes here ready and waiting for your arrival from the very helpful Kieth at Bikes and Hikes in Brecon (we just need to know how tall you are) or you may borrow the hotel's very own tandem. We bought the tandem a year or so ago and it has proved very popular. We can give you a picnic to put in the bag on the back and send you on your way with a suggested route. Around the Talybont reservoir or along the back lanes to Brecon, both of these routes involve very little climbing and within the capabilities of any reasonably fit person.


Keen Cyclists
If you are a little more keen on just pottering along and are up for some longer more challenging rides then the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons is the place to head for. Wales is recognised as having some of the best mountain biking in the world and their is no shortage of routes in the Brecon Beacons and surrounding countryside. The Brecon Beacons National Park has designated a number of villages as mountain biking 'hubs' and has mapped and marked several routes radiating out from these villages. You can buy a pack of their routes from the hotel. They have also set up a dedicated website for mountain bikers coming to the park.

Those keen on road riding will not be disappointed either with some truly epic climbs around here including the ride up 'The Gospel Pass' towards Hay-on-Wye. If you are preparing for some of the big cyclo-sportive events then a couple of days riding here would be excellent preparation. Gliffaes recently hosted Daily Telegraph travel writer, Charles Starmer-Smith, as he got in some preparation for the Etape d' Tour (see his blog post)  under the guidance of local cycling expert Rob Penn. Rob is running two more training weekends based at Gliffaes for those getting ready for big rides this summer. ( 11th/12th June and 18th/19th June). You can find out more on what the weekend includes on his Etape Training website.

I have described a couple of routes on this blog, just have a look under the 'bike rides' tag. If you want any help with bike hire or have any questions then please do get in touch. We have plenty of safe storage for bikes, most tools, a pressure washer and a few basic spares at the hotel.

Crickhowell gets a Brasserie

Crickhowell has a new restaurant, well brasserie to be exact, the food offering in and around the eastern end of the Brecon Beacons just keeps getting better. This new brasserie, Number 18, (that's the name simply because it is number 18 Crickhowell High Street) has been opened by my friend Steve Lewis who all his business life has relished a challenge. By George he got one when he decided to extend his coffee shop into the derlict cottages behind the coffee shop and turn the space into a brasserie. He had to wrestle with the town council, the National Park Planning Committee, the Environmental Health Officer ( who doesn't like anything cooked rare) and British Gas to mention just a few.


Despite all this thrown in his way he was just seven days behind schedule when he opened last night to a select few who were invited to put the new kitchen, the new menu and the new staff through their paces before going public in about a week's time.

First impressions count and the new interior looks great; steel, glass, welsh oak and stone come together to give a contemporary, solid feel with plenty of light everywhere. The space is on two floors with the western end of the top floor given over to a window that runs from floor to ceiling giving stunning views out on to the surrounding hills. On the ground floor you can observe the action in the open kitchen from your table.

To break them in gently Steve had given the kitchen a limited menu to prepare and serve to all 40 of us. We started with either a salad of Fennel, Radicchio & Perl Las (Welsh Blue Cheese) or Linguine with Oak Roast Salmon then for the main course we had a choice of a couple of brasserie classics; char grilled chicken or an 8oz welsh fillet steak. For pudding we were offerdd either a very refreshing Lemon Posset or delicious Chocolate Truffle Torte. Given the situation I think everyone agreed that the chefs had made a very good start in laying the foundations for a successful kitchen. We had a great evening and would like to thank Steve and his team and wish them all the best for the future. I for one will be back.Well, I have to go back to pay my debts. I bet Steve a bottle of champagne he wouldn't be ready for his opening night!

Find out more from the Number 18 website