Autumn Days Out

I thought I would list a few events and some ideas of my own of what to see and do over Autumn in the Brecon Beacons and surrounding country side of Mid Wales.
I was racking my brains of places to see really good Autumn tree colours and after pouring over maps and books Susie came along and said
"We have the best Autumn colours right here at Gliffaes and up and down the Usk Valley walk."
And she is right if you can get here for the last couple of weeks in October the leaf colours here are tremendous. The oaks, beeches and sycamores really via for attention but with some many specimen trees in the grounds there is something different around every corner.
So here we go with a few ideas:

1. The Brecon Beacons National Park has laid on several interesting days out over the coming weeks and here are three high lights.
   Saturday 9th October - Star Gazing
   Cardiff Astronomical Society will once again be hosting an evening of stargazing at the Visitor Centre. If skies are clear their telescopes will be focused on interesting phenomena in the night sky, or if cloudy there will be a range of talks and demonstrations indoors. Read more
   Saturday 9th October - Photo Friendly Waterfalls Walk
   Have you been on a walk with friends, family or in groups where you have carried your camera all day and not taken a single shot? Wish you had more time to take some photos along the way without holding up the group? Well this walk is for you. Read more
   Sunday 7th November - Remembrance Day Walk to a Wellington Bomber Crash Site
   A visit to the crash site of a Wellington Bomber R1465 for a Remembrance Day commemoration, followed by lunch at the Travellers’ Rest in Talybont-on-Usk. Please come suitably equipped for variable weather conditions. Read more
2. Foraging for Fungi in the Elan Valley
   This caught my eye as I have heard the leader of this fungi forage talk before, and he is very entertaining. He is running two one day beginners courses on Saturday 25th September and Saturday 9th October. Rhayder, where this takes place is about an hour from Gliffaes up the Wye Valley. Read more.
3. Take a drive through the Elan Valley

This sparsely populated and remote area of mid wales is home to many reservoirs built in Victorian times to supply water to the Midlands. The steep valleys are covered in Sessile Oaks and look stunning in Autumn. Head for Rhayder up the very picturesque Wye Valley and then on to the Elan Valley Visitor's Centre where you will find information on routes; walking or driving. While in Rhayder go and see the daily feeding of Red Kites at Gigrin Farm.

4. Come to the Brecon Baroque Festival- 22nd - 25th October

Inspired by the Georgian architectural heritage of Brecon, this four-day event features outstanding international performers, including violinist Rachel Podger, countertenor Stephen Wallace, flautist Katy Bircher, recorder player Pamela Thorby, and dancer Katy Sinnadurai, as well as guest vocal ensemble Trinity Baroque, director Julian Podger. The annual Baroque Ball, where the revelry is led by dance expert Peter Brock, takes place this year at Theatr Brycheiniog. The Festival opens with Monteverdi Vespers at Brecon Cathedral and concludes with a concert given by the Brecon Baroque Festival Orchestra, directed by Rachel Podger, which will include Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. More details.

5. Learn Grayling Fishing on the River Wye

The trout season finishes on the 30th September and salmon on the 17th October but you can still fish for Grayling, with a fly on the Wye right through the autumn.

For those wanting to gain more of an insight into autumn grayling fishing, the Wye and Usk Foundation, in partnership with Frank Williams Fly Fishing, will be running a series of tuition days on upper Wye beats close to Builth Wells later this year. Frank is a highly recommended, qualified instructor who will help improve success rates for those thinking of venturing onto the rivers during this spectacular time of year. The days will be held on the 24th October, and 7th and 28th of November. Places will be limited to 5 per day and will cost £65 per person, which will include fishing permits, tuition and a selection of flies appropriate to the techniques being taught. To book your place or for more information, please email Frank Williams at frank@frankwilliamsflyfishing.co.uk or call him on 07824363376.

6. Go for and Autumn Walk (or bike ride)  in Talybont Forest.

You can walk or ride from the hotel up and over Tor y Foel before heading through the forest down to Talybont on Usk for lunch in the pub and then back along the canal to Gliffaes. Alternatively, drive to the forest and do the waterfall walk. There will be plenty of Autumn colours in the woods and especially up the waterfall route.  We will help you with your route when you get to Gliffaes.

7. Gather sloes, chestnuts and rosehips.

The hedges around Gliffaes yield quite and abundance of sloes and rosehips and we have a lot of chestnuts from the trees in the gardens. Feel free to gather up some berries and nuts to make rosehip syrup, sloe gin or even take some chestnuts home to roast on the fire.

Festivals, Events and Family Days Out this Summer

June, July and August are when most of the countries big outdoor events take place and the Brecon Beacons and surrounding area has many established events and a couple of new ones have come on to the scene this year or last year. I have listed the events with a link to their own websites along with the time taken from Gliffaes to get to them.

Crickhowell Art Trail - May Bank Holiday weekend
Over the three days of the Bank Holiday Weekend many artists in the Black Mountains are opening up their studios to the public for us to come and see and buy their works. This is not just paintings. Art trail maps are available from most tourism outlets in the area or at the visitor information centre in Crickhowell. One could have a lovely day's drive or cycle around these studios as so many are well off the beaten path.

Hay Litrary Festival - 27th May - 6th June (30 minutes from Gliffaes)
The annual book beano in Hay-on-Wye. But it is now so much more than books; farm visits, nature walks, guided tours around ancient monuments, film screenings, concerts and comedy not to mention plenty of events for children on half term. If you can't find one item on their programme that interests you,  must be very, very dull.

How the Light Gets In - The philosophy and music festival at Hay - 28th May - 6th June.
Now in its second year and sited away from the main festival in the Globe Theatre at Hay and in the Globe Fields across the river. The blur describes this year's event as, "....it is only fitting that this year's festival theme is 'Being Human'. What it is to be alive? What is essential to our humanity and what is peripheral? What is truly important?" So if you want to get your head around some of these concepts have a look at their website and book a ticket to an event or two.

International Horse Trials at Glanusk Park - 1st - 4th July (1 mile form Gliffaes, in fact you could walk there.)
A brand new event on the International eventing circuit and a brand new and challenging course for horse and rider alike in the spectacular Glanusk Park. For those in the horse world this is event is replacing the one that used to be held at Chepstow. Fo those not in the horsey world this is great day out for all the family with a shopping village, displays and much more.

International Polo - 17th July at Glanusk Park (1 mile)
After last year's inaugural success this one day of polo and events, including a visit from the Red Devils freefall team, is back bigger and better than last year. England v Wales is the feature match and the idea is to load up your car with a picnic and some friends and spend the day under an oak tree soaking up Pimms and polo.

The Royal Welsh Show - 19th - 22nd July,  Builth Wells (normally about 40 minutes but on show day's allow an hour)
Wales' premier Agricultural Show, and now that the Royal Show has ceased it could well be the UK's major agricultural show, so much going on and its certainly not just for farmers.

The Brecon Jazz Festival - 6th, 7th & 8th August - Brecon (20 minutes)
This enduring festival has had its ups and owns recently but seems to be rising above with new backing. A very impressive line up of jazz greats and rising stars from all over the globe this year.


The Green Man Festival - 21st-23rd August at Glanusk Park
If the names of these bands and musicians ring any bells with you then you will know what this Festival is all about; 'Neon Indians', 'Bear in Heaven', 'Darwin Deez' and the 'Smoke Fairies'.  They don't mean much to me but if you fancy sleeping in a bed rather than in a tent Gliffaes is the closeset hotel to the festival.

Fly Fishing for Beginners at Gliffaes

Fishing is this country's biggest participation sport and this weekend Gliffaes swelled the sports ranks by another 9 new recruits. Over the last three days we have hosted our tenth, 'Fly Fishing for Beginners' course. Gliffaes is the perfect venue to learn to fish, although not an easy one, we don't stock the river so new recruits have to get used to stalking wild brown trout, which are wild in every sense of the word. This is very much akin to learning to swim in the deep end of the pool. The course is run by Bill Price from Builth Wells who is a qualified Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor (APGAI for short) and Bill brings a lifetime of experience of fishing and guiding on the Usk and Wye to the course. He is very well assisted by his son Tristan.

Starting on Friday morning with an introduction to the sport; the trout and its habitat and equipment needed to get started. The students then moved out onto the lawns to begin learning the techniques of fly casting, something that looks easy but certainly requires careful instruction and plenty of practice. Saturday morning and the students moved from the lawn down to the river and spent the morning getting used to casting and wading in a fast flowing river. By lunch time skills and confidence were higher and students set off in pursuit of the quarry which could be seen rising tantalisingly up and down the river.

It was not until Sunday morning that someone finally hooked a real live trout as opposed to a tree behind them or a stone in the river, young Ben Scott just 12 from Crickhowell, caught his first wild brownie and I think he still has the huge grin on his face today. Buoyed up by this early success everyone carried on valiantly for most of the day but sadly nobody else was able to catch a fish. Almost everyone left Gliffaes with a huge determination to continue proved by the fact that Bill was able to sell six of his rods at the end of the weekend. Although not everyone left with a fresh Usk trout they did leave with a huge appreciation for how absorbing and relaxing being on the river is with the river, birds, fly life and fish all around them. Not forgetting the huge amount they had learnt over the three days.

(I hope to be running another course next May but need to find another instructor as Bill can't help next year. If you would like to be kept informed of any future fishing courses please get in touch with me or drop me an email.)

Volcanos, Earthquakes and other Tremors

 This time last week I was feeling very smug; the hotel was fully booked for this weekend with a group of Texans off to wedding near by. We were laying on a lavish dinner for 60  on Friday night, the night before the wedding, for the brides family, and  with all the Texans out at the wedding on Saturday night I had arranged a Chilean Wine Dinner for locals to keep our restaurant busy for Saturday night. So far so good but I certainly had not factored in a volcano! The Americans could not fly, the wedding postponed  and I was left with a hotel to fill in five days.


Thanks to the power of email ( a good lesson about maintaining a sound customer data base) I was able to re-fill the empty hotel for the weekend and we still had to pull off the Chilean Wine Dinner on the Saturday night. Head Chef, Karl Cheetham working with Michael Cox of Wines of Chile put together a great dinner, with each course accompanied by a different wine. All the wines came from Great Western Wine in Bath. Thirty people came for the  Dinner and £360 was raised for the Chilean Earthquake Appeal. The menu and wines were as follows:

Canapes served with either a glass of Elki Pedro Jimenez or Leyda Sauvignon Blanc Garuma Vineyard

Aspargus with Hollandaise - 2008 Leyda Sauvignon Gris
***
Paupiette of Cornish Sole with Salmon & Chive Mousseline - 2006 Leyda Lot 5 Chardonnay
***
Loin of Wild Fallow Deer, Boulangere Potatoes, Savoy Cabbage & Juniper Sauce - 2006 Falernia Carmenere Reserva
***
Saffron Poached Pear with Vanilla Parfait or Welsh Cheeses & walnut Bread - 2008 Leyda Pinot Noir - Las Brisas.

Some of the wines are on our list and I want to serve the Pedro Jimenez by the glass as it will make for a lovely light summer drink.

So in the end we pulled something out of the ash(es)!

Crickhowell Walking Festival

It's Wednesday and it is smack in the middle of the Crickhowell Walking Festival - a ten day long event of daily walks guided by locals around the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons. This is the third year of the Festival and it gets bigger all the time with over 60 walks this year. It is a community event put on by local volunteers. The idea is to bring people into the area at a quite time of the year, trouble is the locals enjoy it so much not a lot of outsiders get a look in.

Susie and I are leading four walks between us, the first was today, a circuit of Tor y Foel, a distance of around 10 miles. We each had a group of about 15 walkers with us and set off with a 15 minute interval between the groups. This is a great walk to do right from the hotel's front door and has a good mix of terrain and nice steady climb to the top of Tor Y Foel from which you get wonderful views of the Beacons and the Usk Valley. It was chilly but clear on top with ice on the puddles. Home via the Brecon Canal in time for tea by the fire, about 10 miles in total. In fact, the walk works as a marketing exercise as well. We get everyone to meet at Gliffaes, so they get a look at the place and we time the walk to finish just as we are serving afternoon tea! It is well worth thinking about for next year if you are keen walker. If you give us enough notice Susie or I would be happy to take you out into the hills around Gliffaes.

Useful links:
Crickhowell Walking Festival 

Singing for their Supper

One of the perks of running events at Gliffaes is that, although it is hard work to organise, it is fantastic to join in! I love music and Saturday night was our annual opera evening, a charity concert for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and George Thomas Hospice Care in Cardiff.

This year the singers were Penny Chalmers and her husband John, Alison Duguid, Eric Roberts, Harry Nicoll, John Games (from Llangynidr) and Virginia Kerr. David Seaman from the WNO was a hero as he had to step in at the very last minute to replace the pianist who had injured her hand.

The programme was a mix of favourite songs ranging from Mozart, Verdi and Humperdinck to Offenbach and Gilbert & Sullivan and many more. John Games, our neighbour and local Bass, also sang beautifully to add a little local flavor to the evening. I particularly enjoyed his Drinking Song, which he performed with relish!

It is pretty special having professional voices accompanied by a grand piano in your sitting room and it is certainly very different from actually going to the opera. The sound is fantastic and really very uplifting and powerful. The singers certainly brought the house down and everyone had a great evening. Most importantly we raised £1300 for this year’s very deserving charities.