A Trip to Aberglasney Gardens

A trip to Aberglasney makes for a great day out from Gliffaes, the journey along the A40 westwards is very straight forward and takes an hour. We often call in here on the way back from Pembrokshire to have a look around and to have lunch in the very good cafe over looking the big pond, over which the swallows and house martens skim over through out the day.

The house and gardens were abandoned for 50 years and the restoration over the last 15 years is one of Wales' most remarkable garden projects. There are formal gardens, parapets and cloisters to explore. I think the two walled gardens however are the most beautiful part of the garden. One full of herbs and vegetables as well as the most amazing espaliered fruit trees on the big south facing wall. The other walled garden is full of shrubs and flowers. It is not difficult to to spend a very pleasant couple of hours here and if you fancy something else to the National Trust property of Dinefwr Parc and Castle is very close by as are the National Botanic Gardens of Wales.


Opening times: 
April - September 10am - 6pm (last entry 5pm)
October - March 10.30am - 4pm (last entry 3pm)

Queen comes to Gliffaes

I bet that headline got you going, well its true, we have two queens living at Gliffaes now. In the beehives at the bottom of the walled garden. Susie and I started keeping bees some years ago when the man who used to keep several hives here passed on. We had some very successful years at first and then we hit a rocky period along with most of the country's bee keepers and had a struggle to keep our three hives going. The verora mite and the disease known as, 'Colony Collapse' put paid to our bees. Due to the scarcity of bees I have been unable to buy any colonies for the hotel for two years until this year.

This summer has been a good summer for bees and the bee keeper who sells us Usk Valley Honey for the breakfast tables sold me two hives last week. The hives were brought to Gliffaes at dusk, once all the bees had returned to the hive at the end of a busy day. It does not take bees long to acquaint themselves to their new surroundings as long as you move them more than three miles from where they were before.

Bee hives are inspected about once week during the summer and as we do have an extra bee suit you might like to come and have a look inside a bee hive when we go and take the lid off. Friday afternoon is when we normally go and inspect the hives.
 

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)

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

National Garden Scheme & Timber Operations at Gliffaes

There has been a fair bit going on in the garden this week. Last Sunday we opened the gardens as part of the National Garden Scheme which helps raise money for various charities but in particular the Macmillian Cancer Care Trust. This meant a flurry of activities; straitening the edges of the lawns and paths, strimming, mowing and sweeping and brushing around the buildings. We opened for three hours on Sunday afternoon and collected just under £350 for the charity from about 100 visitors.  Spring in the gardens at Gliffaes is wonderful;  cherries , magnolias, berberis, bluebells under the trees, lilacs and rhododendrons are all out at the moment.This picture of cherry trees in blossom was kindly sent to me by Ray Grenfell of Crickhowell.

Having two fire places and a wood burning stove in the hotel we certainly get through a lot of timber, this past winter especially, we are still having the odd fire in the evening and it's May! We need to have the space to season timber for at least 8-12 months before we can burn it, which means we need to have at 12 months supply at any one time, more if possible, There is nothing worse trying to burn wet wood which just sizziles and hisses. As we burn about 15 tons a year we need a lot of dry storage space and this week we have extended our wood shed and we can now store about 85 cubic meters of wood. Nick and I did the work ourselves and used a smallish oak tree from the grounds to make the two uprights needed. We now have to fill all that space with split timber. Anyone keen for a bit of axe work?

I have had my eye on a large oak tree that fell down during a storm about 12 months ago but on a very steep bank, with no chance of us getting any of the timber out. I had a word with the forester on the Glanusk Estate who said it wouldn't be a problem for him with his large winch on his tractor. He was here at 8.30 this morning and its now midday and the job is done. Just look at all that timber that has to be cut up then split. I feel weak just looking at it. I am thinking of running a work / stay swop in February next year for anyone keen on working in the woods doing some thining, burning and wood splitting etc. Your food and accommodation would be free in exchange for your labour and for every two days you work the third day you could have off and would be free as well. Any takers please get in touch?

Spring Blossom at Gliffaes

Here is a very short and very amateur video of the wonderful trees in blossom in our garden at the hotel.

Spring Flowers at Gliffaes

It was just before Christmas that a little white showed on the Snowdrops by the Lodge. Now, over two months later Galanthus to use their proper name are in full flight everywhere. The very cold weather has extended their season and there is a bumper crop as result. Specialist growers with often hundreds of different varieties would expect to have blooms well into March but with only three or four different kinds here at Gliffaes we are delighted, and they certainly cheer up a dreary winter's day and give us hope for Spring!

Winter Aconites began to appear in January and add a welcome touch of colour. The first Camellias are beginning to peep through, as always the white ones first. Their foliage is invaluable in flower arrangements, and like the skimmia which saves the day in vases at this time of year it lasts for a long time in water  inspite of central heating.

The next excitement will be the daffodils which are just about to bloom and very late they are this year to. (I've cheated actually and encouraged some to flower in the kitchen near the Aga!) Unlike the Snowdrops, which naturalized in vast numbers but are very ordinary varieties, we have a large variety of Daffs and Narcissi ensuring a good long flowering season and a  regular supply of  fresh flowers for the Hotel. This season I must remember to count just how many different ones we have. Roll on warmer weather.

Completing The Food Chain

At the moment a lot of words are written about sourcing of food and how far food has to travel to get to the plate and such like but very little thought has been given over to how we dispose of food waste. Waste has to travel to landfill and then lies in the landfill, taking up precious space and giving off CO2 while it rots away. Even at a small hotel like Gliffaes we generate about a ton of food waste per month from meat and fish trimmings to fruit and vegetable peelings to what is just left on plates.

We have taken a different approach to food waste disposal by investing in an accelerated in vessel composter. This is long insulated and heated drum into which a mixture of food waste and wood chip is added. The wood chip provides added carbon to the very nitrogen rich food waste. The waste is moved along through the composter by a large screw over a period of two weeks. It drops out the bottom and we gather it in a large pile and let it rot for further 3-4 months. Unlike a conventional compost bin we are able to process meat and fish without the added attraction of rats!

Today was the day to start spreading some of the lovely worm rich compost around the gardens. Three loads were spread underneath our apple trees as a rich mulch and to stop the grass growing around the trunks. In the photo you can see me sieving out wood chip for fine compost that we can use for potting in the spring and the last couple of loads went on to the small vegetable patch we have. If anyone is interested in seeing our composter ‘in action’ I would be delighted to show you when you next visit.