More Cheese than France

The U.K. has over 1200 different cheeses, more types than France has, which everyone thinks is the home of cheese. Wales alone has about 150 cheeses made by around 25 cheese makers. The growth of the artisan cheese maker has really taken off in the last fifteen or so years across Wales. Farmers soon realised that just selling milk to super markets was not a very profitable business so they decided to add value to their milk by turning it into cheese and selling cheese rather than just milk. Don't just think Caerphilly when you think Welsh cheese, Wales has all types of soft and hard cheeses made from cows, sheep and goats milk, raw and pasteurised.

It was on Friday that I came by all this cheesy knowledge by going to a very informative cheese tasting at the National Trust farm, Llanerchaeron. We spent and hour in the company of cheese expert, David Edwards, who talked us through a sample of ten delicious cheeses from across Wales. Cheese is tasted from mildest to strongest for obvious reasons. We began with a traditional Caerphilly, from Caws Cenarth in Carmarthenshire ( caws is the Welsh for cheese), made from organic cows milk this cheese had a tingly, lemony bite and being quite mild would go wonderfully in a salad. A new cheese to me was the soft mould-ripened, Preseli, from Pant Mawr Farmhouse Cheese in Pembrokshire. A fruity rich taste and a glossy straw colour made this cheese a deserving Gold Award Winner at the 2003 World Cheese awards.

Around the cheese board we went; goats cheese, two different blue cheeses, smoked cheese and even a scrumptious soft creamy Pont Gar infused with Garlic and Herbs which would make a new twist for cheese on toast. Our last mouthful came from the Teifi Cheese Company in the form of their double award winning, Saval. A semi-soft, washed rinded, raw milk cow's cheese with an aroma and taste not dissimilar to Stinking Bishop. Very strong taste but would be the perfect way to finish up that last glass of red wine.

At Gliffaes we only have Welsh cheeses on our cheese board but this tasting opened my eyes to the many more cheeses out there and added to my knowledge about cheese in general. Look out for some new additions next time you are here.
 

High Water on the River Usk

Goodness me we had a lot of rain at the end of March begining of April and the river rose fast and furious, putting paid to any ideas our guests had of fishing over Easter. You would think that everything in the river; fish, eels, inverterbrates etc would all end up in the Bristol Channel, but somehow they all just hide under rocks or move to the edges of the river to ride out the storm. The good thing about the Usk is that the high flows drop off very quickly and within 24-36 hours of the rain stopping the river is back to normal.

This video was taken on Easter Saturday (April 3rd) and just shows the size and the force of the Usk.



Just as an aside, speaking to a couple who were fishing this morning they saw a otter and two cubs swim all the way up our main pool, searching for fish, and paying no head to the two fishermen.

Waterfalls Walk

 Guests often ask us where they can walk and see waterfalls and with all the rain we have had lately I decided to take a wander up Blaen-y glyn and the Caerfanell river, the stream that feeds the large Talybont Resivoir. This stream runs down hill through quite a steep gorge and over a series of about eight waterfalls varying in size from about two meters to about 15 meters. A walk of about an hour takes you to the most upstream waterfall from where you can either re-trace your steps back down stream or strike on into the Brecon beacons.

From Gliffaes, drive through Llangynidr and on to the village of Talybont, turn left over the canal, signed Talybont Reservoir and carry on right to the far end of the reservoir where, after crossing a small bridge, you will see a car park sign saying, 'Waterfalls'. (map reference SO 065 171). Park here and go back on to the lane, cross the bridge and begin walking up stream on the obvious path, it won't be long before you get to your first waterfall. There are several good picnic spots and for the more daring a swimming hole. I think the last  fall is the best and from the top of the gorge you get good views of the central Beacons, which yesterday were covered in snow.

If you want to make a circular walk back to your car, carry on upstream to what was once a small building at map reference SO 059 186, cross the stream (so you are now on the west bank) and head up hill till you get to the path running through the tussock grass under the steep slope of Craig y Fan Ddu. Follow the path south towards the forestry, over the stile into the woods and keep going south. The track will bring you out at a another car park above the one you left your car at. Just before the gate on to the main road pick up the path downhill throught the woods to return you to your car.

All in all about 2 hours walk at a very reasonable pace.

Fishing in March

The 2010 fishing season has been open for a month now and I would  be lying if I said that it had got off to a good start. The very late spring and the cold weather through out most of March seems to have delayed the hatches of Olives and Grannoms and in late March the ever dwindling March Browns, for which the Usk has a great reputation. The very cold water has kept activity to a minimum and with little fly life showing fishing deep has provided the only sparse activity. As the water warmed towards the end of the month rain put its oar in and levels rose into the 'no fishing' bracket.

Despite everything contriving against fishermen, there have been some notable successes. The key ingredient has been the help and advice of ghillie, Jimmy Devoy. His years of experience of fishing the Usk and his knowledge of local fly life shows even when he takes out relative beginners. About 10 days ago he took Tony & Shona Prosser out in difficult and cold conditions but they caught two lovely wild Usk brownies on a Gold Head Phesant Tail Nymph (deep).

Then two days ago Jimmy was out with Stefan Krasz and all of sudden at around 1pm on our Top Beat there was a significant hatch of dark olives for about 40 minutes so typical of this time of year. Fishing to the rise with an Usk Nailer Stefan caught two trout and missed a further four. Jimmy recommends fishing all levels of the river at this time of the year and will always use a dropper and sometimes two but fishing dry when they are rising. He stresses the need for something bright for fishing the bottom; a copper john or a pheasant tail pattern with a gold head and a spider pattern for just under the surface. Fingers crossed for warmer weather which can only improve the fishing.

I have included the latest news (31st March 2010) from the Wye and Usk Foundation below;

Back to winter again and, to the disappointment of many upstream salmon anglers, there has been no proper rise in the river while to the disappointment of many trout anglers, there have been several small coloured rises of cold water. Snow is now back on the hills and tomorrow is 1^st April! 

Trout fishing had been gradually improving although we are still waiting for the main olive hatches of the season. Good reports have been coming in from the Monnow system with some decent catches also being made on the Usk. With water levels rising, trout fishing early next week is likely to be best in the rockier, faster-clearing tributary streams such as the Escley, Honddu (both Monnow) Cilieni (Usk) and Edw (upper Wye).

What will Easter weekend bring? The best hope is that the forecasters have got it wrong and after all there will be some sunshine and warmer days or it pours with rain and washes out the rivers for the week after.  However, we fear that they might break with tradition and get it right, ie cold, snow, wind, rain etc. Suggest you keep a watch on gauges and forecast. The online booking service is available if a late opportunity arises.

For the Foundation, it is a very busy time of year. Today is the last day of coppicing before the teams start fencing and re -liming the headwaters.  We have fish passes to design, consent and build in the Arrow (4), Gavenny, and Llwyd and projects that will redress some of the damage done by diffuse pollution. ISAC, our EU life+ Irfon restoration project has started with a survey and consenting of works which includes restoration of sections of the Irfon forest to manage pH and flows.

An Inspector Calls

What value do you the hotel guest put on the A.A?

In the increasingly fast changing world of the web, the growth of social media (Twitter,  Facebook et al) and the advent of web sites like Trip Advisor, I would really like to know how you feel about old stagers; the A.A. To me, as a small hotelier, this once big player is far diminishing into the background in terms of marketing value. It still continues to produce a massive, doorstop sized guide, which lumps almost anywhere with a bedroom to let into one, far from easy to use, book. Does anyone really buy this massive tome at £16.99 when all that content is available for free on the web? The AA website is not found when searching for accommodation on the web and in the whole of 2009 the A.A. website sent me 178 visitors or 0.2% of my total traffic. Let's be generous and say that 2% of those visitors to my site convert to bookings, that then works out at about 3-4 bookings per year. This is not a good return on marketing spend.

What has prompted me into thinking this? Yesterday  Gliffaes was visited by the AA inspector ( not an overnight stay and he did not have a meal) who wanted primarily to know if we had put information on ironing boards and shoe cleaning in our guest information folder. He then asked about any improvements we had made since he was last here and I reeled off all the work we had done and he was generous enough to admit we had done a lot and it MIGHT improve our quality score. Hang on - we pay them - I am the customer, what are they doing to help drive business to us but how can they when they represent almost every hotel in the country? They carry out a quality grading identical to Visit Wales, ( the new Wales Tourist Board) and award the same number of stars based on your facilities. I am loathe to get into the debate about rosettes awarded for cooking but I am very keen to know if people use the rosettes to select where they might eat. 

All I can do is compare the efforts of the AA to other marketing groups. Today I spent over two hours with Jeffrey Epstein & Peter Jarvis of Best Loved Hotels and the difference  between the two organisations is chalk and cheese.  They are selective about who they work with thus sending  highly targeted visitors to my website viz. people who are in the market for what we offer at Gliffaes. They 'get' marketing and want to help you drive business with new and innovative ways to leverage the power of the internet. They were enthusiastic about Gliffaes and did not worry about ironing boards. They cost one and half time more than the AA but send me ten times more business. Do I take the plunge and ditch the AA?

Tell me how you feel about the AA stars and rosettes?

Seeing the Wood for the trees at Powis Castle

A guided walk around the gardens of Powis Castle (Welshpool) ,in the company of the Head Gardner, to see the spring flowers was the promise made in the advert of the local paper. Having not been to Powis Castle before I felt that this would be a good excuse to visit so we could recommend it to our guests. Was it worth the twisty two hour journey from Gliffaes? Very definitely, did we see any of the promised spring flowers? Well, we saw one daffodil, like the rest of the country the exceptionally cold winter has delayed the arrival of spring by about three weeks. However, the lack of spring foliage and flowers meant we could see the garden laid bare and appreciate how the gardens have developed over the centuries and we had the added bonus of the famous yew hedges and tumps looking their very best.

Powis Castle is a National Trust property on the outskirts of Welshpool right at the northern end of Powys and was once the seat of the Clive family (Clive of India). Both the castle and the gardens are open to visitors, with the castle being full of treasures brought back from India amongst other things. We did not venture into the castle but our hour and half tour around the gardens was excellent. The gardens reflect the changing fashions and grand visions of landscape gardeners over the last 300  years, all of which are visible in part  to the visitor today. The most dramatic part is the series of 300 year old terraces stepping upwards to the castle which is perched on the top of a rocky outcrop. Built into the terraces are an orangery, an aviary ( no birds in it now) and a balustrade complete with lead statues. The terraces trap the sun and protect from the prevailing winds resulting in micro climates in which the unusal plants and shrubs thrive. The newest part of the garden has been planted  on top of the old  vegetable garden at the turn of the 20th century. Lady Herbert  thought that vegetable gardens were vulgar and should not be visible from the castle and had it shifted and the unusually clipped ornamental apple trees that grow there now are something I have not seen before.

The real trump card Powis has is yew. Yew in all shapes and forms, from straight hedges to huge strange shaped 'tumps' formed over the centuries by the annual round of clipping and shaping. Keeping the yew in shape is a full time job and the annual clipping is a three month exercise for three gardeners.  Standing on the terrace looking across at a bank of yew trees left unclipped and growing naturaly we saw what appeared to be smoke blowing through the trees, this turned out to be thick clouds of pollen from the male yew trees blown free by the wind. The wilder part of the garden has some magnificently tall oak trees planted around 250 year ago and should not be missed. All in all a good day out and the drive across rural mid-wales is interesting, for those not keen on driving there is a train to Welshpool from Abergavenny which takes about and hour and fifty minutes with a change at Shrewsbury.

Useful links: Powis Castle

A Trip to Tanners of Shrewsbury

Keeping a wine list of over 80 wines fresh and interesting for guests means going to tastings. This is not a great hardship and its is about this time of year that most wine merchants hold their annual tastings. Yesterday was the turn of multi award winning merchants, Tanners of Shrewsbury to throw open the cellar doors to the trade for their annual tasting.  The tasting is arranged through out their rabbit warren of cellars, shop and offices at Wyle Kop in Shrewsbury. This is a great chance to meet and talk to several producers who come from all over the wine making world to show off their wines personally.

There were around 75 wines on show so I had to have a careful look at the tasting list and not just diving in at number one and working my way to the end - I just can't taste that many wines. One of the high spots for me were to meet Bruno Fina from Scilia and taste his lovely Grillio, a grape grown only in the west of the island. It has a very distinctive orange peel nose and will be great summer aperitif. He also gave me a taste of his unusual desert wine (El Aziz, Vendemmia Tardiva, Vino da Tavola) using late harvested Chardonnay, it is superb and he has kept the balance between sweetness and acidity perfectly.

I always try to find wines for the list that are not run of the mill and certainly never found on the shelves of the supermarkets. One such producer is Sami Ghosn of Massaya in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. A partnership with the brothers Brunier of Chateauneuf has produced a number of powerful Rhone style reds, real meaty, spicy wines that need to be drunk with red meat and rich sauces. Look out for the Massaya Selection Silver on the wine list when you are next at Gliffaes.

By the way, an interesting day out from Gliffaes can be to take the train to Shrewsbury (about 1 hour 25 minutes from Abergavenny) all the way up the Welsh Marches, a pretty journey in it's own right. Shrewsbury has plenty of interesting things to see and do and you would be most welcome to call in at the Tanners shop.

Useful Links : Tanners Wines