Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
This holiday takes place within the Snowdonia National Park: carefully managed tourism is recognised as playing a crucial role in the preservation of its many rare and varied habitats as well as its cultural and historical heritage. We aim to play our part – for instance consulting with the Park on issues of access to the sensitive nature reserve of Morfa Dyffryn sand dunes.
Our guests stay at small-scale, family owned and run accommodation, in particular on a hill-farm, where Gwion and his family have grasped the need to diversify for survival, but are still determined to preserve the local way of life. Farming sheep and Black Welsh Cows, they nurture the land (including its historic dry-stone walls – feel-free to volunteer to help Gwion re-build one!) as well as taking pride in sharing their home, landscape and culture with their guests.
Our guests visit in small, carefully managed numbers over as long a season as possible: maintaining positive economic input through consistency over time while avoiding the negative impacts associated with high numbers over a short period. We aim to help them enjoy learning about the local environment and culture, while the locals benefit both economically, and from the knowledge that their way of life is valued.
Our specially trained manager (whom you will meet if you choose an Original holiday) lives locally and so is the all important point of contact between our guests and the community – ensuring mutual understanding and appreciation. The manager prepares a deli-style packed-lunch for guests booked on our Original holidays each day – as much as possible sourcing ingredients from small local shops (award winning sausages from the Dyffryn butcher and local cheeses from the village stores in Llanbedr!).
Through our handbook - as well as the manager on Original holidays – our guests are given information about the environment, local history and culture, together with tips on Responsible Tourism. Welsh is of course the first language locally, and the handbook contains some useful words and phrases, encouraging guests to greet the people they meet appropriately.
There are some small local enterprises in the area offering organised activities such as horse-riding and rock-climbing, which we encourage our travellers to enjoy. We highly recommend a visit to sites like the Llanfair Slate caverns, where they can gain an understanding of what it was like to work in mines by candle light in the 19th Century.
We encourage our guests to travel to this destination by train and promote a version of the holiday that uses only public transport – local trains and buses.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
