Call us on 01994
231867
Contact Glyn-Coch
Call us on 01994
231867
Contact Glyn-Coch
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This page will be regularly updated
To learn what happened the day after we created this page click here.
Due to family problems our buyers have withdrawn, so Glyn-Coch is once more for sale. Asking price is £450,000
29th August 2011
It looks as though we will be moving at the beginning or October. In the meantime we are selling off surplus farm machinery,
June 2011 Under offer!
We have accepted an offer on the property. If things go according to plan, it is hoped that we will be moving in September, but there are still hold ups in the chain to sort out. The prospective new owners hope to carry on the business and ecology, much the same way that we have, though with more energy then we have been able to devote to it recently! We will be supplying craft goods to the shop from our new address in St Clears.
Anyone want a nice flat near Guildford? Look here for details.
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March 2011
We would be interested to hear from you if you would like to come and have a look. Contact us directly or see details below or on John Francis or Rural Scene Web sites. (NB this is now being sold on a multi agency agreement so if you want to see round Glyn-Coch you may be better off dealing with us direct. However we would recommend that you find other properties via the local expert, John Francis, or the farm and smallholding experts Rural Scene.)
Anyone want a nice flat near Guildford? Look here for details.
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March 2010
Farm for Sale. Like many businesses we are looking at ways to get through the recession, and have had the property valued. One of the valuations was for £650,000, but we are asking just £480,000. Details from John Francis
As you are looking at our website, I assume that you will have seen it before and know a little about us, and what we have been doing here. If not, look at the rest of this page, and then follow links from our home page to learn more.
The farm is 24 acres. 10 acres is in grass, and currently supports a flock of about 20 rare Norfolk Horn ewes and their lambs. Surplus grass is turned into small bale hay and sold to local horse owners. Previously the land has been part of a dairy farm, and 100 years ago the area was known for growing wheat. The soil is a productive clay loam overlying shale and most is gently sloped
The remaining 17 acres is in a farm woodland scheme. The trees are mixed, mainly native hardwoods, planted in 1998, and have been growing very well. Some of the poplars are already approaching 50 ft tall, though oaks are more like 10ft. The trees are planted in a shelter belt around the perimeter of the holding, and so, are accessible via the grass paddocks and the mown path which forms our circular woodland walk.
The woodland has glades running through it, and three small ponds, and is haven for wildlife with several rare plants, over 230 species of moths and 60 species of birds, together with many other plants and animals. We were short listed for the 2005 Woods for Wales competition run by the Forestry Commission, and ended up in fourth place. We run a light trap for the Rothamsted Insect Survey (the longest running scientific survey of moths in the UK) and have identified over 230 species here. We are regularly in the top 20 sites in the UK for moth diversity.
The buildings are all grouped round a traditional farmyard and comprise a three bedroom house, a couple of stone barns, a 1935 Nissen hut and a 1970 dairy unit including milking bail, cubicle house and silage barn.
There are signs that the site may have been occupied two millennia ago. The County Archeologists has identified a 'Roman Road' here and the botanical diversity of the adjoining hedge would go some way to support this. The oldest existing building may have been built as early as 1600 and appears to have had several phases of use. First, possibly as a water powered corn mill, then as a cow shed, and now it is used as our pottery. The building we use as a shop was probably built in 1800.
Information about the house seems a little more confusing. Some of the walls suggest that it is older then the shop, but it is shown on maps as a roofless building later then that. (This may have been a technical wheeze to reduce tax liabilities.) In the late 19th century it appears to have been a substantial square shaped house with an adjoining barn. However by 1900 the 'back half of the house had become disused, and was finally demolished soon after the First World War. A single story outhouse replaced it, and this became incorporated into the house in the early 1970s. During the period 1995 to 2000 several ceilings were replaced and some re-plastering done. When we moved in in 2000 we completely replaced all the wiring, converted a tiny bedroom into a toilet and shower room, and double glazed most of the windows. We have also re-floored the kitchen and replaced the kitchen units. When doing this we discovered a beautiful traditional fireplace above the Rayburn, and if we stay here, the next bit of kitchen improvement will be to expose this once more!
The sheep graze 1 acre paddocks The old silage barn has been converted to lose boxes which provide comfortable lambing pens, and are suitable for horses.
One of the paddocks is used as a 5 pitch certificated site in summer. (We have bookings through 'till August). Pottery activities contribute to our income
Our shop is in this traditional stone barn. The woodland is an important attraction for tourists and school parties
The 12 year old trees are doing well, and prunings provide both firewood and fencing stakes.
In 10 years of taking pictures to promote the business I have very few pictures of the house, but I hope that these give you an idea. The taller part has two reception rooms downstairs and two bedrooms and the toilet/ shower room upstais. The middle section has a large double bedroom, and library (probably otherwise an en-suite toilet/shower room) upstairs, a large kitchen, a utility room, bathroom, and a single bedroom/office downstairs. The little extension is a farm office. To the extreme left of the picture is a conservatory which is the next restoration project, but does have the advantage of a 30 amp power supply!
A 24acre holding suitable for various uses including equestrian, but currently run as Glyn-Coch Craft Centre. The craft shop, pottery, tearoom, museums and campsite are surrounded by 10 acres of paddocks grazed by rare sheep, which in turn are sheltered by 17acres of young woodland. The woodland hosts one of the 20 most diverse moth populations in the UK, and this and similar surveys contributed to Glyn-Coch being the highest placed farm in Wales in the UK wide Beautiful Farm Awards 2010. A 3-bedroom farmhouse retaining some of its character and charm with double-glazing and oil fired central heating. The stone barns used for the shop and pottery may be suitable for conversion. The property is secluded, but conveniently located a mile from St Clears and less then a mile from the A40 between St Clears and Whitland. Other buildings include a recently refurbished toilet block, a 1935 Nissen hut and 1970 40 cow dairy unit, adapted for horses, but also suitable for a small flock of sheep. A 1-½ mile circular walk was judged to be the 4th best in Wales by the Forestry Commission in 2005. Viewing of this property is highly recommended.
Of approximate dimensions: -
Entrance
door to: -
14x59
Tiled floor, night storage heater, and plumbing for washing
machine, staircase leading to: -
Velux window to rear.
139x1011
2 Velux windows to rear, window to front. Exposed A frames.
(The library, off, could be utilised as an en-suite)
163x1311
Doubled glazed window to front, tiled floor, range of base units with worktops over and matching wall units. Stainless steel sink with single drainer, plumbing for dishwasher, beamed ceiling. Oil fired Rayburn cooking range, which supplies hot water and part central heating.
Stable door to rear, radiator, doors to: -
Panelled bath with mixer tap and shower attachment with curtain over. Pedestal wash basin. Airing cupboard. Opaque double glazed window to side, WC, radiator.
811x119
Double glazed window to rear. Radiator
107/16 x 14
Double aspect to front and rear. Villager multi fuel
burner. Part exposed stone walls. 2 radiators.
14 x 115
Double aspect to front and rear. Radiator. Part exposed stone walls. 3/4 glazed door to rear leading to
In need of repair, but with 30amp power supply.
Loft Access (loft with light and part boarded -insulated)
Double glazed window to rear, radiator, doors to: -
14 x 119
Double glazed tilt and turn window to rear. Radiator
Shower cubicle, Gainsborough electric shower. WC. Pedestal washbasin. Radiator. Double glazed window to front.
119/82 x 1110
Double glazed tilt and turn window to rear. Radiator
Driveway leading to yard with ample parking and turning area.
Adjoins house. Single glazed window to rear.
Serves craft centre during the day, and campsite at night.
Recently refurbished has insulated roof and walls, 2 WCs, water heater, shower
cubicle, 2 hand wash basins, and frost protection heating. Re-wired to IEE
standards in 2009.
229 x 1411
Built c 1600, double door entrance to front. Night storage heater. Hunter Midi multi fuel with back boiler to provide heating to shop (next door). Construction of stone with insulated box profile roof. Hot and cold water, butler sink, but no drainage.
263 x 206
Typical stone dairy building of c 1800, with loft over, accessed by external stone steps. Roof of box profile sheeting.
Shop on ground floor has 3 windows to rear and one to
front. 2 doors to front. 3 radiators heated from boiler in pottery. Night
storage heater. Third door gives access to Tearoom
Accessed by traditional external stone steps.
First room 124 x 206 with window to front and hot and cold-water cistern and central heating pump. Plaster boarded ceiling and lights and power.
Second storage room accessed from first via door through
stud wall. Felted ceiling and window to front. Light.
Housed in stone lean-to extension to shop, with corrugated roof over felt and plasterboard ceiling.
Tearoom 203 x 87. Has three doors, one accessing shop, one garden to rear and one to yard in front. Window to front. Radiator and night storage heater.
Kitchen 147 x 64 accessed via serving counter
from tea room. Range of base units with worktops over. Stainless steel single
drainer sink and wash hand basin. Window to front and side.
Steel framed and corrugated sheet construction. Silage barn (523 x 19) is now divided into 4 loose boxes and has frameless roof. Concrete block walls to eaves except to West (steel cladding above about 8 ft) and at South end. Alongside, the cubicle house (wooden roof beams) (527 x 20) with most cubicle barriers removed is now used for hay, straw and firewood storage. To north a lean-to of 22 x 1810 provides an open fronted bay and more hay storage. Beyond this is a small pony stable of 183 x 86. At the south end of the buildings a 2 x 4 abreast parlour (milking bail) has the usual barley silo, roller mill and bulk tank houses. The cows outside loafing area has been partly covered to form a large aviary, now used to accommodate a collection of old farm machinery. Approved electric power to the machine cupboard of the milking parlour. Lights etc for the rest of the complex run as extensions from this point.
? 59 x 20 ??
10 gate gives access to machinery into one half of the
building. The further half is accessed by pedestrian door, but was formerly used
as an overflow cubicle house. The Chalk beds are now divided up into pens that
have been used for lambing in the past. There is a standpipe near the main
entrance and an approved power supply inside the machinery store.
One is used as a tool shed. The other, bought S/H in 2004,
is not licensed for letting, but provides good quality accommodation for family
celebrations etc. This stands on a purpose built concrete base and has mains
electricity, and water, LPG heating etc. It shares a cesspit with the campsite.
We also have a large wooden shed, which has been a shop, display area campsite
club etc.
27acres mainly gently sloping land rising from 20 to 50m facing SE and NNW. Clay loam over soft shale (or rab). This land is quite productive with a reputation for wheat in the 19th Century. Since 1965 has supported intensive dairy, sheep, beef and soft fruit. Low lying areas (2-3 acres) are flat silt over clay, with signs of clay extraction in the past. Nevertheless the presence of Devils-bit scabious indicates that some may be ancient wetland.
10 acres of permanent grassland at least 15 years old.
Divided into small paddocks of about 1 acre. 1 paddock is used as a 5 caravan
Certificated Site in the summer. This pitch has 4 electric hook ups a standpipe
and Chemical Disposal Point.
13 acres of mixed native hardwoods with a nurse crop of Japanese Larch planted in 1998 as a Farm Woodland Grant Scheme. There are approximately 8000 trees of approx 16 species with the oaks now reaching about 10ft and the poplars 50ft. Prunings and windfalls provide the fuel to heat the shop, and we have produced our first 30 fencing stakes. This woodland was planted as a shelterbelt adjacent to mature boundary hedges and is an area of exceptionally high biological diversity. We run a moth trap as part of the Rothamsted Insect Survey and we have identified over 230 species of moths and are regularly listed as one of the top 20 sites in the UK for moth diversity. Rare species of birds nest here, and in 2005 the Forestry Commission judged our nature trail to be the fourth best in Wales.
Essay!
Because of the recession it makes good business sense to review our options and, as currently set up we make most of our income from crafts, we need to consider finding a smaller property. Personally I must recognise that I am approaching retirement age, and that although on the good days I work as fast as ever, on the bad days I am slower, and minor injuries take much longer to heal. All except one of our children have their own families and careers to think of, so we have a tiny labour force of just one.
After 10 years I am beginning to open up bits of wildlife habitat, and create access that has been a dream for so long. The camp site is really taking off, with old friends beginning to return year after year, and we have nearly cracked the rare breed sheep game. And surrounded by our own woodland, we live in our own little island kingdom, sheltered from the climatic and man-made storms, that ordinary mortals suffer. While here we can see 400 years of history, and if we look up to the top of the hill to the little Llangynin Church we can see evidence of the way the early Christians took over pagan sites almost 2000 years ago. Our neighbours live below Llangynin church in Grove Farm which has its own sheltered lake and which may well have been a sacred grove.
Tonight, as I check the ewes, I will probably hear otters in our pond and winter flocks of blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings settling down for the night, not to mention the Robins, Wrens, Tits, Finches, and Corvids Perhaps the starlings will put on a mass flying display for me, and who knows what more. Later when I take the dogs for their late evening walk I will hear tawny owls, barn owls, and redwings. I may even encounter a badger, fox otter or Roe deer. Tomorrow there will be the song birds practicing their spring songs, the occasional hammering of our greater spotted woodpeckers, the excitement of seeing what has flown into the moth trap and later the thrilling flight of the Buzzards and maybe even a red Kite.
And this is only early February. I will be sorry to leave, but very glad to have been here.
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The day after we created this page
The post man brought us a nice letter to say that we had just been short-listed for a national Farm Award, (Beautiful Farms) sponsored by the Farm Business Magazine and New Holland Agriculture. We are invited to attend a function on the House of Lords Terrace on 10th March to find out who had won. To see what swung the judges see our entry.
....we went and....
and were the highest placed farm from Wales. (I bet farmers from The Beacons , The Gower, Pembs Coast, and Snowdonia, are jealous!) To see the official report go to the Farm Business Magazine website. We were also gratified by the fact that we entered the 'small farms' class which was for units up to 10 times the size of Glyn-Coch, and other farms represented at the award ceremony were 100 times our size. The ceremony was great fun - we had a lovely day - and were amazed to find that other competitors were from Minehead, and their farm is only about a mile or two from a couple of the first farms I worked on. Not only that , but their children went to school with my nieces! Just shows, if you farm near the Bristol Channel you cannot fail, but to be forever concerned about wildlife!
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They would see this site as a small rural property with a good 3 bed house, 2 stone barns with some potential, 1970s steel barns with lose boxes, part prepared manege area with 10 acres of good grazing divided into even sized paddocks, 17 acres of woodland and a small campsite all ring fenced.
The property is within 1 mile of the A40/M4 corridor and within 7 miles of the coast 2 National Parks an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and three Irish ferry ports can be reached within one hour as can Swansea (and Neath/Port Talbot), Haverfordwest and Milford Haven. Carmarthen is only 15 minutes away and Llanelli about 40 minutes. Local shops and primary schools in St Clears about 1 mile away, and secondary schools in Whitland (7 miles) and Carmarthen (10miles)
Beyond that you should think about the more nebulous things like the craft tradition of the site, the wildlife, the beauty etc. described on our other web pages and on downloads from elsewhere on this page
(March 2011) Glyn-Coch is on sale by a multi agency agreement with the local experts John Francis and the farm and smallholding experts Rural Scene. If you wish to see round Glyn-Coch you may be better off dealing with us direct.
Anyone want a nice flat near Guildford? Look here for details.