Britain's Best Breaks

11/01/2023

We are hiring. If you want to join our little working family give the cave a ring on 015242 41244. Thursday to Sunday between 9.45am to 4.00pm.

04/03/2022

From April 2023, Welsh councils will be able to charge 300pc tax premiums on second homes

24/02/2022

26/01/2022

This national park is full of gorgeous waterfalls

24/01/2022

20/01/2022

20/01/2022

19/01/2022

19/01/2022

DREAM OF “ESCAPING TO THE COUNTRY?” 🤔. Here’s how we did it...

We had often discussed how we’d love to move to the middle of nowhere, enjoy our dogs/hobbies and indulge in the great outdoors - who doesn’t?! The $1 million question, of course, was how to fund such a lifestyle. Both professional singers our base was near Weston super Mare - perfectly placed for the regular holiday centre work on the South West coast - but we hankered after a life in the Welsh countryside where we’d enjoyed many holidays.

Come 2008 we’d had enough and were desperate to hang up our microphones but to make the big move we had to find a way to make our a new life in the country work for us. What would make us happy? Mountain biking for Jay, cooking for me and our dogs for both of us. But how on earth could we encompass these passions into a viable business? “Holidays for dog lovers!” I said. “Holidays for mountain bikers!” said Jay. “With food!” we both said. And so we had 2 viable business ideas but no money, no experience and absolutely no idea quite what an epic journey this would take us on...

My idea was to provide everything we ourselves had struggled to find: lovely but affordable self-catering accommodation with totally enclosed gardens, no limit on the number of dogs allowed and very few rules. Home cooked meals would be an optional extra. Jay’s idea was a bit more of a challenge but, with both of us keen skiers, the result was inspired by how catered chalets operate in Europe. We’d create a similar experience for mountain bikers – all-inclusive catered breaks with “off piste” guiding. I would assume the role of “chalet girl” and provide delicious food and Jason would provide the guiding.

To be honest it was all a bit of a pipe-dream but one night whilst watching my favourite programme I decided to take the bull by the horns - as you do when you’re half way down a bottle of red... “Dear Escape to the Country, we’ve got this mad idea... um, can you help??!” I didn’t really expect to hear from them - they must get 1000s of requests - therefore I didn’t bother telling Jay. So when they called a week later, in shock, I lost grip of my phone and it hit the floor. And when I told Jay his jaw did the same 😂

We had rather a long list of requirements and not much money. The programme was a brilliant experience and whilst it didn’t find us the property we ultimately chose it focused us on the area we needed to be in. We soon found the perfect place – a farmhouse with large barn ripe for conversion into 2 separate units, right on the edge of Brechfa Forest in Carmarthenshire, home to the world renowned mountain bike trails and had incredible views. Just one problem – we couldn’t sell our house. So it was bittersweet when the show aired 6 months later. But when my father watched the programme he saw what we were trying to achieve and bought our existing property to enable us to make the move!

I’d like to tell you it’s been easy... I could honestly write a book! Starting the businesses was a huge leap of faith, involved a big risk and massive change. Moving to a new country, converting a property at great expense with no experience and then marketing 2 brand new businesses concepts in a rural area with zero budget has definitely been the most challenging time of our lives! But here we are.

In 2009 we moved in and started work in earnest. In 2010 we opened our 1st cottage and Brechfa Forest Barns - totally dog friendly holiday cottages was born. We had back to back bookings for the first 18 months. In 2011 our 2nd cottage was completed and MudTrek Mountain Bike Breaks, Holidays & Vacations welcomed it’s first fully catered, guided guests. Our 3rd cottage opened a few years later and since then we’ve renovated our own house, created a beautiful garden, added the very popular BBQ Hut and have created “Scentral Bark” - a Dog Play Park exclusively for our guests. We’ve won 7 awards and, more importantly, we have over 700 x 5 star reviews from our guests. We’re a bit tired but we’re delighted to say it’s all been worth it! And BBC1 asked to come back and show the world what we’d achieved - how lovely was that? In 2017 we appeared on “I Escaped to the Country”. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/UzdlVNzB76c

Although incredibly hard work we now have the life we dreamt of: our own slice of rural heaven in amazing countryside with incredible views, stunning walks and rides from the door and fantastic beaches not far away. We both really enjoy what we do and the dogs love it too. We’re thrilled to be able to share all of this with our guests. Come and visit 😊🐾

We hope to see you soon in wonderful Wales.

Nikki & Jay
Cookie, Oscar & Alfie Beagles 🐾🐾🐾
www.brechfaforestbarns.co.uk and www.mudtrek.com
————————————————-

PRICES, DETAILS, AVAILABILITY & TO BOOK: www.brechfaforestbarns.co.uk

VIEW OUR DIGITAL GUIDEBOOK: https://guide.touchstay.com/guest/bZ3Fdn4NGYaq3/

JOIN OUR DISCOUNT CLUB & CANCELLATIONS LIST: http://eepurl.com/gGOtBr

TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS: https://bit.ly/OURTRIPADVISORREVIEWS

PLEASE FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK:
Brechfa Forest Barns - totally dog friendly holiday cottages and MudTrek Mountain Bike Breaks, Holidays & Vacations. And on INSTAGRAM: and 🙏

19/01/2022

🎉 We'm reopening tomorrow! 🎉

We've had a bostin' break and are ready to reopen our doors tomorrow (Wednesday 19th).

Why not spend a day wandering around our 26 acre site, chatting to our friendly historic characters and enjoying some of our legendary fish and chips? 😋

Tickets and more info 👀👇
https://tickets.bclm.com/events

19/01/2022

Padstow, by walkingcornwall
www.selectcornwall.co.uk for a holiday

19/01/2022

We have unexpectedly had some seasonal pitches become available for 2022! 😄🌴

If you are looking for an ideal location in the heart of Newquay to store your home away from home, please email [email protected] to register your interest with us.

Please note that all registrations are on a first come first serve basis. Seasonal pitches are usually very popular so we recommend being quick if you want to secure a place!

We look forward to hearing from you! 😊

18/01/2022

18/01/2022

Hold your breath…🐠 and dive into our under the sea soft play 🐟🦀🐡

18/01/2022

18/01/2022

18/01/2022

18/01/2022

18/01/2022

Plans are being put in place to help the East Midlands rail compete with the south

18/01/2022

Dunwich, known as the lost city of England, dates back to Anglo-Saxon times and once stood proud as the capital of the Kingdom of the Eastern Angles.

18/01/2022

The Chainbridge Hotel in Llangollen lies next to the River Dee and the well known chain bridge crossing

18/01/2022

The Telegraph has shared a new video of travel writer Simon Parker visiting Shetland – described as the “wildest corner of Britain”. The newspaper said...

06/01/2022

The forest is beautiful no matter what season you choose to visit ❤ Book your 2022 holiday with our Book with Confidence promise at www.darwinforest.co.uk

06/01/2022

* within easy reach

14/12/2021

A body with a duty to seek to foster the social and economic wellbeing of the local communities within the Yorkshire Dales looks set to strengthen its strategy to enable more younger people to live there.

02/12/2021

😍🎄👍🌴Another tree in our gardens....!🎄😀👍🌴

16/11/2021

**UPDATE** WE HAVE FOUND TOM!!
BRILLIANT WORK, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE FOR SHARING. TURNS OUT IT IS TOM FROM BOLTON NOT OLDHAM!!
WE ARE DELIGHTED WE HAVE REACHED TOM SO WE CAN THANK HIM PERSONALLY FOR CHANGING A POTENTIAL EMERGENCY SITUATION ON THE FELLS INTO A GREAT OUTCOME!
PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN?!
We (the staff of Moss Grove Organic in Grasmere) are looking for a young man called Tom from Oldham. More specifically Tom is a fell runner and yesterday (Monday 15th November) was out running in the local fells near to Sergeant Man and Blea Rigg.
Long story short...Tom from Oldham helped to safely navigate some of our guests from the higher fells back to Grasmere. Unfortunately the guests had become lost whilst out walking and as the day got darker and the cloud became low they were unsure which path to take.
Luckily a fell runner which we have no other information than Tom from Oldham who was on a day trip led them back to the correct path. We would love to find Tom, so if you are Tom from Oldham or you know a Tom who is from Oldham we would love to hear from you.
Moss Grove Organic, Grasmere. 015394 35251. [email protected]

16/11/2021