Some history of the farm

Well what I know if the history of our little slice of mountainside is this; it was put on the market as a working hill farm with I dont know, 25 - 30 acres of land in teh Mid 80's. The previous owners, the Wilsons I believe having retired to Bryncrug. According to 'Aberdyfi, a past recalled' a local history of the region, Brynllwyn and other farms of this size had been run as small holdings since at least the begining of the 19th century. TGhe book recalls the 1830's and indeed the census data for 1831 anf 1841 show a small family of a couple (I think they might have been a brother and sister, possibly called Jones) and a servant living here. They would have kept a pig, some chickens and a few cows, growing veg in a strip in the field. Life was largly self sufficient, hard work and little money. Most men then worked on either the big estate farms or at Tonfanau quarry. Interestingly the book remembers the importance of the income generated by the woman, who collected seaweed from Tonfanau beech, sending it by train to Machynlleth and beyond where it would have been composted as plant feed.

This timeless lifestyle has changed of course very rapidly since the 1940's post war boom, and many remember those times as typified by strong local community and very hard work and fairly spartan living. Good old days pah! I have heard said more than once by those that remember that generation. So Brynllwyn was put on the market in the Mid 80's and failed to attract a buyer, that scale of upland farming was simply not economic to justify the investment. Plus as many young people have turned their backs on rural employment it fits the trend of the times. Consequently the builings and land were separated and sold off at auction in 2 separate lots. A neighbouring small farmer took the land and stone barn, the house, outbuildingss, paddock and wetland were bought by a downshifting english couple, who converted it into a holiday business. Frank Everard spent 4 years converting the outbuildings a stable and series of cattle barns into holiday lets and they developed a fairly sucessful business here.

It was however a lot of work for a couple and eventually their marriage faltered and the place was once again on the market. It remained there for 4 years, with i think a few short term tenants, but it had been empty for some time when we first arrived to view it December 1994. I think the Everards had acquired the place for about £35k, but during their tenure houses proces rose sharply, plus of course they did a lot of work on the place. Consequently it was on the market for £160k, although the asking price, after the early 90's housing crash had slipped to £120K. Coming in with an offer of £110k Chickenshack housing co-op managed to secure the place, although it took a full 9 months and a reduced offer of only £100k before we were able to actually raise enough money. It was the Saturday evening of Glastonbury festival 1995 when the call came from our soliciter saying he was about to formerly exchange contracts. We moved in on 1st August of that year.