We were staying in a holiday cottage right next door to the Llanercheraen Estate (Pontbrenmydyr) so it was just a stroll along a footpath to get to the entrance.

We decided to have a look around the house first. It is Georgian villa, designed in 1790, complete with a walled garden, farmyard lake and wild parkland and has not changed very much for over 200 years. It was left to the National Trust in 1989.

Inside the dining table was set ready for dinner.

In the Drawing Room, we tried to play the piano! The word ‘Drawing Room’ isn’t somewhere that humans went to draw, but somewhere to ‘withdraw’ away from other members of the household, or to entertain guests.

We went upstairs where we looked at all the bedrooms but didn’t take any photos up there!

I found the courtyard the most interesting part of the house. Before vacuum cleaners and electrictiy carpets were taken outside and beaten to remove dust.

Two cats live in the house

We set off to look for them!

Growler found Eira, who was very friendly.

We later found Eira’s brother Tomas asleep on the bed in the maid’s bedroom.

The maid’s bedroom was above the laundry room, where I tried out the ironing board.

The irons used to be heated up using a coal fire, which Growler would not have sat on had it been in use!

Next to the dairy was an interesting contraption used for pressing cheese, which would have been placed underneath the weighted wooden boxes.

Llanerchaeron had its own brewery for making ale. Here we are next to two huge vats.

The ale was kept in barrels on a special wooden stand in the cellar.

There was a very nice volunteer in the kitchen making sweets. She explained that the fondant icing had been bought to make peppermint creams before Christmas, but Storm Darragh came along and the Estate had to close. The storm caused lots of trees to come down and the area was without electricity for nearly a week. She was making lemon and strawberry creams.

We had one each and enjoyed them!

We set off to explore the farm yard.

The pigs were very pink!

Growler said “Hello” to some lambs.

A very free-range turkey was wandering around.

There was a trail for young humans to follow, and at number 9 a pile of little bikes to scoot around the farmyard. The bike was nearly the right size for me, but didn’t have any pedals!

There is a collection of antique farm machinery inside a big shed. Growler was particularly interested in the steam roller.

Growler was starting to get tired, his legs don’t work well these days, so he climbed into the wheelchair that we had taken with us ‘just in case’ and we continued on through the walled garden.

Growler stayed in th wheelchair to be pushed back to our holiday cottage, which was about half a mile away.

We had buns and tea back at the cottage after a lovely couple of hours exploring Llanerchaeron.

Do visit Llanerchaeron if you are in the area, it is an interesting place to spend a few hours.

To see more about the National Trust cottage we staying in see: https://horacethealresfordbear.com/2025/05/03/pontbrenmydyr-cottage-in-west-wales/

More about Llanderchaeron: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/llanerchaeron

Horace the Alresford Bear 6/5/2025