Y Gadlas: an anniversary weekend

For our anniversary weekend earlier this month we had a lovely three nights away in gorgeous converted granary Y Gadlas, one of the lovely Under the Thatch properties. Lots of their properties are dog friendly and they are all really unique and quirky. I drool over them regularly and was really excited when I was able to grab a last minute deal to surprise the boy with. It was only an hour and a half away from home (with pub lunch en route) and we stocked up with food from Rhug Organic Farm just before we arrived. After he had had a good sniff about the place we took Finn out for a walk up the hill and snapped the shot above: Y Gadlas and the Farmhouse are nestling in the middle.

Y Gadlas has a great open plan space on the upper floor with doors onto a huge deck and a pair of comfy sofas in front of the log burner which we used every evening. Even though the property sleeps six it still felt very cosy with just the two of us and the pup. The master bedroom was huge with a nice big bed and there were two bathrooms, one with a great shower and one with a bath that we used as Finn's bedroom. There are more pictures on the website.

There was a great selection of books, DVDs and games and we did battle with this The View from Everest jigsaw - it took us three days but we made it to the bitter end even though there were eleven pieces missing! If I had realised that over a third of it was made up of featureless blue sky then I probably would never have started.

When we arrived we found a pint of milk and a bottle of wine in the fridge, a freshly baked lemon drizzle cake (fantastic) on the counter and a lovely vase of little Welsh daffodils on the dining table. All the little extras we had brought from home (cafetière, nightlights, torch) were already there as well as many more.

We headed out into the Welsh rain in Tank, our old Landrover Defender. We took a Winter Special trip on the Welsh Highland Railway and looked out at the hills through the drizzle which Finn pup enjoyed. After that we headed back via Betsw-y-coed for some fish and chips at our usual spot and spent the rest of the evening curled up in front of the woodburner watching Crufts.

We awoke to glorious sunshine so hit the road and headed to Barmouth Beach (which featured in our holiday last summer). We stopped by The National White Water Centre on the way to watch some Canoe Slalom. It was fascinating and they made it look so easy, and we didn't see anyone fall in! I forgot to take pictures there so will just have to bombard you with pics of Barmouth in the sun, they sort of make a 360° panorama if you join them up in your head!

Ps. pop over to Finn Tails to see more puppy pics from the holiday.