Dyffryn 2.77

Dyffryn has been in our family for centuries; it has been a working farm until recently. In the surrounding fields are sheep, lambs and cattle grazing. The farmhouse and outbuildings were originally built sometime in the 18th century, with extensions added in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Dr Edward Thomas, a young, newly qualified surgeon, who had trained in Edinburgh and who was originally from Merioneth in mid-Wales, arrived in the village in the late 1800s, as the first village doctor. He took lodgings here at Dyffryn and fell in love with the youngest daughter of the family. They married and raised four children here. The doctor ran his general practice from the Old Surgery, which originally consisted of two small rooms, but which has now been transformed into one light and spacious room. At the end of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century, patients would arrive to see Dr Thomas, entering through a side gate from the lane leading up past the house.

Dr Thomas used to visit his patients in a pony and trap, which were housed in the stable block opposite the house. On 12th September 1905, three young men came running down from the fields at the top of Rhiw Mountain (the mountain you can see from the front of the house), calling for the doctor’s help, as a young married woman had suddenly gone into labour. He rode up the mountain and safely delivered a baby girl – that baby girl was my maternal great-grandmother.

Dyffryn has been completely refurbished in the last three years to the highest specification. Parts of the house have been completely rebuilt to provide a warm, efficient, comfortable and luxuriously appointed property. The aim is to provide for inclusive living, with the property having been designed, as far as possible, to accommodate visitors who may have reduced mobility. All ground floor rooms (apart from possibly the Old Surgery) can be accessed by wheelchair.

Some rooms have Welsh names – the translations are Brenin (King), Enfys (pronounced en-viss - rainbow), Mynydd (pronounced mun-ith - mountain), Bryn (hill) and Celyn (holly). All the names have special meanings for us as a family.

Dyffryn will sleep 10 persons on the upper floor. There are additional spaces for travel cots in Enfys and Brenin. There is a sofa bed in the ground floor sitting room, which can accommodate two additional persons.

Dogs are welcome. Indeed, our two dogs, Lilah, a two-year old Great Dane, and Bryn, also known affectionately as Boo Bear, Head of Security, who is a five-year old Leonberger, have stayed here with my daughter, Laura, and myself whilst the renovations have been taking place. We have named two rooms after them – one bedroom and the outside Lil’s laundry!

As a family, we love being at Dyffryn – it is a very relaxing house. All daily stresses seem to fade away! If you like nature and wildlife, you may have a visit from our ‘tame’ cock pheasant, who wanders into the garden in the mornings, sometimes bringing with him a collection of wives! You will hear noisy rooks roosting in the trees at sunset and bantams crowing in the morning. You may also hear tawny owls screeching and see shooting stars in the night sky in August and December. If you walk through the narrow lanes in spring and summer, take a deep breath and smell the scent of yellow gorse, wild rose and honeysuckle. The beaches and sea air are invigorating at all times of year. If you climb to the top of Mynydd Rhiw (Rhiw mountain) and look out at Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island), the island where 20,000 saints are reputedly buried – you may see basking sharks and whales in Bardsey Sound – the water is very deep in the channel there.