The weekend was brilliant and we enjoyed constant sunshine with very high temperatures. We began our WOTY by visiting the Hall at Abbey-Cwm–Hir Friday morning and were met by Paul Humpherstone (one of the owners) who welcomed us to his home. After a short introduction Paul split us into two groups to begin the tour which lasted two hours. The Hall is full of antiques and memorabilia which Paul and his wife Victoria have collected over the last 19 years since falling in love with the property and buying it to renovate it to their taste. We saw all 52 rooms, including their own living accommodation – each room is unique, mainly due to Victoria’s design ideas and flair for colour. We had arranged for a buffet to be delivered by local caterers which arrived just as we finished our tour - we then explored the gardens at our leisure which included coloured beach huts, gypsy caravans, a bandstand and a life-size wooden bear leaning against a tree!! Paul invited us to stay for as long as we wished and several us were still there at 3pm!! On leaving the Hall we went our separate ways for the remainder of the afternoon, some exploring further while others headed back to the Hotel for a swim and to enjoy some of the Spa treatments on offer.
Saturday dawned and an early start as several of us navigated a scenic drive which we had suggested using tulip maps which took us off the main roads and into some wonderful scenery, meeting up at the Dolaucothi Gold Mines for a comfort break mid morning. After wandering around this National Trust Site we carried on our journey to the Cliff Hotel at Gwbert overlooking Cardigan Bay. We had arranged a room for us to have a buffet lunch although most of us opted to sit outside and enjoy the views. A wedding was taking place so the Hotel was pretty busy but we had the chance to relax and have a couple of group photos’s courtesy of Brian who organised us very professionally!!
We had given everyone two routes to chose from on the way back to the Hotel, we decided to take the Elan Valley and Elan Village option (which was again very scenic, but with good driving roads. Those who had cabriolets arrived back at the Hotel rather pink (or should we say red) as we had enjoyed another very hot sunny day.
Sunday – and we said goodbye to two couples who were going home, while the rest of us had planned our day to take in some more of the scenery and other places of interest. We had personally booked a boat trip out from New Quay as we hoped to see some dolphins - to our delight several could be seen in the distance leaping out of the water, but sadly they didn’t want to come and say hello close to our boat, although we did see some huge jellyfish!!
Our last evening at the Hotel, and we all reflected on a most enjoyable weekend – was this our “hottest” WOTY?? Yes, we think it probably was.
We have a few photos in a gallery below - please forward any you wish for inclusion to Andrew (andrewdrowley@gmail.com) as well as any requests for anonymity! A few videos are also slowly being loaded to give you a feel of the countryside.