Hi everyone,
Welcome to our Christmas and New Year review of 2024.
Firstly, apologies that it has been a while since our last social media post. There has been a lot going on over the last few months, both on the farm and personally, which has taken up a lot of our time to sort out. Now we are on top of things here, more regular social media posts will be coming in 2025.
2024 didn’t start off very well, with the cost of living/energy crisis that affected so many and the passing of my father-in-law in January. It was a very wet and soggy beginning of the year (the rain started in October 2023 and really didn’t stop until mid-March), making the farm extremely muddy, slippery and wet.
Fairly early on we decided to cancel Easter and delay opening the Yurt site due to the rain and mud. This turned out to be a wise move, as it just didn’t stop raining. The ground was soddened, which meant we were unable to get the yurts up and the site ready in time for the Easter holidays. When the rain finally stopped, we had a small window of dry weather to make sure everything was in place to welcome guests.
The Yurt Site & Lake House
While things could have been worse in regard to bookings at the start of the year, the cost of living and energy crisis meant everyone had more important things on their minds than booking a short weekend or midweek break. So, we decided to do something to help, as everyone was under pressure with high interest rates, mortgage rates, and rising food costs. After much thought and consideration, we scrapped our normal pricing structure, going from a low, mid, and high-season pricing structure to a single price throughout the season. After a short trial, bookings started to pick up, and before we knew it, May and June were filling up, and we were fully booked for July/August.
The weather, while not as hot as in previous years, was dry, and summer was pleasant and enjoyable. We did have a few issues, but nothing we couldn’t handle, and the 2024 yurt site holiday season came to a quiet end after an enjoyable season.
Once again, we had some of the most amazing guests in 2024, both new and returning. We look forward to welcoming you in 2025.
The Lake House is open all year and has been relatively busy, as it is less affected by the weather. The Lake House is fully booked for the Christmas/New Year period.We will be continuing with our current prices and structure, but due to tax increases in the budget, our prices will be going up in the New Year. So, if you are looking to book a short break, book now to take advantage of our 2024 prices.
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The Cows of Lower Glyn Farm
If you have been following us on social media or have recently stayed with us, you will know that we have some cattle on the farm.
We have had a small herd of Highland cows for a number of years, which have been a great hit with our guests. However, due to their nature and size, guests aren’t able to interact with them directly. In September 2023, we bought 10 Ruby Red calves – 5 boys and 5 girls.
During the winter and the first couple of months, they were hand-fed and kept in our barn (once again due to the rain). Once the weather dried out, we were able to put them to pasture to run free. At first, they were a little scared of the open field but soon realised the joy of running from one side of the field to the other and back again. As they are not as big as the Highlands and had been hand-raised, they are friendly and not scared of people.
This meant we were able to set up a feeding station and offer cow food for sale to our guests. While we don’t allow guests to go directly into the field with the cows to feed them (we don’t want anyone getting hurt by an overexcited cow), they were able to get up close and personal with them through a fence. Guests were thrilled to scratch them behind the ear or even get licked (akin to being licked by a giant cat). This has proven so popular that cow food will be available for sale from the beginning of the 2025 holiday season.
October is a big month on our cow calendar as it is when we do our TB testing. Any cattle farmer will tell you this is the most stressful time of the year for them. TB testing has major ramifications for farmers, and it can go one of three ways:
- You get an all-clear and jump around happily for the next 12 months.
- You get an inconclusive result. This means you must isolate the cow(s) in question from the rest of the herd for 60 days and then retest. The retest can go either way – positive or negative. If negative, you get an all-clear (see point 1). If positive, things are a lot sadder and harder (see point 3 below).
- A positive result means you must test every single cow on the farm every 60 days until you have had two consecutive all-clear results. This can go on for months or years. During this time, the farm goes into lockdown, and any infected cattle (even if pregnant) have to be put down.
We once again got an all-clear on our cows, which was a huge relief. This has meant that we were able to call in an artificial insemination company to hopefully get our 10 female cows pregnant. An ultrasound appointment has been booked with the vet for the New Year, when hopefully we will get some good news. This all means that, come September, we should have a number of new arrivals running around the farm. So, apologies in advance, as there will hopefully be a large number of social media posts flooding your news feeds!
More Recently
With the farm hit by two major storms (Bert and Darragh) in the last few weeks, like the rest of the UK, we have felt rather battered. Storm Bert was horrendous with such a huge amount of rain. Thankfully, we weren’t flooded, and our hearts went out to all those who were. Storm Darragh affected us more than Bert when a large oak tree fell, cutting off the electricity for about two days. The phones and broadband also went down for about 24 hours, which did leave us feeling a little isolated. A small number of trees came down in the woods, and some of the damage will have to wait until the spring to sort out. All in all, we got off lightly – both storms could have been a lot worse.
And Finally
So, 2024 started off badly but, after the initial rough start, just got better and better. For the 7th year running, we got the TripAdvisor Choice Award. We are rated as 5-star for both the Lake House and Yurt Site by Visit Wales, Facebook, and Google, and Airbnb has awarded us their “Super Host” status for the second year in a row.
We have met some of the most wonderful guests and hopefully provided some great memories along the way. Here’s to 2025 and all it brings (good and not so good).
Have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Regards,
Mike
Hidden Valley Yurts & Lake House
