Shaggy sheep

It looks like this sheep missed shearing two years in a row but will get a short back and sides this July.

Spring and gravity

Spring is in the air. Baby lambs everywhere. Birds singing their hearts out. New guests are in the cottage and for their first morning a gravity train came rolling past. It seems to start earlier each year.

Blaenau 30 Campbell 30

This year is the 30^th anniversary of the Ffestiniog Railway re-opening all the way to Blaenau and there will be a series of special events from 5^th to 7^th May. It is also the 30^th anniversary of the death of Colonel Campbell who rescued Plas y Dduallt from dereliction and did much to help the railway.

The house has recently been tree ring dated to reveal that the oldest timbers were chopped down between 1559 and 1565. Much research has gone into the history and is summarised in a five page document which can be accessed here.

The appendix at the back of the Ffestiniog Railway Act of 1832 shows the property being owned by the trustees of the late William Lloyd and by the time of The Tithe Act of 1842 it is owned by the Rt Rev Lord Robert Ponsonby Tottenham from Wicklow. It remained in the Tottenham family for three generations before being auctioned in 1920 at The Queens Hotel, Blaenau Ffestiniog, when it was bought for the Tan y Bwlch estate.

If anyone has any information on the Tottenhams and why they came here I would be very grateful to hear from you. Were they railway or mining investors?

Farm buildings next to the house were used by the deviationists between 1965 and 1973 during which time an estimated 10,000 bed nights were enjoyed. These days it is known as Campbell’s Cottage and is available for holidays. We are currently booked until September but have availability for the weeks beginning 15^th and 22^nd June and 6th July.

Huw and Sue