Glyn Y Mul Farm – A
little more detail about the site
The farm itself has been around for at least 200
years and was originally much larger. A quarry for blue pennant stone existed
in the woodland until the early 1900’s. In 1999 various parcels of land belonging
to the farm were sold off and the remaining property is more of a ‘working
smallholding’.
We began with the camping idea about 2001 but it
was a word of mouth arrangement with everyone persuading us that we needed to
take it more seriously. In early 2004 we put an experimental web site on line
and the phone began ringing. People struggle to pronounce the name of the farm
– which should be ‘glyn urr meel’ – so it often goes under the heading ‘Lone
Wolf Campsite’, so if you see that – it’s the same place. Whilst on the subject
of pronunciation, the
There is no doubt that if we were mercenary about
it, we could fill the fields most weekends during summer, but then we’d become
just another commercial type site. The whole idea of this place is not to have
people crammed so close they are woken by their neighbours snoring, or queuing
for an hour to shower. As I’ve said in
other places on this site – if you need heated shower blocks, kids play areas,
clubhouses or shops then you a definitely in the wrong place.
It’s difficult to cater for the many different
types of campers who come here. Some come with every possible luxury imaginable
including satellite TV, solar showers, fridges and sewage treatment systems –
in a TENT!!! Whilst others arrive with virtually nothing but a rucksack. Some
campers love the idea of a fire to sit round whilst others are horrified at the
smoke smell caused by them. You just can’t win.
Most people come here for some peace and quiet –
and so that’s the one thing we insist on. Most campers can be flexible about
late arrivals, the odd car starting early or a baby crying, but the surest way
get up everyone’s nose is car stereos. If you are the type who just cannot help
leaving the car radio on with the doors open on a camp site then you need to go
somewhere else. We want people to come here and show respect for fellow campers
and understand before they come that excessive noise isn’t acceptable. We are
in a small valley with the acoustic properties of a Roman Theatre and the sound
of radios etc, even on low volume goes a long way.
Two other problems that always come to light are
children and dogs. No matter how much gets written on the subject of children
camping here – parents still think that farms are safe, and nothing could be
further from the truth. If you want to bring children here it’s great, but they
need constant supervision and proper guidance for using the toilets and
showers. They will get bored here. There are ponds to fall in, rivers to
get swept away in. Cows with horns, nasty rams and barbed wire are in
abundance. Old mining works occasionally show up and there are many high rocks
with sheer drops. The safety of visitors is our concern but your
responsibility.
Dogs are another issue. There are places on the
farm you can walk dogs and we can direct you to them. On the camping field
itself dogs need to be on a lead or restraining device of some kind at all
times. No exceptions. Everyone says their dog is used to farms and used to
sheep but experience has shown otherwise.
Also, if your dog is the ‘yappy’ type that’s going to bark at everyone –
again please consider whether this is the best site to come to.
On a more positive note, we’ve had some fantastic
campers here of all types and they have all done their own thing. We seem to
have quite a few regular visitors now so we must be doing something right.
We’ve added to our original facilities and added quite a few unusual extra facilities
based on the feedback previous campers have given us. Some come here for ‘Bush
craft’ camping in our woodland and want no facilities at all. The ‘Ray Mears’
style “s**t in a pit” camping has become so popular over the last couple of
years. Some people have made some incredible camps in the woodland and I only
wish more of them had sent me pictures of those camps before they dismantled
them so I could put them up on the web site. We do our best to cater for most
eventualities and if we can help anyone in any way we will always try. The vast
majority use our normal camping field where we’ve slowly added facilities
trying to cater for all demands. So whether you want to be abandoned for a week
in the woods with only a Swiss army knife, or you need to use our wireless
network to download some important e-mail, hopefully we can sort it!
Here’s an extra new idea that may interest some.
There is major concern nowadays about ‘Green’ issues and the term ‘Carbon
off-setting’ is heard every day. Planting trees may not solve the global
warming problem, but its got to be better than doing nothing. Here at the farm
we try to do our bit. We have separate waste recycling bins (sadly only about
50% of campers bother using them), we cook and heat our farm house on wood. We
have a small 1kw wind turbine for the house. We also harvest rain water for
toilet flushing and grow organic vegetables with the manure from livestock. We
are hoping to install a compost toilet in the future as well as some kind of
solar heating for water.
We are happy to plant a tree on the farm on your
behalf. It can be any kind of tree and we won’t charge you for the privilege.
You can bring a sapling with you, buy one from a local garden centre during
your stay or order one through an on-line supplier and have it delivered to us.
As a last resort we can probably sell you something cheaply. We don’t mind
broadleaf trees or conifers; it’s entirely up to you. It may only be a drop in
the ocean as regards global warming, but if you want to off-set the gases
created by your journey here then it’s an option now open to you.