I have friends staying and the ladies all plan to go down to Cardiff for a day of retail therapy. Cardiff has swish shops, a terrific walk through shopping center with every type of shop you can think of and so many different places to stop for a tasty lunch or a delicious cup of coffee.

The men all have different plans. Bob is going to get the big red tractor out and do some work on the Estate, Robbie and Barry are going logging and Big John has planned a full days fishing down on the Towy & Cothi rivers. We packed him a picnic with home made bread filled with thinly sliced, slightly pink local lamb, tomatoes just picked from the greenhouse and thinly sliced hand cut crispy game chips. Washed down with a can of his favourite tipple this will make a good lunch. We are hoping he will bring back supper.

We are still finishing http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/ Just a few more things to do on the web site and it will be fully operational.

Another beautiful balmy September day. I took the RTV down to the orchard and picked eating apples from several of the trees. There is quite a heavy crop of crisp juicy fruit this year.

We spent the rest of the day out in the fresh air usefully, cleaning up weeds and debris from the brick paved entranceway the old fashioned way with a flat shovel, brooms and rakes. It was hard but rewarding work

Feasted on sweet blackberries growing on the brambles beside the top back drive. Came back with fingers and mouths stained purple but having had our fill of them. No rain about at the moment so they should stay plentiful, firm and plump.

As beautiful as The Bwlch Tre Banau Estate is http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/, we all love to travel. We have been looking at some gorgeous properties in Florida. Now is the time to go as the prices are low all through the autumn - found some absolute gems of properties for holiday rental on http://www.amisland.com/ We are going to stay in Villa Serena. It has plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, looks really romantic, has a heated private swimming pool and is close to 7 miles of white sugar sand beaches.

Another gorgeous day - we had breakfast in the morning sunlight outside beside the clematis and the roses - heavenly! I spent the day working on The Orangery, giving it a complete spring clean (or in this case an Autumn clean). The palms are looking wonderful and the last of the oranges need to be picked as the blossoms are starting to burst out again. Orange blossom smells divine. A robin has taken up residence there and he sings to me as I am working. http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/

We fed the carp in the pond, put some more eggs in the incubator to hatch and cut the grass really short. The swallows are still here, swooping low over the bottom pond - they will take off any time now. They all gather in the big pine tree beside Wheatsheaf cottage and then the next day they are gone.

Friends popped in last evening to pick some of the huge yellow raspberries by the pond and I gave them some apples from the orchard. I made apple crumble with butter and chopped hazlenuts in the topping which went down pretty well.

What a beautiful morning. The Autumn sunshine is streaming in throught the bedroom windows and when I look out over the gardens I see the waterlilies in the ponds are still in bloom, huge pink flowers set amongst dark green glossy leaves. The huge old rocks around the water are covered in moss and lichens and all the plants are really green a lush. Looks like being an Indian Summer this autumn.

Yesterday we picked more of the huge yellow raspberries down by the pond, apples from the orchard, oranges from the orangery and grapes from the conservatory. We have loads of ripe tomatoes, both red and yellow in the lean to greenhouse so I picked some rosemary from the rockery and set about making home made tomato soup. Skin and de-pip a couple of pounds of tomatoes, chop a large onion and gently simmer in a little olive oil for 5 minuutes, then add the tomatoes, some really good home made stock, finely chopped rosemary and some black pepper. Left it on to simmer for 20 minutes while we went up to the top meadow to check on the geese. I could not immediately see them in the three ponds, but eventually found them among the bull rushes - I think they are pretty lucky to have their own acre of ground fenced off with saplings, grass and plenty of water to enjoy. When we got back to the kitchen the soup was gently bubbling away. Served it with a swirl of cream and some home made crusty bread - delicious.

Anyone looking for a holiday cottage in Wales could do not better then visit the web site at http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/ The Bwlch Tre Banau Estate is just an hour and a half from Bristol, an hour from Cardiff and about 3 hours from London.

Must go as we are going out to look for mushrooms in the fields - it's that time of year!

We walked over to the kitchen garden and picked runner beans. We also dug up some tiny new potatoes, picked huge yellow & red raspberries down by the pond and ate some sweet tasting blackberries we found on the way. We then walked down the brick path to the orchard and picked a dozen of the slightly crisp and delicious pears.

Here at the Bwlch Tre Banau Estate we aim to be self sufficient.

Found some mushrooms in the neighbours field this morning. Great with chopped bacon and some home baked break for breakfast. Walked down to the river, it is running quite fast and waterfalls are cascading down through the woodlands. Beautiful.

We walked with the dogs along the paths and byways for about an hour this evening at dusk. The moon came up and it was huge and hung low in the sky like an giant misty ochre ball over the landscape. Some cloud drifted by and partly obscured the moonlight, the thought crossed my mind that it would have been useful to have put a torch in our pocket before leaving the house, but the dogs follow the paths homeward and Spotty is so white that he is easy to see. Apart from a few times that they ran off into the fern chasing rabbits, the dogs know their way back. The owl was hooting in the trees down in the valley. I love this place so much, it is such an incredible part of the world to be - we are so lucky!

We are still working on the we site for the holiday cottages www.walesholidaycottages.com
It has been quite a lot of work, but I think that we will be finalising it soon and getting the online booking functioning. In the meantime anyone who wants to book can phone us on 01558 650399

The sun is shining, it's a beautiful morning. The morning dew is lying on the meadows and sparkles in the sunlight. The cockerell woke me this morning "full of the joys of Spring" even though it is the Autumn. The leaves of the Virginia Creeper are glowing red on the walkway round to the orangery and right beside it the clematis that is growing over the pergola by the back door of the farmhouse is in flower again. Nature seems somewhat confused at the moment.

Autumn is just around the corner and I am looking forward to the change in the season. I love that time of year - the trees will start to turn red and gold all through the the valley. Already the Virginia Creeper that grows on the walls by the old green road are changing from green to red. We tied back the honeysuckles round the walkway as they had gone wild this summer and swept up the leaves they left all over the path. Time for a bonfire!

New laid eggs for breakfast, just lightly boiled with some fresh baked home made bread and some blackcurrant and cranberry juice. I just add a handfull of the blackcurrants from the bushes down in the orchard and give it a quick whizz - delicious and full of vitamin C. We finished off with a cappuccino.

We bought a coffee roaster a while ago and now we buy the beans green and then roast as and when we need it. There is nothing like freshly roasted coffee - we like ours quite dark and then I add just a touch of medium roasted arabica and that seems to help to form that delicous crema that is so essential to maiksng that perfect cup of coffee.

The web site is still under construction and is not yet fully functional to allow people to book online, so I am hopeful that they will just phone instead of trying to use the on-line reservation system. My friend Annie is proof reading the entries for typos and emails me every day with a list of corrections which is a great help. For some reason when I copy information over that I have written in word it loses a lot of the spaces in between words. Check it out at

http://www.walesholidaycottages.com

If you are thinking of going to Florida for some winter sunshine then take a look at the holiday rental homes on

http://www.1annamaria.com/

Talk about some gorgeous properties and what a beautiful island. It's just 7 miles long and has a beach that runs the whole length of the island - a gentle curve of palm fringed white sugar sands - looks like heaven.

John & Julia left today. Julia has a high powered, stressful, job and they came down for a couple of weeks to chill out and completely relax. Stripe and Spot love having them around as they get to go on extra walks and are sometimes gone for hours on end exploring all the little lanes, footpaths and backroads.

I am still working on th web site http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/

I am trying to persuade Bob to add some photos to the Estate Diary

http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/the-estate-diary.html

For at the moment we will be using photos that we have taken in the past but we will be renewing them as the Seasons go by and adding more. I have really enjoyed doing this work as it makes you realise what a idyllic corner of the United Kingdom it is and how lucky we are to have spent time here.

Being less than an hour from M5 also helps considerably as we can be at Heathrow in just 3 hours, down in Cardiff in an hour and in Bristol in just an hour and a half.

This morning I took Stripe and Spot over to the west meadows to check on the sheep, there are a few rabbits around. Maybe they are the ones that ate the top of my cabbages in the kitchen garden!

Today we have to work on the web site for our holiday rental cottages here on The Bwlch Tre Banau Estate http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/

My favourite page is

http://www.walesholidaycottages.com/security-wake-up-personel.html


We had such fun putting that one together! Anyway back to reality, the cottages are absolutely beautiful - we have used natural Welsh slate, oak from the Estate for beams and natural stone and quarter sawn oak for the floors. Shutters have been hand made, kitchens custom fitted by Matt the carpenter and we chose Heritage bathrooms - double showers, natural marble tile and roll top baths.

So far the guests that have stayed have all been really pleased - we were naturally a little nervous when our first party of renters arrived but they got in touch with us to say that not only did they have a great time but it was actually even better than it looked on the web site!

The pink climbing rose I planted this year beside the conservatory has grown several feet and some beautiful highly scented blooms have appeared this week. The aim is for it to grow really large and mix with the white blooms and prolific green leaves of the clematis giving shade in the warm Summer months and then after the leaves fall giving us plenty of sunlight in the Winter months. The grapevines inside the conservatory also make a complete canopy of shade and have given us a constant supply of small, sweet black grapes all Summer long. It certainly beats spending a fortune on conservatory blinds.

I went into Llandeilo this morning, stopped off at the great little coffee shop down by the church and had an espresso and some of their delicious coffee and walnut cake. I also dropped into the tiny delicatessen just up the tiny side street opposite and bought some of their delicious special olive oil and some cheeses

Stripe & Spot were up bright and early this morning ready to go out and check out the Estate. Had a quick breakfast then we all took off across the top field, past the quarry and followed the path runs up the back of Bwlch Tre Banau Banc (yes, the spelling is correct, "Banc" means "large hill" in Welsh). A few years ago we put 2 decorative metal benches on the top of the Banc so you can rest awhile and take in the view. This morning is sunny and the 360 degree views never fail to amaze us - the Brecons to the south and to the north-east, the tail end of the Cambrian mountains shows up on the horizon. All around is is a patchwork of small field, hills, tiny white farmsteads tucked into the landscape and the village of Siloh nestled into a valley. Bwlch Tre Banau means "gap through the hills" - directly in front of us, to the left and to the right are two hills and between them (with a backdrop of the Brecon Beacons) is the most beautiful sunlit valley in the whole of Carmarthenshire. The "Heart of Wales" railway with its small 2 carriage trains runs a couple of times a day through that valley and sometimes , if the wind is in the right direction, you can hear it meandering through from one tiny unmanned station to the next. One of these days, when I have more time, I am going to pack a picnic, get on the train in our little Llandovery station and travel over to the end of the line in the the beautiful border town of Shrewsbury, one of the prettiest towns in all of the UK. The ad says, "hop aboard the little train and relax as it takes you on a railway journey though a land of lush rolling hills and crystal clear mountain streams". Sounds like the perfect day trip.

This morning we stopped for elevenses and as we were really hungry I made boiled eggs and soildiers from my home baked bread. The eggs were just laid this morning with firm whites and golden yolks, not like those insipid things that are supposed to be free range that you find in the shops. Ours have to be good as they run about and peck around in a grassy paddock 24/7 and I also spoil them by giving them some mixed corn every day. This was closely followed by some of Lil's strawberry jam, made from our own strawberries. Lil always wins all the prizes for baking and for her home made preserves at the local shows. If you walk around the little marquees at Cilycwm or Rhandirmwyn agricultural shows the judges cards always have her name on nearly every table: first price, best of show, highly commended.

We will miss lunch today as we are busy in the kitchen garden clearing some weeds, but tonight we will feast on succulent roast Bwlch Tre Banau duck with runner beans and sweetcorn just picked from the garden.

Got up late this morning, chickens & ducks to feed, watering to do in the greenhouse. Our water here on the Bwlch Tre Banau Estate comes from over 150 feet down under the ground, beautiful sparkling fresh spring water and there is a plentiful supply for the whole Estate.

Walked up to see the 5 geese in the top meadow. They just eat grass so as they have about an acre growing wild and 3 ponds up there, plus a shelter if the weather is inclement, they are pretty well self sufficient. The young goslings are not old enough yet to put up with the adults so we have them down in the nursery paddock. The only trouble is they tend to wolf down the rolled barley we put down for the ducklings so it can be an expensive exercise. As soon as they feather up properly they can go up to the top field.

I found the tail feathers of the male peacock scattered about. He has just moulted them for the Winter and the new ones will not grow again until the Spring. I would love to bring them into the house as they are so intricate and colourful, but it is supposed to be bad luck to carry them indoors so I will leave them outside.