REST : Pwllheli...

I always escape to the mountains when I start to feel overwhelmed with life. They make me feel calm. A place I can reset and recharge.

This past twelve months have felt like a high speed rollercoaster ride of many highs and of course a few lows to balance it out and bring me back to reality. I've laughed often, made cherished memories, travelled far, built new friendships, gained new knowledge all whilst working my two job roles. However, on times, I have felt as though I have lost some of my spark and in recent weeks had noticed I was starting to feel a little stagnant with life again due to understandable attitudes and opinions about the future of the agricultural industry moving forward. Everything was feeling rushed, like a cheap tick box exercise where quantity appeared to be more important than quality and those situations never sit well with me.

Back at the start of the summer I had briefly spent some time in North Wales for a charity fundraiser I was involved in which you can read more about here 'Climbing Mountains'. Amongst the accommodation options suggested to me for the trip, a beautiful farm diversification by the name of 'Ara Cabins' was proposed. From a handful of pictures on a well known accommodation booking site I knew I wanted to visit and stay there at some point therefore, I added it to my bucket list. Before I knew it, at the start of July I had made the booking to stay there for a birthday treat to myself.

By the time October came around, this trip to North Wales was very much needed. My plan was to rest and recharge the batteries. Figure out what life choices I would like to do next or gain more knowledge about. If you haven't guessed it already from previous posts, I love learning as much as possible about this broad landscape of a farming industry both here within the UK as well as overseas. Learning about the people within it, the systems used to manage it along with the options to change and improve on it for future generations. But, before I started making long lists of potential ideas and options moving forward I needed to completely switch off. So I headed out on a walk along the highest mountain in Wales. Mount Snowdon or Yr Wyddfa as it has recently been renamed.

I'd climbed Snowdon back in May so had already taken the decision to choose the alternative option of travelling up the mountain via the mountain railway with the plan to walk back down at my own pace. The first three quarters of the journey up were what I expected it to be. A train full of tourists capturing all the wonderful scenery on display through their carriage windows. Then the weather changed. We had to stop for ten minutes and wait on a wind speed reading to find out if the train could continue up the mountain or not. A reading had come in at 62mph hence the decision to stop. For safety reasons the train isn't allowed to travel the last stretch of the track if wind speeds are over 55mph for the safety of both the staff and of course the paying tourists. Honestly, I was gutted. I had been looking forward to strolling down the mountain and taking in the views and scenery I may not have experienced back in May. I kept everything crossed in the hope that the wind speed would drop so that I could selfishly get to the top and continue on my mini adventure alone. Twelve minutes past before the announcement came through that we could continue to the top. I had the biggest smile on my face not realising what I was actually letting myself in for once I reached the summit.

I stepped off the train and out into the elements of lashing rain and those high wind speeds. I started to question what the hell I was actually doing with my life. Was I completely mad? Should I just jump back on the train and say sod it for another day? No. I had come this far and had dressed for the wet weather conditions and the stubborn person that I am, was determined to keep going with my plan. I zipped my coat up, tightened my hood, sorted my walking sticks and began taking my first steps back down the mountain.

The visibility was non existent and again I questioned what the hell I was doing. I'm not a huge risk taker, never have been, and at the time this felt like a risk I should probably not be taking. But I kept moving. It wasn't long before I came across two American ladies who were ten minutes from reaching the summit. We greeted each other and had a short conversation about the weather and walking conditions. They were both overjoyed with excitement that they were standing at the peak of Wales that you couldn't not join in their celebrations. It was the cup full of positivity I needed. They put a smile on my face and made me laugh about the situation in order to keep going, so with some words of caution about certain exposed parts of the mountain, we said our goodbyes and carried on our individual paths.

There weren't many people walking Snowdon that day understandably, and the views I was hoping for were pretty poor. Nevertheless, the two hour walk down gave me plenty of time to think over a large number of things which had been building up stress and tension within me over the previous few months. The walk also got a lot easier the further down the mountain I went. The wind speeds were dropping and the rain had started to ease off and it reminded me that if you just keep moving you can overcome any storms or difficulties you are facing in your life simply by putting one foot in front of the other.

Reaching the base of the mountain and getting back to the car park I was still laughing at what I had actually just done and I had a smile on my face for many hours afterwards. I had already planned that day two of the holiday was going to be a lot calmer with both feet firming on solid ground and this walk had confirmed it was definitely the right decision to have made.

Trefriw Woollen Mill had been a place I had wanted to visit from my university days when I was studying fashion design and apparel construction. Like most of the woollen mills based around me in south Wales, it did a fantastic job of showcasing the heritage of how the woollen mills used to run and support the farming community and sheep industry within Wales. The tapestry of different blanket designs displayed on the museum walls illustrated the creativity of the woollen mill workers back in the day.

I have always loved wool as a fibre and I have regularly been interested in finding out as much information about its qualities as I possibly can. One of my favourite farm visits out in New Zealand in December 2022 was to a Merino sheep farm where I got to learn and see the difference between the fine merino wool fibres compared to some of the coarse Welsh sheep breeds I knew from back home. It is one of the most sustainable and environmentally positive fibres available on the planet however, visiting museums like Trefriw as an example, sometimes really irritate me due to the fact that in their gift shops they all seem to want to sell the same traditional woollen hats, scarves, cardigans and blankets in display settings that look as though they are stuck in the dark ages. It always makes me question if we will ever modernise the idea of wool as a great fibre of the future to the next generation when we continue to showcase it in the current way that we do. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it's history, but I want so much more for it's future. Maybe I'll save that as a blog post topic for another day.

That afternoon I decided to try and find the lone tree on Llanberis lake. I had visited the lonely tree in Wanaka, New Zealand, again in December 2022 and had come to learn that there was something similar in my home country of Wales. Seeing as I was so close, I planned to go and find it to see if it was set in a similarly breath-taking surrounding as New Zealand's famous tree. It didn't disappoint. It took me some time to locate it as it wasn't marked on google maps, but once I arrived at its location I wanted to spend some time there just sitting and watching the movement of the water with the mountain landscape behind it. So many people came walking by to take their pictures before quickly leaving again, whereas I wanted to sit and appreciate nature and the amazing structures and environments it creates. It was calm and the majority of the time pretty silent. It was the perfect environment for me to just sit and clear my mind of pointless anxieties. I highly recommend visiting it if you ever get the chance to go to North Wales. It won't disappoint.

I can't finish this blog post without saying something about the actual accommodation and farm setting I stayed within. Ara Cabins, described in one world, was simply WOW!

I could tell from the moment I arrived that every detail had been thought about when it came to locating, designing and styling these cabins. The pictures I had seen when booking the accommodation were exactly how it looked and felt in real life. The small added luxuries of the log burner and underfloor heating inside the cabin paired with the log fired hot tub outside were incredible. Even if it was hammering it down with rain the evening I arrived, there was no way the weather was going to stop me enjoying these niceties.

Before I left on the last day of my holiday, Jim, who owned the farm diversification, offered me the opportunity to have a farm tour of his families two farms. Everyone knows how much I love a farm tour, so I jumped at the chance to learn and hear more about their farming system and diversification ventures they had created. This was my 16th farm tour in the past 12 months and the weather had decided to display both the livestock and landscape in all its glory. 

Jim was an interesting person to talk to and I did the usual of questioning why he does what he does. A young farmer with a lot of drive and ambition to achieve as much as possible. From the conversations we had as we travelled around the fields feeding the cattle, it was clear he loved a challenge and it was even clearer how much research, detail and thought goes in to creating these diversification enterprises that him and his family have. He loved the landscape he lived within and the area he got to call home nevertheless, he was aware that for our rural industry to survive we have to modernise it in order to attract people to come and visit and more importantly stay. That way  our rural communities will not just survive but also hopefully thrive.

As I mentioned at the start of this blog post, this holiday to North Wales was needed and I probably could have done with a few more days away however, on this occasion, it just wasn't possible to extend the trip. As humans we don't allow our mobile devices to run low, yet I have noticed as a modern society we feel expected to keep going and achieving as much as possible, as quick as we can, and as much to my announce, with less quality as we probably should do. I questioned a lot about my personal values and beliefs on this trip in the time I had to just think to myself. I think the most important thing I realised is that as individuals we need to recognise what is done and what is needed to come to an end and not be afraid to move on. It may be upsetting, it may hurt and you may even struggle, but you know its right. Whatever challenges you are facing and whatever decisions you make, do it for you and only you.

Until next time

Hx