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On this page you will find just about anything you need in order to enjoy your visit to Glyn-Coch that bit more!!
If you would like to contact us for campsite/group bookings, enquiries, or any other reason, please contact us at the following:
Glyn-Coch Craft Centre Pwll Trap, St. Clears, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK Tel: 01994 231867 (info@glyn-coch.com) For enquiries on how to use the website or on the website design please contact the webmaster here: (webmaster@glyn-coch.com) Tel: 01994 231867 |
The following demonstrations and courses are offered as informal 'fun' activities. - In this context 'course' implies individuals or groups of people sharing enjoyment of a common interest in a progressive way, rather then working towards a formal qualification. During the 'course' you will experience several aspects of the interest followed, and where relevant share in the use of our equipment. Advance booking is required for items 5 and 7,8 and 10-12. The quality of the course is likely to improve with the amount of warning we get, but we hope to be able to run enjoyable 'emergency' courses at 24 hrs notice in most subject areas.
Title |
Price* |
Description |
| Exhibition | Free | To occupy visitors to the Woodland Walk on wet days, we have created a display with a general description of Glyn-Coch, and pictures of the plants and wildlife on the woodland walk and information on the farm and animals. As a contrast we describe the more exciting features of the Bristol Channel including traditional trading vessels. |
| Pottery Demonstration | Free | We will describe how we make and decorate our pottery, and will, on request, provide a small informal demonstration |
| Creative Activities for Children | Cost of materials | We have some creative activities for individuals and small groups of up to 3 children. (Prior appointment needed for bigger groups) For example |
| Craft Demonstrations | Price on Application^ |
Many of our suppliers are prepared to demonstrate their crafts. (At least one months notice required.) |
Informal Courses in Glyn-Coch Crafts |
Price on Application^ | Thelma is an experienced teacher and is prepared to run introductory courses in any of her crafts - pottery, glass painting, greeting card making etc. |
| Guided tours of Glyn-Coch. | £2.00/person Min 3 people |
We will take you round the craft area, farm, and woodland walk describing features of interest. |
| Farming and countryside issues | Price on Application^ | Judging by the press recently there is quite a gulf between town and country. Even broadsheet newspapers seem to have little understanding of what happens in fields. We attempt to bridge the gap! |
| Farming or ecological skills | Price on Application^ |
Let's have a go at estate management, farm machinery use and maintenance, shepherding, plant or lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) identification! |
Basic Computing skills |
Price on Application^ | Never tried, or tried and been put off? We will help you to set up a system, and do basic Word Processing, Spread Sheet and Internet tasks |
| Goto Safety Advice |
* As likely 'students' will be on holiday, the length of a course will be tailored to the length of your stay in the area and your expectations of the course. It will also depend on the number of participants. As this is the first year of courses, and as a rough guide, we are hoping to charge £20 an hour for our time regardless of numbers, but numbers will be limited by the availability of space and equipment. If there are 4 students each will pay £5.00 towards our time, plus any consumables. For some courses we may have to charge for preparation time, but we will let you know before we start.
^Advanced warning required. Normally at least 24 hrs, but beyond that the longer the warning the better the course - we hope!
Following well publicised cases in which visitors to other open farms have become ill after coming into contact with farm animals we must ask you NOT TO TOUCH THE ANIMALS here at Glyn-Coch.
You must wash your hands before eating, and as a sensible precaution you are advised also to wash your hands before leaving.
We make every effort to ensure that our animals are healthy, and to minimise the risk.
Please watch your children at all times as farms can be dangerous places.
This is the section where we will tell you news about Glyn-Coch and its products.
Date |
News |
6th August 2005 |
The New Improved Glyn-Coch Website is finally up and running after several months hard work! If you have any comments or queries on the layout or style of the website, please don't hesitate to Contact Us! |
7th August 2005 |
Plans for a 'shopping basket' on the new website are announced. For more information, please don't hesitate to Contact Us! |
Current... |
Thelma and Huw are attending Welsh lessons, so if you visit us and are Welsh speaking, don't forget to test how good they are!! |
Soon... |
Thelma and Jean's new china design is announced! |
10th August 2005 |
Plans for a dvd/video promoting Glyn-Coch and it's surrounding area are announced. For more information, Contact Us |
11th August 2005 |
The Dragon's Corner Page has been added! Here you can see photos of dragons that have been painted by past visitors, see dragons you painted here, and even read stories about the Glyn-Coch Dragon Community! |
3rd of September 2005 |
Sian and Brett met over four years ago now, and they get married today! |
12th September 2005 |
Toys Page added. Plans for a members section of our website announced. |
December 2005 |
Happy Christmas all!! And a happy new year! |
1st January 2005 |
Happy New Year!! |
2nd Febuary 2005 |
New stock in the shop! New Display cabinets and new designs of china announced. |
St Clears is on the main London to Dublin route which is formed by the M4 motorway, the A48, A40 and the Fishguard to Rosslaire ferry. Dual carriageway is continuous from London to St Clears.
Leave St Clears by-pass on the A40 towards Haverfordwest. After half a mile turn right at the brown Tourist Board sign ('Glyn-Coch') towards Pwll-Trap. As you head into the village turn left opposite the White Lion Public House. After 500yds turn left again and follow the road until it becomes a narrow lane. Go through the gate where the lane merges with our drive and continue straight on for another 500yds until you reach the farm house.
Traveling from Haverfordwest on the A40 pass Narbeth and Whitland, and after about 2 miles pass the turning to Groveland Adventure World, and go on another half mile on the A40 before turning left ( following signs to Pwll-Trap and the brown signs to Glyn-Coch) half a mile before the St Clears roundabout.
If walking, cycling, or motoring from St Clears follow the signs for Pwll-Trap and turn right opposite the White Lion. (This is shorter and avoids traveling along the A40.)
http://www.rail.co.uk Nearest railway stations are at Carmarthen and Whitland
Severn Bridge and Severn Crossing cost £4.50 (at the time of writing - please check) for private cars, payable when crossing from England into Wales. Disabled badge holders cross free.
Whether you are coming to stay on our campsite, or just calling in on your way to Fishguard (Pembroke, or Swansea) to catch the ferry for Ireland we hope that you will find the following table useful. If you're passing, just drop in for a snack in our tea room, or select a souvenir from the craft shop. If you're staying in the area, take a stroll round the woodland walk or look at our Rare Breed animals, or farm museum.
How far away are we from where you live? |
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Town |
Route |
|
|
Fishguard |
A477,A40 |
35miles |
0.52 |
Haverfordwest |
A40 |
22miles |
0.53 |
Narbeth |
A40 |
12miles |
0.18 |
| Whitland | A40 | 5miles | 0.08 |
| Tenby | A478,A477,A40 | 18miles | 0.26 |
| Llanelli | A484,A48,A40 | 29miles | 0.39 |
| Carmarthen | A40 | 10miles | 0.11 |
| Swansea | M4, A48, A40 |
36miles | 0.44 |
| Cardiff | A470,M4, A48, A40 | 76miles | 1.24 |
| Bristol^ | M4, A48, A40 |
117miles | 2.25 |
| Oxford^ | A420, M4, A48, A40 | 180miles | 3.25 |
| London^ | M4, A48, A40 |
225miles | 4.08 |
Southampton^ |
A33,M3,A34,M4, A48, A40 |
211miles | 3.55 |
| Dorchester^ | A303, A358, M5, M4, A48, A40 |
199miles | 3.5 |
| Swindon^ | M4, A48, A40 | 146miles | 2.42 |
| Gloucester^ | A40, A449, M4, A48, A40 |
136miles | 2.33 |
| Taunton^ | M5, M4, A48, A40 | 159miles | 2.51 |
| Exeter^ | M5, M4, A48, A40 | 192miles | 3.28 |
| Truro^ | A39,A30,M5,M4,A48,A40 |
279miles | 5.21 |
| Aberystwyth | A487,A486,A484,A40 |
60miles | 1.25 |
| Cardigan | A478, A40 | 31miles | 0.46 |
| Brecon | A40 | 57miles | 1.16 |
| Hereford^ | A438,A470,A40 | 95miles | 2.09 |
| Manchester^ | M56,M53,A55,A483,A470,A40 | 190miles | 4.23 |
| Edinburgh^ | A73,M74,M6,M53,A5,A483,A470,A40 |
394miles |
8.07 |
^ Add time for rest breaks to times shown, we want you here in one piece!
Distance and time approximate.
This section will contain all links contained elsewhere in the website, and a few others we believe to be of interest.
• Carmarthenshire Tourist Association
• West and Wales Web : masses of places to visit
• Everything you needed to know about Wales
• Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
• Information about Welsh Towns
• Farm holidays in Wales (Under construction on last check)
• Bridgend website sometimes includes -Festivals in Wales
• Useful but very slow Pembrokeshire
• Buywelsh.biz A website containing lists of produce websites in Wales
• Laugharne the home of Dylan Thomas and much more!
• Love Spoons Wales A lovely website dedicated to the history of and making of the beautiful craft of Love-Spoon making.
• Links to everything about Caravanning
• Countryside Council for Wales
• Rothamsted Experimental Station
• Beautiful website, but very slow, and takes over your browser (works best with broadband)! National Botanic Garden of Wales
• Royal Agricultural Society of England
• Rothamsted Experimental Station
• http://www.qualitywelsh.co.uk
• Useful directory, but rather slow WWW.250000.co.uk directory
• General information about Carmarthen (Carmarthen on line)
•
www.stenaline.co.uk Fishguard Rosslaire
•
www.irishferries.com Pembroke Rosslaire
• Very useful route planner, but can be slow, and tends to take over your browser The AA traffic reports
• www.nationalrail.co.uk
• www.thetrainline.com
• www.railtrack.co.uk
• http://www.britrail.net
• http://www.rail.co.uk
• National Welsh-American Foundation
• Local 5 day weather forecast
• JAM Computers, helping out those in need.
Glyn-Coch cannot be held responsible for the content on external sites.
We welcome groups of all kinds. As with individual visits there is no entry charge, and we do not insist on prior notice. However the more notice we have the more preparation we can do.
Capacities as in table below.
Facility |
Normal Capacity (Maximum) |
| Tea room | 12(20) |
| Tea Garden (Some shelter) | 6 sheltered (unlimited) |
| Shop | 16(24) |
| Pottery | 6(12) |
| Display hut | 6(10) |
| Computer museum (Access difficult) | 5 |
| Woodland Walk | Unlimited |
Farm machinery (outside when on display) |
Unlimited |
| Farm animals (viewed from walk) | Unlimited |
When we have coach parties (of up to 53 people) we try to organize them into two or three groups (depending on the weather) with some in the shop, some in the tea room, and others exploring the pottery, display boards, museum areas, or woodland walk.
As there are normally only two of us at Glyn-Coch we prefer to have enough notice to bring in reinforcements but are happy to run a restricted service at short notice. If we are given longer notice we can run pottery demonstrations, or guided walks etc. As you will see from our tearoom page our menu is fairly restricted, but for larger groups it is sometimes sensible to prepare food in advance, and we can then include extra items if required.
Access to Glyn-Coch is via 500m of single track country lane, and 500m of our drive, but we have had few complaints from drivers of 53 seat coaches, or the delivery vehicles which supply us. When we moved in we had 3 very large furniture vans parked in our yard, but while this suggests that we could cope with more then one coach we would remind tour organizers that the there may not be enough room for more then about 53 people unless the weather is good enough for them to use the woodland walk.
Glyn-Coch is a small family run craft centre. While our resources are limited we have over 20 years experience of working with people who have special requirements. If you would like to know more, or would like to tell us about your requirements please phone us on 01994 231 867 to discuss your visit. We hope that whatever your ability you will have an enjoyable experience when you visit us. If we fail you in any way please tell us so that we can get our act together before your next visit.
Our 500m single track farm drive consists of two tarmac strips separated by mown grass. About 5000 vehicles (ranging from tiny Smart cars to 3 axle 20t 14m long HGVs and 53 seater coaches) use it every year without reporting any problems. However it does get pot holed after bad weather - so care is required. Maximum head room is 3.5m
In the summer we use a grass car park about 50m from the main attractions. Critical areas are graveled whenever necessary, though we try to maintain it as a lawn. In winter and wet weather we encourage people to drive onto the farm yard, which has a stone surface and is even closer to the main attractions.
If you have difficulty walking please attract our attention (blow your horn, or use your mobile to phone 01994 231 867) and we will ensure that you can move your car as close as necessary to the attraction you are interested in.
The toilets are between the car park and the main attractions.
We have ladies' and gents' WCs with wash basins. Narrow concrete paths approach both doors and there is no step.
At present the gents is too small for wheel chair use, but it would only be one step from the wheel chair to the WC if a helper could remove the wheelchair and close the door. There is no room inside for a helper.
The ladies, though large enough for use with a helper cannot be described as wheel chair friendly.
If people of either gender would find it easier to use the 'wrong' toilet we will ensure that this is possible.
We are trying to get grants to create a disabled toilet. Regardless of the success of our grant applications we are in the process of improving the toilets, and hope that by summer 2004 we will have a large and small unisex toilet. The larger toilet will be as accessible as we can manage on whatever funds we have.
When this job is completed it is intended that a dedicated disabled parking bay will be created between the toilets and the pottery.
Double doors allow access for most wheelchairs. About a metre inside a 10 cm step provides a hazard for solo wheelchair users, though we will help you over this. (It is planned to ramp over this.) Lighting (natural and artificial) is quite good in this building. The kiln and central heating boilers are in this building and care needs to be taken to avoid burns. (Visitors can avoid this by observing the pottery from the Art end of the building!) Asthma sufferers may be affected by fumes from the kiln, though as a sufferer myself I can reassure you that it is not usually too bad. Chairs are available to those who find standing difficult
This is on two levels separated by steep steps with a hand rail. Wheelchair users can see most parts of the shop by using outside doors (giving step-less access between the yard and shop) on both levels.
We will bring items to people who find access to them difficult. Chairs are available for those who find standing difficult. A slide show runs continuously and shows some items from the shop, and other attractions at Glyn-Coch.
Principal access is by a small door from the shop. However wheel chair access is available from the yard. The tea room has a small step in the middle. A variety of chairs and a large print menu are available.
A fairly natural lawn with a gentle slope under trees. Access is via a step from the back door of the tea room. However mowing is by a small ride on lawn mower so it is accessible to wheelchairs using the longer route!
3.5km mainly on mown grass paths. (We mow weekly during the summer.) Some parts would be very difficult for a normal wheelchair without a very fit band of helpers, though should be OK for a powered cross country machine preferably with a helper. However parts of the walk are suitable for wheelchairs. The complete walk has been enjoyed by very frail elderly people relying on two sticks - though it should be pointed out that at one point the path rises about 20m in 100m so you need to take time.
The Camp Site is gently sloping, with short grass which we mow once a week in the season. Electricity and dustbins are close to each formal pitch. One level pitch is closer to drinking water and the chemical disposal point then the others, so please tell us if you need this pitch when you book. The shop and pottery are 120yds from this pitch on grass paths.
So far we have had one young camper with an electric 'pavement type' powered wheel chair, and she appeared to enjoy driving it round the site.
The drive, car park yard and woodland walk slope gently. Outside areas have rough surfaces and buildings have steps. (We are improving these as resources become available, the current project is to improve the toilets.) However a fit determined chair user should be able to get to most areas now by using alternative routes. From time to time members of the family have had to use wheelchairs and we are determined that you will have as good an experience when you come here as anyone else.
Steps are colour contrast marked, and we are beginning to think about overhead obstacles etc. We provide a large print menu and many of our leaflets have large print versions. We understand that you will need to pick up items in the shop to examine them.
Our son has Downs Syndrome, and we have been actively involved with Mencap. Thelma's job before coming here was teaching adults with learning difficulties. We all have a basic (very basic in some cases) knowledge of Makaton and B.S.L. sign languages. We also have some experience with Alzheimer's disease.
Generally this is not a very challenging area for asthma sufferers. (We all use inhalers and are not aware of particular problems here!) However we would caution you about the pottery when the kiln is running (though we usually use it at night to keep the electricity charges down) and warn about some of the solvents used when decorating glass or china. The fields and woodland are small, and quite diverse so we do not expect massive amounts of single species of pollen, so Glyn-Coch should be low risk for hay fever sufferers as well. Local farms are mainly fairly traditional livestock farms without the large monocultures common elsewhere.
If you have a condition other then those listed above, please ring us on 01994 231 867 and tell us about it. We will tell you about any specific hazards which may affect your visit, and try to make arrangements so that you will have a useful and enjoyable visit.
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