Summary What we want to do.
Our aim is to create a completely new youth hostel on the newly opened Ceredigion Coast Path.
How?
The hostel will be run by a non profit making company limited by guarantee and registered as a charity. This legal arrangement means that the company will have the advantages of being a charity but individuals will not be personally liable for debts. It will get funding from donations , grants, interest free loans and commercial loans. The focus of the charitable aspect of the company is to provide opportunities for more people to enjoy the countryside and the coast in Ceredigion at a small cost. Environmental sustainability and ethical business practice will be a priority along with reaching out to people who may not have had an opportunity to experience the countryside before, children living in urban areas for example.The most effective way to do this is to secure affiliation to the Youth Hostel Association.
Where?
The hostel will be located in Ceredigion about 8 miles south of the important regional centre and university town of Aberystwyth, between the villages or Blaenplwyf and Llanrhystyd. For those who don’t know Ceredigion some background information may be useful here. Ceredigion is one of the largest counties in Wales , with an area of 1795 sq kilometres, but one of the smallest populations ,78,300 people in 2005.Up until recently it was a European Objective One funded area because the GDP was less than 75 percent of the average in Europe. 54 percent of the population are Welsh speakers with another 7 percent understanding but not speaking the language The number of people over retirement age is the third highest in Wales, they make up 22 percent of the population. The majority of the working population is employed in the public sector , 18 percent in the NHS and the Local Authority and 12 percent in education, a futher 9 percent work in agriculture, 10 percent in tourism, 8 percent in manufacturing and 17 percent in retail. The county has 6 main towns ; Aberystwyth, Aberaeron , Cardigan, Lampeter , Tregaron and Llandysul.
The property is a 5 bed roomed traditional Welsh farmhouse built of stone and slate probably at the beginning of the 19 th century, although there has probably been a dwelling on the site for hundreds of years. The house and the farm around it is called Mynachdy’r Graig ( Monk,s House on the rock ). The property was once owned by the monks at Ystrad Fflur ( Strata Florida abbey ) which is in the village of Pontrhydfendigaid a few miles from Tregaron.T he house can be seen on the front cover of the Ceredigion County Council,s official guide to the Ceredigion Coast Path and on pages 153-159 .The house has a small cobbled yard and an out house , ty piar ( where a fire was lit to heat water to wash clothes ). The ty piar has been extended and could possibly become the warden’s office. The house has very little land with it.
The surrounding 140 acres of land, the ty grawn ( granary) and the beudy ( cow house ) are not part of the property they were purchased by the National Trust in 1991.This was made possible by a generous donation from the partner of the owner of the house. She left a further sum in her will to pay for the restoration of the beudy and ty grawn. The 140 acres are rented out to a tenant who farms them organically. The previous owner of the house was at great pains to ensure that the farmland which had never been intensively farmed, and the traditionally built farm buildings should be put into the care of the National Trust .It is because of his foresight and determination and his partner,s generousity that we have the opportunity of such a wonderful site for a walkers’ hostel.
Why do we believe we can be successful ?
Although the house is isolated with a fantastic view of the Ceredigion coast it is also very accessible. This particular stretch of the coast is one of 4 on the Ceredigion coast which was designated Heritage Coast by the Countryside Commission in 1982. The coast path passes in front of the house and 2 other public foot paths lead down from the main road between Aberystwyth and Cardigan ( the A487). There is a bus every half hour between Aberystwyth and Aberaeron . The hostel will not be accessible by car and there are no plans to provide a car park at the moment . Guests can either walk along hour the coast path or take the bus and then walk down the track. It is no more than a quarter hour walk.
Walkers may be able to walk from north and south Wales along the Cambrian Way, picking up the newly opened Ystwyth Trail (Tregaron to Aberystwyth ) at Pontrhydfendigaid and then walking to Aberystwyth, where they can join the coast path . The Ystwyth and the Rheidol Trail, ( from Aberystwyth to Devils Bridge,) are also suitable for cyclists. Adventurous cyclists can take The Ystwyth Trail to Llanfarian , join the main road for less than a mile and then take a quiet back road and re join the main road a mile before the track down to the hostel. SUSTRANS National Cycle routes 81 and 82, connect Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury and Cardigan and beyond to West Midlands and South Wales.
One look at the Youth Hostel Association’s guide to its hostels in the UK and you see why we want to establish a hostel for walkers on the newly opened Ceredigion Coast Path. The county of Ceredigion has only three hostels; inland there are the Dolgoch and Tyncornel hostels located between Tregaron and Llanddewi Brefi and on the coast the hostel at Borth, a few miles north of Aberyswyth. Poppit Sands is a few miles south of Cardigan (Aberteifi) in St Dogmels (Llandudoch) and although it is just over the county border in Pembrokeshire it is the most convenient from which to start a south to north walk along the Ceredigion coast.
While the Pembrokeshire coast, on the YHA’s map of Wales, bristles with hostels for walkers using the Coast Path there are just two on the Ceredigion coast with over 60 miles between them. The Ceredigion Coast Path was opened in July 2008 and we believe that there will be a demand for basic , affordable , self catering accommodation on or near the route of the path. People we have spoken to locally, including those working for the local authority and those who are keen walkers have greeted our plans with enthusiasm . The YHA owned hostels at Poppit Sands and Borth provide excellent facilities at the beginning and end of the of the path and we can help fill the gap in the middle .The Ceredigion Coast Path is only the third section of the Welsh Assembly ‘s All Wales Coast Path, the others being in Pembrokeshire of course and Angelsey. It is hoped that the All Wales Coast Path will be created by 2012 to co-incide with the Olympics .So with the Ceredigion Coast Path becoming the central link in a whole chain of coast paths around Wales we anticipate that the demand for hostels like ours will increase.
The Ceredigion Ramblers Association worked as volunteers on the coast path creating bridges , steps, styles, kissing gates and stone walls they even constructed a 40 foot steel bridge over a chasm. Their inspiration and hard work was rewarded in 2006 when they received an award from the national organisation. The Ramblers Association nationally has 139,000 members and 450 groups. It is a well established and very successful pressure group which is attracting more people in their 20s and 30s and successfully campaigned for legislation to increase public access to the countryside. In his introduction to the Ramblers guidebook the President the Rt Hon Lord Chris Smith Of Finsbury President says “Now the need is to extend the concept of open access to Britain’s coastline”. Legislation to this end was referred to in The Queens Speech and we have every reason to believe that there will be an increase in coastal walking in the future.
We believe there are Ramblers, YHA members and many other enthusiastic people in Ceredigion and beyond who would work as volunteers on our hostel project.
The YHA has no plans to open more hostels on the Ceredigion coast in the near future believe we can meet their standards for self catering accommodation and we will be able to secure affiliation to the YHA and like the independently owned Dolgoch and Tyncornel hostels be included in the YHA ‘s national guide. This will give us access to a wider market by allowing our guests to book accommodation with through the YHA central booking system in Matlock. The YHA have increased their focus on families , groups and school bookings . We believe that we can benefit from this by allowing groups to book our hostel for weekends and midweek learning activities .This will provide us with bookings in the difficult to survive offseason period. Both Poppit Sands and Borth hostels are now “ school trip centres” which offer courses for school children linked to the National Curriculum. We can offer accommodation for schools and for groups as well , through the YHA’s “Escape to ------“ weekend scheme. We will have rooms suitable for families, schools and groups.
As a small Ceredigion based charitable business we can involve the local community and work with other non profit making organisations like the National Trust, The West Wales WildlifeTrust and The Centre For Alternative Technology. We also want to encourage our guests to support other businesses in the area by offering discounts and weekend activity packages jointly with these other businesses. We can introduce visitors to the still under promoted history ,culture and language that makes modern Wales what it is. We can offer them a specifically Welsh experience.
We believe that the economic recession and climate change are creating a growing interest in economically priced accommodation and the opportunity to enjoy Wales without relying on a private car. With the involvement of the YHA we can introduce young people from all over Britain to the idea that they can experience exciting coast and countryside, on foot by bicycle or by public transport. The National Trust, who own the 140 acres of land around the proposed hostel are very sympathetic to us. We have also had a positive response from the Community Regeneration Manager for the county and the Ceredigion Path Project Officer.
THE NATIONAL URDD EISTEDDFOD WILL BE HELD IN CEREDIGION IN THE EARLY SUMMMER OF 2010. WE HAVE THE OPPOTUNITY TO OPEN (AS A 16 BED BUNKHOUSE) TO OFFER ACCOMODATION FOR THE EISTEDDFODWYR ( PEOPLE ATTENDING THE EISTEDDFOD ).THE MAES ( FEILD ) WILL BE AT THE NATIONAL TRUST’S LLANERCHAERON HOUSE NEAR ABERAERON.
Contact: enh7ce@aber.ac.uk or Wayne at evans@tesco.net |
