Harlech, Gwynedd, North West Wales

The house from the south garden

The sea, looking south-west from the National Trust field opposite the house

The beach, looking north-west from the house

Sunset from the west verandah

Dune jumping at Harlech (Not really, as this was a picture taken by Jacques-Henri LARTIGUE, one of the world's greatest photographers, in Trevignon, Britanny, France in 1971. Still - it gives you an idea of what to do.)

Why not visit out of season? Get a chance to see Harlech Castle in the snow.

The House and its Situation

This is a two-storey L-shaped house set in its own drystone walled grounds on top of Harlech Cliff. It has a very attractive circular observatory room to take full advantage of the spectacular views.

A Tour of the House

• Coming into the house through the kitchen door (we never seem to use the front door) there is a lobby with boiler room and lavatory to the left, then the kitchen, with a large larder. It is fully equipped with a big AGA, a Calor gas stove and an electric stove - real belt and braces! There is a fridge freezer and a new washer / tumble dryer.
  Beyond the kitchen a corridor leads to the hall. On the left is the L-shaped drawing room with an open fire and colour TV, and the round window, which we use as a dining room. On the right is the study, the front door and the stairs.

Accommodation

• The house can sleep seven. There are three double bedrooms and a single bedroom, all with washhand-basins, and another bedroom in the room in the roof beyond the last double bedroom - fun for children, perhaps less so for adults. The bathroom has a splendidly old-fashioned (and very long) cast-iron bath standing on its own feet. There are two lavatories, one upstairs in the bathroom and one downstairs.

The Views

The Beach

View WNW from the house

From the house you have the most glorious panoramic views stretching from Snowdon in the north, right round the Lleyn peninsula to the west and across Cardigan Bay to Cader Idris in the south. As the cliff is a couple of hundred feet high, some people have claimed to be able to see Ireland, although the curvature of the earth probably prevents it. Ward Lock's Red Guide to North Wales singles out the house for its 'particularly fine' views. The drive leads up from the road to a large garage and a turning circle, then goes on up to the kitchen door to the house. There are pine trees, two walled gardens, and two verandahs facing south and west. The sunsets are spectacular. Take lots of colour film.

A path from the front door leads through the pines, down slate steps, across the road and over the wall into the National Trust field. At the bottom right hand corner of the field is a little gate leading to the zig-zag path down the cliff to the beach. The beach is five and a half miles long, wide and sandy. This is the only access apart from the Harlech access three miles further on, so effectively you will have this enormous, safe, sandy beach to yourself. At our end there are rock pools for shrimping and crabbing. There are tall, secluded sand dunes as well, which are perfect for sunbathing or dune-jumping (leaping off the top and rolling down the smooth sand to the bottom - it's irresistible).

Around Harlech

• The Royal St David's golf course is just half a mile down the road. Gourmet restaurants abound. Welsh lamb is the most succulent you can buy. There are plenty of good family restaurants and fish and chippies along the coast. The Victoria at Llanbedr is a family pub with an attractive riverside garden. Castles, standing stones, follies, wild mountain walks, bathing, bird-watching - it's an exceptionally fine place for a holiday.

• View of Harlech Castle (out of season)

The History of The House

• The house itself was built just before the First World War with a nod to the Arts & Crafts / Art Nouveau movements - the door knobs are set very high up. It was built 'regardless of expense' by the then Chairman of the Standard Motor Company in Birmingham as a summer house - with electric light, hot and cold water in every bedroom, every pane of glass in the round window individually curved to fit - there's posh, isn't it! My great-grandmother bought the house in 1919.

The Weather (and the Sales Pitch)

• I know you'll have a wonderful time if you decide to spend your holiday in Harlech. The weather is typically Welsh: you can get all four seasons in one day. A windy, wet morning is often followed by an afternoon of blazing sunshine. Being on an exposed site, it's windy more often than not, but with the high hills as raincatchers behind us it's often warm and dry in Harlech when the rest of the country is shivering and damp. I have actually sunbathed in the garden of the house in January, with the temperature at 72°F; however it was an unusual occurrence!

  LETTINGS

  You can rent this lovely house directly from the owner, Gwyn Headley, at:

  • Pavilions of Splendour
    22 Mount View Road
    London N4 4HX
    Great Britain
    Telephone +44 (0)20 8348 1234
    Facsimile +44 (0)20 8341 9790

  or you can e-mail us through harlech @ heritage.co.uk with suggested dates and times for when you would like to rent the property.