We’re over the moon happy to have welcomed our first guests to Ty Mawr, our new communal building!
Situated in a beautiful, peaceful meadow under ‘y fan’ (our beautiful local hill), Ty Mawr is a short enough walk from both Hafan and Derwen cabins, whilst each space still remains private.
Ty Mawr literally means ‘big house’ and it’s here that you can enjoy a relaxing time with friends and family. Inside you’ll find a large, light room with a comfy seating area to chill around a woodburner, a kitchen area and a large dining table which can easily seat eight. There are also books, board games and a bluetooth speaker for all your favourite tunes. Outside, take it easy on the deck which is a suntrap by day, or by night chill under starry skies. Perhaps you’re hoping to toast marshmallows during your stay – just pull up a bench by the firepit!
Ty Mawr opened for our Easter guests (who loved it!) and offers each cabin its own private, modern shower room. Now you have a choice of where to cook, eat and relax – either in your own cabin or here in Ty Mawr. We’re excited to offer more for family or friend groups who may wish to book the cabins alongside Llwynbwch Barn. We have our first retreats booked in for 2024, when the whole site will be used together and we hope to host more over the coming years.
We finally started building Ty Mawr in 2020, after many years of planning and then a long old wait for planning permission whilst the department locked down during covid days! It’s been a great project to work on – our largest build to date, still with sustainability at heart. Much of the furniture and kitchen has been hand built by Adam, using sycamore, oak and ash felled and planked here at Llwynbwch. The building foundations were made with concrete piles, rather than footings (to use less concrete in the build – concrete isn’t a very sustainable material). The roofing is recycled, the whole building is clad in local larch and the tree uprights which support the roof come from our friends at nearby Coed Talylan. LED lighting is used throughout the build and the bathrooms have timed lighting sensors. The composting loos are sourced from Woo Woo waterless toilets and are completely odour-free, off grid and really rather posh! We twinned these toilets with Toilet Twinning to help fund a project teaching communities about hygiene and supplying sustainable resources for families to build their own toilets and of course, like all our bathrooms here at Under Starry Skies, they’re stocked with Who Gives a Crap loo roll!
All in all, as you can probably tell, we’re feeling rather proud!