Smallholding Pembrokeshire Bwlford

smallholding

In 2015, we left our jobs and life in the city behind, and made our escape to the country, moving to a beautiful spot in south Pembrokeshire. We decided to try the 'good life' and establish a smallholding. We found a place where our children could play safely and explore outdoors, with room to keep animals and to grow our own fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately, we knew almost nothing about farming, animals or holiday lets, but after a lot of research, you tube videos, and a few mistakes here and there, we sort of know what we're doing! We now have a flock of chickens, heritage breed turkeys, Torwen Badger faced sheep, bees, as well as wild ducks on our two ponds, which are stocked with carp and silvers.

We firmly believe that animals should be raised as naturally as possible to have the best quality of life. All of our animals are reared and live outdoors, are medication and antibiotic free, and our plants are pesticide free. This ensures that we can guarantee the highest quality meat, eggs and food.

We are committed to looking after our environment and all products used at Bwlford, where possible are eco-friendly and recyclable. All our waste water runs into a bio tank where once clean, feeds into our pond.

Whether you are staying with us, fishing or buying our produce, we love to show visitors around and involve any willing volunteers with feeding animals and collecting eggs.

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A little bit of history...

We have recently started researching the history of Bwlford (also known as Bulford, Bullford and Bulforde!) and found some surprising things!

We knew it was part of a larger estate, and whilst the house was modernised in the 1970's, the original parts of the house date back a good few hundred years. We know that in the 1860's the house was owned until his death by William George, father of the world famous David Lloyd George. William returned to his native Pembrokeshire in his 40's when his health failed him, in the hope that the salubrious Pembrokeshire air would restore him to robust health. It didn't, and he died in 1864, leaving behind his young family, including his son, but a babe in arms, David Lloyd George. Bwlford remained in the affections of the family and David's son Gwilym took the title Viscount Tenby of Bulford in the County of Pembrokeshire.

We were also delighted to discover that we have a CADW ancient monument of national importance on our land and nestled at the bottom of our 'pig field', there is a Bronze Age Burnt Mound. Not a lot to see but the probable reasons for it are fascinating and shows that the location was considered special thousands of years ago!

"The monument consists of the remains of a burnt mound, dating to the Bronze Age (c. 2,300BC - 800BC).

A burnt mound is an accumulation of burnt (fire-crazed) stones, ash and charcoal, usually sited next to a river or lake, with hearths and/or some form of trough or basin capable of holding water either within the mound or adjacent to it. The surface is irregular but the mound produced burnt stone in a dark matrix when augered and burnt stones can be seen in the stream. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric ritual and funerary practices. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structure itself may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and environmental evidence." Source CADW.