Self Catering in Powys
Welcome to The Clochfaen,Self Catering in Powys.The Clochfaen offers a warm welcome to visitors from all over the world to their Bed and Breakfast, Self Catering & Holiday Cottages in Mid Wales, three types of guest accommodation, separately or in combination, for SHORT BREAKS or LONGER.
Two self catering Holiday Cottages (sleeps 5 + 4 persons)
Aubrey’s Self contained Bed and Breakfast accommodation (sleeps up to 8 persons)
A large Arts and Crafts self catering home (sleeps up to 14 persons)
The Clochfaen is set in 20 acres of private woodland. This little explored area offers the opportunities for fishing, excellent walking and cycling.
Our historic Arts and Crafts Estate, noted for its architectural style, is located in the upper reaches of the beautiful Wye Valley, overlooking the River Wye in the heart of Mid Wales. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with some of the most stunning mountain views and breath taking scenery.
What was there architecturally at Clochfaen in 1913 for Benson to work upon? J R Stirk and R W D Fenn (Montgomeryshire Collections, 1987) re-examined some old questions around the origins of Clochfaen.
What does Clochfaen mean? “Cloch” means “bell” and “faen” means stone. Fenn believes that the house took its name from the ridge, “Esgair Clochfaen”, and not vice versa, on the ground that the names of geographical features generally preceded place names and house names.
The more romantic Victorians had other theories. Edward Hamer and Howel William Lloyd, the Llangurig Parish historians of the 1870’s, postulated that the word “Clochfaen” was descriptive of a bell-shaped rotary quern, “Y Clochfaen”, which remains at the Clochfaen house to this day. Such querns or hand mills were in use in Britain from pre-Roman times until a couple of hundred years ago, and the Victorian suggestion is perhaps as improbable as suggesting that Kenwood is named after the famous mixer! Undoubtedly the quern can have nothing to do with the name of the neighbouring farm, Clochfaen Isaf. Further, the rotary quern, while a fascinating relic, is not unique, and it is hard to see why a domestic implement which was once in common use would give its physical description to a place. A quern looks like a stone bell, but obviously is not one.
