Hendre Ddu Cottage - An off-grid escape

Hendre Ddu Cottage is a true escape from it all, a chance to disconnect and experience off-grid living in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK (if not the world!) This property is especially perfect for people and noise reactive dogs. Becky, the owner has a reactive dog herself as well rescue and support experience so truly understands the issues of holidaying with our special companions.

The area:
Southern Snowdonia is a stunning and peaceful part of Wales rich in history and wildlife. There are no cities, we have lovely market towns and are halfway between Machynlleth and Dolgellau both with excellent independent shops. We are right inside the Dyfi Forest which is managed by Natural Resources Wales and therefore you can walk or cycle all the paths and forestry tracks. We are 20 minutes from Cader Idris mountain. There are abbeys and castles (Cymer, Harlech) waterfalls, craft centres, cave systems to visit and three amazing huge beaches 40 minutes drive away. Handy garage shop (5 minutes drive) and village shop (10 minutes) as well as a cafe and 3 pubs, all dog friendly. The very low population makes it an ideal destination for reactive dogs, and many of our guests say they have never seen their pets so happy and relaxed.
You will ideally need a car to reach the cottage as it is located 2 miles along private roads.

The Cottage:
Hendre Ddu Cottage was built in 1873, originally one of a row of 6, for the lead quarrymen at the nearby slate quarry. Despite the big ambitions of the owner, the enterprise never grew and work ground to a halt in the 1920s. There are now just two left and only a handful of other dwellings in the whole valley. This means you can usually walk all day from the door and never see anyone else.
3 bedrooms, 2 doubles on the first floor and a twin in the attic room. Still cosy for couples and solo travellers (low occupancy discounts always available)
Cosy lounge with wood burner, 2 three seater sofas, satellite TV, BluRay player and selection of films.
Well equipped kitchen with range cooker in Inglenook and large dining table.
Two bathrooms, one ground floor with shower, Victorian claw foot bath upstairs.
Parking right next to the cottage and level access, the grounds themselves are sloping.
¾ acre fully enclosed private grounds with a mix of fencing, solid 6ft next to the house next door. Then 4ft wire stock fence lined with narrow gauge wire for smaller dogs around the rest. Hedging and shrubs in front of the fences.
Welcome treats for humans and dogs.

Off grid: what does that mean? Our whole valley never got connected to: Gas, electricity or mains water/drains. But we do have phone lines!
Our range cooker works (brilliantly) on LPG gas and our heating is oil plus a wood burner.
We generate most of our power from solar, which feeds batteries that store the power and a system converts it to the correct voltage.
We have naturally fed water and a septic waste tank
And though we have a phone line we are too far from the exchange to get broadband, so there is currently no WiFi (We are considering Starlink but many of our regular guests tell us they love being truly disconnected)
As a guest, you (mostly) won’t notice any difference from an on grid house. All the systems are fully automated including a generator providing back up power to compensate for darker days. We do minimise electrical items so there isn’t a dishwasher or microwave, but you have everything else. It’s warm and comfy with all you need. So give it a try! Then you can say you’ve truly experienced off grid living.

Dog friendly features:
Up to 4 dogs stay free and we can sometimes take more, please ask. We have never charged extra for dogs and we never will.
¾ acre fully enclosed private grounds with grass and woodland ideal for exploring. Minimum fence height 4ft
Welcome treats, bowls, balls, tie out line, towels, extra lead and more provided.
Extra freezer for raw feeders.
Access to ALL rooms and furniture (please bring own bedding if they sleep on the bed)
Hard floors inside with non slip rugs (Original stone on the ground floor and wooden stairs and upper floors)
Miles of mostly traffic, people, livestock and other dogs free walks from the door.

Useful notes for reactive dog owners: Rabbits and badgers sometimes visit the cottage grounds. The residential neighbours are very quiet and dog savvy, they do have one medium dog, a few sheep and a couple of geese on their land. There are no other neighbouring properties within sight or sound. There is a postie, but we have an external postbox at the bottom of the drive outside of the boundary. No bin or recycling collections to worry about. Private road only used by 2 other properties, occasionally by forestry workers.