About
ABOUT US
Maesgwyn Holiday Lets is a small family business, run by James and Lin Jones with the help of the extended family and their three young children. James and Llewelyn ( James’s dad) look after the sheep and cattle on the farm whilst Lin mainly focuses on the holiday lets.
Maesgwyn was Llewelyn’s family home, and in 2011 we had the opportunity to farm it once again. Our 400 + acre farm is mainly beef and sheep, based about 1100 ft above sea level in the Welsh hills. We have about 1200 ewes and 70 cows. Lambing is our busiest time and we lamb outdoors during March and April. During the summer months, the tractors take on most of the work harvesting the fields, bringing in the crops for the winter. Winter can be the most challenging time, dependant on the weather, as the stock need attending to whatever the weather, even Christmas day.
In 2014 we made the decision to let the farmhouse out for holidays, not really knowing what to expect. It soon proved to be very popular and people seemed to enjoy visiting this part of the world and we enjoyed meeting people from all over the country and abroad. This prompted us to convert the neighbouring barns into two smaller holiday lets at the end of 2017. When we were designing the barns, everything revolved around the stunning views over the Beacon which is what it’s all about.
Maesgwyn house has it's own interesting history.This extract has been found but source unknown.
The site of Maesgwyn house on the "fair field" has probably been occupied since the 13th and 14th century but no structure of anything like this age can be identified there. Its main interest lies in its 17th and 18th Century connections with the Presbyterian or Congregationalist church, for it seems to have been the home of Richard Griffiths, a follower of Vavasour Powell, who licensed his house in Beguildy parish as a nonconformist meeting house in 1672 and this licence (one of the few surviving examples) is now in the British Museum. Vavasour Griffiths the son of Richard Griffiths became noted as a scholar and seems to have been established at Maesgwyn as a minister and teacher, with the help of Mr Auditor Harley, acting as executor of funds left by Lord Wharton in 1696. The school became so highly regarded that when the headship of Camarthen Academy became vacant in 1733 Vavasour Griffiths was urged to accept the position. At that time it offered the highest education available in Wales, and when Vavasour Griffiths refused to go to Camarthen, his reputation was so great that the Presbyterian board agreed to his suggestion that the Academy should instead be transferred to Maesgwyn. Among its famous students was Dr Richard Price who became the author of a tract on civil liberty, which was widely published and quoted by the founders of the United States in the American War of independence. The school and meeting house ceased to be used before the end of the 18th Century, and the endowment of Maesgwyn is now divided between the parochial schools of Llanbister, Llanbadarn Fynydd and Beguildy.
