Hafotty Fach

If you want to get away from it all in Wales, head for Snowdonia – then stop a few miles short in Powys, at Hafotty Fach, a homely one-bedroom cottage in a peaceful position on the edge of the Berwyn Mountains. The property is attached to the owners' home at the top of their smallholding, where they keep chickens, geese and bees. Its location offers many of the advantages and adventures you’ll find in the nearby Snowdonia National Park (now known as Eryri), just on a slightly smaller scale. There are peaks to hike, waterfalls to visit and lakes to splash about in, and if Eryri is still calling you, well, it’s a short drive away.

Your hosts here are Bridget and Will. They strive towards a sustainable lifestyle, with power from solar panels, heat from a biomass boiler and produce straight from the land. They even make candles, polish and other beeswax products courtesy of their resident hives. All this means that your holiday here is environmentally sound, plus you have a couple of alluring acres to explore and inspire you during your stay.

Inside, the cottage provides comfortable accommodation for a couple in the king-sized bedroom upstairs, with the option of adding a fold-out bed for a child in the living room downstairs. It’s a one-up, one-down place, with the bonus of a sunroom that offers vistas to the garden outside. The rest of the ground floor is open-plan: a lounge with comfy seating and a small but well-equipped kitchen, all warmed by heating under its quarry-tiled floor. There’s a TV but it’s for DVDs only, with no broadcast channels available – which seems appropriate in this rural setting. In a quiet moment, instead of reaching for the remote, perhaps you’ll read, play a board game or simply gaze at the view. And, if being disconnected isn’t for you, there’s good WiFi for any devices you bring.

Bridget and Will can advise on local walks including meanders around the wildlife-rich meadows of Dolydd Gobaith, a rewilded farm over the road that’s now a nature reserve. Further afield, the Berwyn Mountains’ highest peak, 832-metre Cadair Berwyn, makes a worthy alternative to Snowdon. Pistyll Rhaeadr, an 80-foot waterfall, can be visited on the way. It’s only seven miles from the cottage but the winding Welsh lanes make it about 25 minutes’ scenic drive. The same can be said for Lake Vyrnwy, Lake Bala and Welshpool, where you’ll find the closest castle (the magnificent estate of Powis) and a nearby steam railway as well.