Review of the Coach House, Mandinam, Carmarthenshire, Wales

> For full contact details and to book at stay, see our full listing for The Coach House

There are views to die for from the Coach House at Mandinam. Photo © Catherine Mack

The accommodation: This really is a room with a view. Wake up in the morning and open the front door of this restored stone farm building, and you look straight out over the undulating valleys of Carmarthenshire's Towy Valley. In fact you don’t even need to open it, as it is a glass door, so you can let the dawn wake you slowly, and take in the hills as the mists gently reveal them. The Coach House has a secluded location, tucked in behind a hill, although it is just metres from the main house, so it is handy for breakfasts and dinners - but no one will disturb your peace except the odd pheasant or Red Kite. There is a large double bed, with good quality bed linen, but it can be separated if you want two single beds instead. The Coach House is furnished with plain pine furniture, and pretty rugs scattered on the recycled wood flooring. The bathroom is a little basic but very clean, with shower and no bath, and has a bit of a seventies feel, but the price reflects this, compared to the other more recently refurbished New Room at Mandinam. The space, seclusion and stunning views make up for this.

There are also two wonderfully quirky shepherd’s huts on the farm for people who like more of an outdoor experience on their holidays. So if you are travelling as a large group, there is plenty of choice on the farm to accommodate everyone. 

The location: Mandinam is just two miles outside the village of Llangadog, Carmarthenshire, in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons, with all the things you need in a village – a train station, church, butcher and three pubs. Mandinam itself is a working farm of 450 acres, with stocks of Herefordshire and Shorthorn cattle and sheep. You could spend days just walking around the farm, following the River Bran which runs through it, exploring the forests which surround it, or taking in the views from the Iron Age Fort that emerges from the heart of it. Its biodiversity is such that it has three areas designated as SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest). It could almost be pushing for arboretum status soon too with its impressive collection of Eucalyptus, Balsam poplars, Oak and Hornbeams and Spruce, to name but a few.

The Coach House enjoys a leafy, secluded setting. Photo © Catherine MackThe food: The New Room is for visitors wanting bed and breakfast, with breakfast served in the dining room in the main house. Marcus and Daniella Lampard, as well as being full time farmers, love to gather guests and friends around the table, and share stories over fine food. And Daniella is a fine cook, with a great knowledge of local, seasonal fresh produce. That is because they grow and rear pretty much everything that passes through their kitchen. The sausages made from their own beef are to die for (apologies to vegetarians, no pun intended) and eggs are still warm from the coop when they go in the pan. Home made bread, jam, honey and home-grown fruit top it all off: this is agrotourism with a bit of aristo flare thrown in. Fine family silver, old linen tablecloths, and impressive antiques and art bedecking the walls and floors, make this one classy country stay; all with a truly warm welcome. 

For £25 per person, you can also have dinner in the Lampards’ home, with three courses and wine. If you are a meat eater you don’t want to miss out on their own fine beef (hung for three weeks), lamb and mutton, and Marcus’ excellent taste in wine. And a sip of his own sloe gin after dinner was the perfect digestif.

For lunch, take a quick jaunt into Llangadog village on the farm bikes, available to guests, to the award-winning Red Lion pub.

Activities: Just walking the Mandinam’s 450 acres will be plenty for one weekend, with a detour to Llangadog’s Red Lion pub for refreshments.  Or you could fish in the river, and help Marcus stock up the trout supplies in his pond by transferring a few over. Cycling here is also glorious; with leafy lanes everywhere you turn. More ambitious cyclists can travel seven miles to the start of the Brecon Beacons (Marcus will also happily drop you with or without your bike to a good starting point in Llanddeusant) and follow the Roman Road nine miles across the moorland to Trecastle. Or walk from the village onto the rough hiking terrain of the Brecon Beacons National Park to Llyn y Fan Lake, with views en route across the Bristol Channel to Exmoor (Mandinam has plenty of maps for your hike). 

Picturesque, historic and rustic features at the Coach HouseWhat makes it green accommodation: When your food comes from farmhouse to fork, your journey by train to the local village, and your lunch a mere cycle away at the nearby award-winning pub, you are definitely entitled to wear a green travel badge. When you do all of this on a farm which values conservation almost as much as its cattle, you are entering gold medal territory. The Lampards don’t preach or convert, as this is how they have always done it at Mandinam. I stood on top of the Iron Age Fort with Marcus and he talked me through the layout of the land stretching out below, saying. “Food has disappeared from this picture. Farmers have to find ways of changing the use of their land now. Tourism is not just for fun, it is to provide us with a living wage, enabling us to live and work the land for the next generation.” And walking the land with the flamboyant, warm and welcoming Marcus is a lot of fun. 

Top tip: Bring home a souvenir with a difference (again, apologies to vegetarians) - Some of Mandinam’s own meat. If you are there in season, you could fill the freezer with a selection pack of beef, packed in 10-20kgs worth of roasting joints, prime steaks, stewing and braising meat, mince and sausages. I’m a meat lover, so half a lamb beats most presents in my book. Once you’ve tried and tested it at the dinner table, you won’t be able to resist. 

Verdict: Mandinam means various things, all of which ring true:, including “place of a small stone fort” and “place without blemish.” Thank goodness landscapes like this are protected by designations like SSSI, and farmers like Marcus. Because thanks to him and his wife, Daniella, Mandinam is also a place of true beauty and ultimately, pure peace. 

For full contact details and to book at stay, see our full listing for The Coach House