A HEREFORDSHIRE couple who turned a virtually derelict farm into a beautiful, rural getaway which featured on a popular BBC show, have told of their experience.
Eight years after buying the near-derelict farm, Alex and Laura Culpin of Ty Gwyn Cider, have expanded the business to include a small, but perfectly formed, shepherd’s hut.
Tiny by name, the Tiny House at Ty Gwyn Cider has ideas above its station and even though it is small, it packs a great deal onto its teeny footprint.
Also known as the Cider Shack in homage to where it is located, the tiny rural getaway has already had a starring role on TV, appearing on BBC2’s My Unique B&B, and attracted some great reviews.
It’s hard to believe today, but when Alex and Laura Culpin bought Penylan Farm on the road up from Pontrilas to Rowlestone, it was in a sorry state.
“It was virtually derelict,” said Laura.
“We bought it at Christmas 2014 and the buildings were here but it was very much uninhabitable.”
She said the couple had got engaged that Christmas and Alex had been looking for something like the farm since he and his brother had split and started separate cider companies.
He looked at it the day it went on the market and got it.
She added: “I walked round in silence, thinking ‘what are you thinking?’.
“There were no beams and no character, and it had no garden… but then we got the builder, Mike Davies of Abergavenny, going, and moved in and opened the cider shop the following May.”
At the time Laura was also working at Holme Lacy College as an animal care lecturer and, with a wedding in October of 2015, there was no let up.
“It was a labor of love basically,” she said.
In 2017, the couple converted the house next door, Dabernett Cottage, as a long term two-bed rental, then created Alex’s office, and as lockdown loomed they had begun work on Yarlington Dairy, a new holiday rental cottage.
But a conversation with Neil, the Hut Builder, who lives just up the road in Rowlestone, about the possibility of creating ‘some kind of shepherd’s hut’ on the site.
The thought coincided with My Unique B&B looking for participants, so they applied and were accepted, meaning that additional design help would enable them to make the most of their tiny space.
Laura said: “Neil had a chassis already and we showed him the space where we wanted it and when the film crew got involved they asked what we wanted in the hut. I said I wanted an outside bath because I’d seen one in a magazine and Simon (designer and presenter of My Unique B&B) was all about the idea.
I sourced the bath we installed on Marketplace.”
The hut may be small, but its eco credentials are big. There is a compost toilet and, even though there is a regular toilet, “people prefer to use the compost toilet”, possibly because it is very eco.
Comprising several defined areas, the hut offers its residents a great sense of space – from the extraordinary views to the separate kitchen, shower and, of course, toilet, not to mention the outside bath, a firepit and a cinema room where films can be projected for a unique outdoor movie experience.
Timber for the project was sourced locally, much of it coming from Pontrilas Timber just down the road, while wood for the stove is supplied by Laura and Alex’s neighbor, George Cole, while the interior was a mix of Laura’s ideas.
In fact, not much came far – the flagstones surrounding the hut were all found on the farm, with one gigantic piece of stone creating a striking table, perfect for alfresco dining.
Laura’s eye for exactly the right piece led her to the perfect kitchen shelving on Marketplace, and this is complemented by shelves created from scaffolding boards with stylish enamelware from Baileys Home in Bridstow near Ross-on-Wye.
Outside, shelving has been made from reclaimed pallets, and the hut is clad in corrugated iron.
Both rental properties were finally finished, thanks to the delays Covid brought with it, last year and tygwynholidays.co.uk was born.
“I had given in my notice,” says Laura, who is also mum to Sebastian and Oscar, “and gone part time.”
But, having worked full time for 18 years, she thought now, when the boys were little, what the perfect time to do a job that fitted round them, and so the juggling began.
“Tudor Farmhouse were keen to run it for us. I had to persuade Alex, who said OK (to me running the holiday business) and luckily we’ve had really good reviews and the Dairy is particularly popular.”
Of course, Ty Gwyn Holidays is just the latest addition to the couple’s continuing adventures, and has developed from the site Alex found for his cider business, a business he became involved in after a career in music when he played at Glastonbury on the NME stage with Oasis.
But where it’s cheese for Alex James, formerly of Blur, for Alex Culpin it’s cider.
“My step-dad had a fruit farm and grew cider apples for people like Bulmers and Thatchers, but he never made cider until the early 2000s when he made a batch from some apples he had left over and me and my brother decided it tasted really good—Ty Gwyn grew out of that.
We knew a graphic designer, went on a cider making course and thought we could do a good job making a good cider. Our USP is that we wanted to make a traditional cider without the roughness associated with Scrumpy.”
An ever-growing clutch of awards would suggest that Ty Gwyn met its aims and is continuing to make its mark.
And, with more projects in mind, it’s clear that this multi-talented couple aren’t going to be putting their feet up any time soon.
“We are just so lucky to have what we have,” says Laura, as she takes a moment to reflect on how far they’ve come since she first saw Penylan Farm.