Thank you for considering Noddfa for your trip!
Noddfa was built in the summer of 2020 initially as a writer's retreat for the owner. It is located in a magical spot deep in the 60 acres of private woodland belonging to Coed Hills Rural Artspace, a low impact community of friendly, artistically-inclined, wonderful people - a dozen of which live scattered about the site in their own hand-built dwellings.
Noddfa is very much the owners personal space with lots of evidence of his life and interests. It offers comfortable off-grid peace and seclusion.
Noddfa (Welsh for 'refuge' or 'sanctuary' ) was built single-handedly and by hand to the owner's own design. Within her 4.8m x 2.4m footprint, there are, effectively, two double bedrooms, a kitchen, lounge/diner, library, an attached compost loo and a decking area with bench and table.
There are no mains services. Electricity is provided via power banks, with rechargeable lights and a DAB radio. There is a 40L tank of fresh drinking water next to the sink, with 2 supplementary 10L back-up tanks. Extra water is available at a stand-pipe 200m away. There is no wi-fi and 4G tends to become 3G under heavy cloud cover. Mobile phone signals, depending on network, also fluctuate and sometimes disappear.
There is a huge car parking area in the field between the lane and Coed Hills Rural Artspace buildings, that are found through the arboretum at the end of the track.
Noddfa is another 5/6 minutes walk from this cluster of buildings.
The lane from St Hilary is a single track road with passing places, but Coed is only about three quarters of a mile from the village.
The village, in turn, is only a a quarter of a mile off the A48, which is easily accessed off the M4 (from the east, 11 miles from Jct.33; from the west, 9 miles from Jct.35; from the north, 7 miles from Jct.34).
The nearest rail station is Llantwit Major (5 miles), but is a small branch line between Cardiff and Bridgend with an hourly service at best. InterCity services serve Bridgend (10 miles) and Cardiff Central (13 miles). London is 2hrs from Cardiff and a further 20mins from Bridgend..
There are reasonable bus services (route X2) from both Cardiff and Bridgend - ask for the bus stop at the 'St. Hilary junction' on the A48; just over a mile from Coed Hills.
If travelling by public transport, I can usually arrange to pick you up from nearby bus stops and stations.
I live a few miles away (20 mins drive), but would hope to meet and greet you and show you around, at the very least. There is also a wonderful group of people living on site permanently who will also be more than happy to help you out with information, advice and assistance if required.
The 'swimming lake' is for the brave only, although it gets well-used at the height of summer. It is a natural pond, shared with ducks most of the year. It shouldn't be used alone and you use it it entirely at your own risk. It is 8ft deep at the end of the jetty.
There are several other ponds dotted around, including the horseshoe pond near Noddfa, none of which are suitable for swimming. Young children need to be closely supervised near all of these ponds.
There is a wood-fired sauna available in the shower block at Coed Central, bookable in advance with one of the residents, at a flat rate set-up cost of £15, which I can arrange for you. It is the same amount of work for one person to use it as it is for 10.
There is a fire pit next to the cabin which can be used with care. I can supply a crate of wood and kindling for this if you would like, at a cost of £5. I have to say we are a bit nervous about flames near cabins as we lost the first one I built at Coed to carelessness with candles. Therefore smoking and candles are both banned inside the cabin. Sorry!
My charges reflect not just the effort in cleaning and maintaining a remote off-grid cabin, but also the effort needed to replenish the water supply, the wood for the wood burner and the servicing of the compost loo.
The Coed site and nearby village are often used for filming, especially by Cardiff based Dr Who and Casualty. The cabin and its environs feature in a couple of great music videos by 'Sfven' entitled "Forest Ave" and "There for You"; he stayed in the cabin in June 2021.
On booking, I will provide you with a pdf copy of my Noddfa User Guide, with plenty more information on the cabin, the Coed Hills site and community and the surrounding area.
Thank you again for considering Noddfa!
