…guaranteed history on your doorstep…
I love it when I get to write about the National Trust’s Bunkhouses, they are always so fascinating and in such beautiful settings. Dinefwr is no exception.
Let’s get the basics out of the way. Its a 16 bed group accommodation. There’s a large open plan kitchen/lounge/dining room. Its got a cosy woodburning stove and big patio doors that take you out onto a patio. There’s shared shower rooms and toilets. So far, so bunkhouse-standard.
But, it’s so bloomin’ charming! The bunkhouse is in a converted servants’ living quarters and work rooms that are part of a courtyard of estate buildings of Newton House. The interiors are wood and stone and speak of cosy evenings and convivial get togethers. Outside on the patio, you have views over the deer park of the estate. With two magnificent historic buildings, Dinefwr castle and Newton House right here, you’re spoilt for choice. The rolling wooded parkland has connections to Capability Brown and some of the oldest trees in Britain. I told you, beautiful settings.
The poet Wynford Vaughan Thomas got gushy here as well:
“If you take a handful of the soil at Dinefwr and squeeze it in your hand, the juice that will flow from your hands is the essence of Wales.“
That’s the thing about staying in National Trust bunkhouses, you’re guaranteed history on your doorstep.