Canvas & Campfires

Many claim to have discovered and then settled in paradise.  Charming and warm hosts Dan and Ellie are no different, but you know what, here, they may well be right, and we’ve seen a few strong challengers.

Pant Yr Hwch, the farm that is home to Canvas and Campfires, is a few minutes out of Lampeter, and twenty minutes from picture postcard pretty Aberaeron, but you’d never know it.  It’s a peaceful unspoilt corner of rural Ceredigion, protected by the warm embrace of the Cambrian Mountains, that you could be forgiven for missing. But that’s exactly what we like about this magical place.

There are five luxurious safari tents and a converted ‘Little Cowshed’. The safari tents, Seren, Afon, Aderyn, Enfys and Dyffryn (meaning star, river, bird, rainbow, and valley) are carefully dotted around the hillside which makes up the eleven acres of their bucolic smallholding.  To be clear, this is not just camping, it’s on another level of comfort, but all the best bits are here. Waking up to birdsong, playing board games and toasting marshmallows on the firepit, collecting the eggs for brekkie, counting millions of stars under a massive night sky, and feeding the animals, are all very much a part of the ‘experience’, and we don’t use that word lightly.

Each tent sleeps up to six, perfect for a glamping holiday with families and friends alike, but cosy enough for two, or get together a crowd of up to thirty two and fill the site. The generous tents all have airy living spaces, stylish leather sofas, handcrafted rustic dining tables, benches and chairs and flushing toilets. Seren even comes with its very own wood-fired hot tub so you can really relax to take in the sunset.  If you want a more solid roof over your head the 18th century stone cowshed, Beudy Bach, has been lovingly renovated, full of character, oak beams and a westward vista view over the pond, it also comes with its own wood fired hot-tub, fully equipped kitchen and Esse stove, ideal for a couple.

In the safari tents, there are fully equipped, bespoke kitchens, and the amazing Chilli Pengiun stoves not only keeps everyone toasty, but using its oven and hot plate makes cooking fun again. In the morning, visit the farm Honesty Shop for locally sourced meat, your staples and the odd treat, and perhaps borrow a pond-dipping kit … alternatively a quiet coffee whilst gazing across the valley into the patchwork of fields is the stuff of dreams.

Meticulously designed Enfys and Dyffrn are a full metre wider than the other tents and have been designed to make glamping as accessible as possible. They have wheelchair wet rooms, level thresholds, handrails and a roll under sink and pull-out work tops together with provision to power medical equipment. The owners can also hire in profiling beds and hoists if needed.

With the ruggedly romantic West Wales coast and three National Parks within half an hour, there is too much to explore in just a short break. It’s not hard to see why guests return year after year.  Paradise revisited, if you will.