Y Swtan


Manon really looks the part in her mop cap
and shawl

The little lane that leads to y Swtan is a dead-end and the casual tourist could be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing down there. In fact, there is one of the jewels of Anglesey, an old "long house" style farm cottage that was lived in until the 1950s and then abandoned to decay.

Fortunately it was taken over by the National Trust - or rather, the land was bought by the Trust - and the cottage was given to a group of enthusiasts for a peppercorn rent. With a lot of hard work they have restored the cottage to pretty much the condition it was in at the turn of the Twentieth Century and filled it with authentic period pieces.

I was asked to produce an introductory video for the cottage, of which this is a snippet showing the interior of the cottage. Our guide is a charming and beautiful Welsh girl who really threw herself into the part.

The following year I returned to Swtan with my wife and Margaret Owen showed her round the cottage's herb garden.