I’ve been staying in a string of high-end hotels of late (all part of the job, not complaining), but here, by contrast, is something closer to my heart, and a true hidden gem.
Allt y bela, which in English translates to “wooded slope of the wolf/marten”, has just two en-suite bedrooms for paying guests in the house, and now two self-catering cottages (breakfast provided) in the surrounding woods and meadows, plus the private garden created by Arne Maynard, one of Britain’s foremost garden designers.
Arne Maynard is a Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist who has designed more than 200 gardens worldwide, as far afield as Japan, Mexico and the Caribbean. Perhaps his most notable design in England is at Haddon Hall, where he created a garden – soft, romantic and laced with history – to match the house in Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Back in 2007, Arne and his partner William Collinson – who met at college 44 years ago, and have been together ever since – bought Allt y bela, a medieval, cruck-framed farmhouse with a Renaissance tower close to the river Usk in South Wales. Tucked into a secret valley among rolling hills, the ochre-coloured house – without a straight line – sits majestically against a backdrop of green. It is here that Arne created a garden that is as harmonious and in keeping with its surroundings as it is stunningly beautiful.
Topiary – yew, box, copper beech, hornbeam and hawthorn, “like characters at a party” – provides whimsical structure and contrast with the surrounding landscape, while billowing herbaceous perennials, fruit trees, climbing roses (some, such as the Astra Desmond roses, are trained on a frame of rustic hazel rods across the walls of the house) and swathes of spring bulbs also feature.
Arne calls the walled courtyard garden next to the front door his “cabinet of curiosities”, where ball-shaped hedges on stems and yew topiary provide an outline for rare bulbs and precious flowers, and pleached crab apple trees follow the curve of the wall and enclose the space. The decorated garden designer’s favourite place is the charming kitchen garden, where pear tree cordons are trained on arched hazel rods, and from where the garden and the surrounding landscape seem to melt into one another.
It is an enchanted, magical spot and, frankly, I use any excuse to return. I’ve stayed in the house in the past. Both East Room and West Room – one looking across the garden, the other over the landscape – have appropriate character with splendid beds, antique furniture, mellow lighting and their own comfortable bathrooms. Expect creaking floors, winding staircases and a farmhouse kitchen for a slap-up farmhouse breakfast – using local produce – provided by the housekeeper, and Arne and William if they are about.
The two new cottages are also enchanting, and the sense of peace is profound. “I can’t get over the silence,” my husband said. We live in the countryside, but we can hear the road – even the railway – in the distance, and planes flying over. Here: nothing. A sudden rainstorm in the night, then: nothing.
We stayed in Cwrt y bela, a former shepherd’s house restored by William, a talented woodworker, and a team of local craftspeople. With high wooden ceilings, rough stone, white-painted walls, handmade brick floors with underfloor heating, and windows, doors, bed and more made by William, it’s a calm, airy space – both traditional and contemporary – in which to decompress, with books to browse, vases of garden flowers and a lovely view of folded hills.
In the bathroom, there’s a deep roll-top bath and a sheepskin bean bag to flop on to afterwards. In the kitchen, there is an Everhot cooker and the wherewithal – poached pears, yogurt, local apple juice, homemade bread – for breakfast. One night we dined at Shaun Hill’s wonderful Walnut Tree near Abergavenny, the next at the Nags Head in Usk’s pretty town square: family run for three generations and as full of bonhomie as it is of pewter, brasses, photographs and assorted knick-knacks.
In 2022, the original 160-acre estate surrounding the house became available to buy. Largely unmanaged, it was covered in brambles and bracken, but also wildflowers, including vast swathes of marsh orchids. Working with Natural Resources Wales, William now manages the land.
Ancient hay meadows are cut in the traditional way, woodland is managed for diversity and rare historic-breed cattle graze lightly to encourage the wildflowers that give it its Site of Special Scientific Interest designation. Hike along the ancient path to the hilltop where uninterrupted views across the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons open up. High above the cottages, the enigmatic statue of a man surveys all from his plinth.
There is much to discover in these parts: Abergavenny, Monmouth, Usk, Llanthony Priory with its miniature pub, the tiny church at remote Capel-y-ffin. I love Monmouthshire, and I love hotels and guesthouses that offer a real sense of place, none more so than Allt y bela: my idea of heaven.
Allt y bela, Llangwm, Usk, Monmouthshire, NP15 1EZ: doubles from £250 per night, including breakfast (house), from £300 per night (cottages).