Brynhonddu Country House set in the Welsh Marches Bwlch Trewyn Estate, Pandy, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 7PD, Wales, UK. Home Page Our Facilities Booking Enquiries Book Online History Activities Green Tourism Online Map The Retreat Brynhonddu

Voted the Best Bed & Breakfast in Wales by Overseas Visitors

Brecon Beacons National Park, one of the three National Parks within the Principality

Offas Dyke Long Distant Footpath, skirting 'Brynhonddu' on the 170 mile route from Prestatyn to Chepstow.

The area around 'Brynhonddu' has traditionally been a area of contention.  The local market town of Abergavenny is seated at the meeting of the Rivers Usk and Gavenny at the southern end of the Black Mountains.  Settlement dates back to Neolithic times. In Roman Times it was a Garrison Town known as Gobannium on the route to Brecon and was linked to the Second Augustan Legion fortress of Caerleon, a few miles to the south. During the period of the Danish occupation of much of England, King Offa built the Dyke or fortified earthworks in about the year 759 AD, along the border of the then kingdom of Mercia in order to keep out the marauding Welsh. Many of the castles of the area were built during the Norman occupation, including that at Abergavenny which was started in 1087 by Hamelin de Ballon and eventually rebuilt in stone from 1190 onwards.  The Welsh Marches were the frontier between the subjugated East and the rebellious Welsh. Traditional industries of the area include Wool and Leather production.  Pandy, the name of our community, translates to Fulling or Thickening Mill, this fulling process was carried out to remove the lanolin from the fleeces used in the production of wool. 'Tan House', a protected building in Abergavenny, provided the tanning process in the manufacture of leather in the area. Other allied trades such as boot and shoe making, saddlery and glove-making also took place nearby. Our area is regarded nowadays as the 'undiscovered quarter', serenity without the hype.

	Raglan Castle - A Royalist stronghold during the Civil War		White Castle - A Norman defensive castle built to protect the Marches from the Welsh

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