THE STORY SO FAR

Nick's Story

Having being born in Lancashire and growing up in the midlands, Nick has travelled the world and spent time in kitchens across the united kingdom and hong kong acrueing many accolades for the kitchens he worked in.

In 2013 he settled in Wales working as Head Chef at Llangoed hall, under Nicks headship the hotel’s restaurant aquired 3 AA rosettes, gained the conde Nast accolade for best restaurant in the U.K and was in top 50 places to eat in the Good Food Guide also in the Hardens top 100 places to eat in the U.K.

Even though he's an English man he represented Wales in 2017 on the BBC,s great British menu.

Nick is passionate about sustainability the majority of the produce used in the restaurant comes from either the kitchen garden or local Welsh suppliers.

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THE STORY SO FAR

Lydia's Story

Born and bred in the heart of Wales, Lydia is the middle child to a large sheep and cattle farming family she feels very much at home in the green rolling hillsides of mid Wales and like anyone who has spent time there wouldn’t want to leave.

She started working at Llangoed Hall the once home to the designer Laura Ashley as a housekeeper just 3 miles from where she was born, the hotel was AA awarded the best hotel in Wales and this is where Lydia learnt the service and standard needed in the hospitality industry.

In 2020 with over 40 years working in hospitality under their belt Nick and his partner Lydia bought the Cedars guesthouse with the aim of making it a great place to eat, drink and sleep.

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Come Stay in the picturesque town of Builth Wells...

Builth Wells first emerged in post-Roman times, probably on the other side of the Irfon river from its present site at Dol Eglwys (Church Mound) where a ruined early medieval church is thought to have stood.

History

Builth Wells first emerged in post-Roman times, probably on the other side of the Irfon river from its present site at Dol Eglwys (Church Mound) where a ruined early medieval church is thought to have stood. Vortigern, the British ruler alleged to have invited the Saxons to Britain is sometimes said to have owned land in nearby Builth Road on the Radnorshire side of the River Wye; the site previously having been known as Cwrt Llechrhyd.

Early Post-Roman Builth was an independent kingdom. The most famous ruler was Elystan Glodrydd from whom many local gentry claimed descent. As an important component of Rhwng Gwy a Hafren, a political entity referred to in the poems of Taliesin, Builth was regularly at war with the Kingdom of Powys. Ecclesiastically, the Deanery of Builth has always been part of St Davids / later Swansea and Brecon, rather than St Asaph, the Powys diocese. Glodrydd probably lived at Llanafan Fawr rather than the modern site of Builth Wells. Until the foundation of the Norman town Llanfair ym Muallt the main settlement was Llanafan. Stories about Philip de Braose centre on Llanafan not modern Builth.

The site of the town controls an important ford across the Wye and the crossing point of the main north-south route in Wales and an important south-west-east route. It was militarily and economically significant for centuries. The Welsh name for the town “Llanfair ym Muallt” refers to the foundation of a Norman church dedicated to St Mary. The churchyard is however, a truncated oval which is strongly suggestive of an original Celtic foundation. The town was laid out as two streets connecting a castle and a church and was protected by a hedge rather than a wall. This type of town is sometimes called a Bastide, a kind of medieval market settlement. In exchange for rights to live and trade in the market of the new town, skilled townspeople paid the lord various dues. In many parts of Wales the skilled workers were of Flemish or English origin. However, Builth may have had important significance in Welsh language culture as The Mabinogion was long thought to have been recorded in its final form by medieval monks here and recent historical opinion has shifted to a view that it was written down by a lawyer in Builth.

Despite repeated destructive fires, at one time involving a charitable collection in London, Builth Wells grew as a traditional Welsh market town. It received major boosts from the development of toll roads; it was at the centre of early road networks and the arrival of the railway at Llanelwedd. The railway allowed it to develop as a spa and is well known nationally as the location of the Royal Welsh Showground, home to the Royal Welsh Show

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