James' Place at Brynawel

First of all the positives. 1.The room and bathroom were both very clean and elegantly decorated. 2. The house is in a nice area reasonably close to MT town centre. Unfortunately there were lots of negatives. 1. The main door wouldn't open and we spent about 10 minutes trying to get in before the door would eventually give in to a hefty shoulder. 2. The bed was extremely uncomfortable. Low, small with a mattress that was not conducive to a good night's sleep. 3. There was no wardrobe only a chest of drawers of which one drawer would not open. 4. The accommodation was supposed to be self catering but we never found any kitchen area and there was no information about how to find it in the instructions and we didn't feel comfortable wandering about the house trying to find it. 5. The directions said that it was a large white house as in the picture. It is now blue and was covered in scaffolding which covered the name of the house so it was difficult to know it was the correct house. 6. The shower was more a heavy mist. 7. The towels were never changed in the three nights we were there and given we were on a walking trip consequently were ponging somewhat by the end of our stay. I've stayed in much worse but it was in the bottom third of those we have. It wouldn't take much to raise this from a 2 star to a 4 star review but as another reviewer comments it appears the owner has rather lost the love for the place.

We stayed at the Rafters studio which was so lovely, had parking and was a great central location to get to the Brecon Beacons National Park. Whilst visiting, we completed a 20km waterfall walk, visited the Brecon Mountain Railway and took on the 4 peak challenge with Corn Du, Pen Y Fan, Cribyn and Fan Y Big. It is self-catering though the kitchen is on the smaller size with only two electric hobs; i would recommend eating dinner out given the limited space :-) We'd also have benefitted from a little more storage for clothing, but that is only a minor thing. James is a kind and understanding host and overall we really enjoyed our stay and would recommend anyone wishing to visit the area to stay at James' Places!

We stayed for 4 nights in the rafters suite, it was lovely and with the added bonus of your own kitchenette area. The location is great and was central for all things we had planned, maybe a 15min walk to the town centre but is at the top of a hill so be mindful for the walk back. Some lovely restaurants in the area (recommend the mine at cf47). The hosts were great and provided us with loads of hints and tips prior to our stay which really helped. The only downfall for me was the bed was too small (we originally booked Pen Y Ty studio which has a larger bed but the hosts moved us as the kitchen/bathroom is separated by a small corridor) at 7 months pregnant the bigger bed would have been better for us at the time of visiting, also there was no blind on the skylight in the kitchen area and no door so as soon as the sun was up so was I. Overall fab stay and would stay again ☺️

The room was well decorated clean and well presented as shown in the photos. We received good communication with the provider who also recommended lots of local restaurants and provided tips on climbing Pen Y Fan. Based on the recommendations we had a well planned trip and enjoyed meals at the tea room and local restaurant as suggested. Pricing was fair and this was close enough to easily access Pen Y Fan although there wasn’t too much too do in Merthyr itself.