National storytelling event set for fairy tale setting

Once upon a time dozens of families gathered at a castle on Anglesey to hear fantastical stories.

All of the parents and children were kept entertained and enthralled for hours before returning to their luxury Anglesey holiday cottages for a deep and peaceful sleep.

That’s a story which should be getting told next week after a National Storytelling week event at Beaumaris Castle takes place on February 1 and 2.

The national week will see hundreds of events taking place across Britain with thousands of children introduced to storytelling for the first time. The week forms a major part of efforts to promote literacy and reading in the UK.

With the Beaumaris event set to take place in the stunning setting of Beaumaris Castle it’s hoped the stories told will come to life in an even more realistic way.

The castle is known as an “unfinished masterpiece”. Building began at Beaumaris in 1295, with the castle intended to form part of the “iron ring” of North Wales castles.

But the English King Edward I ran out of money for the building and work stopped before the castle reached its full height. Nonetheless, it’s an impressive site befitting of any fairy tale.

With the event due to take place next week Quality Cottages has some luxury Anglesey holiday cottages available at short notice.

Suitable for all the family, Quality has more than 300 cottages across Wales, including several in Beaumaris itself and many more on the isle of Anglesey – or Ynys Môn as it’s known to its residents.

Find out more about Beaumaris Castle and Edward I here.

About Quality Cottages

History

We are a Welsh family business started 50 years ago, specialising in Quality cottages in Wales. Leonard Rees inherited Cerbid farm at the age of 17, then came out of farming 10 years later by converting the farm buildings into cottages. For nearly 20 years there was a small portfolio of the Cerbid cottages plus a small sample of other nearby cottages.In 1979 the late program ”Wish You Were Here” came to Cerbid to do a feature. The high demand for our cottages after this was the inspiration needed to grow into a larger agency. Soon after, we won Wales’s first Gold award for self-catering tourism.Since the early years we have grown to a pan Wales agency specialising at the Quality property Wales has to offer. We have had the privilege of working with many beautiful properties and their owners.During the 1980\\\\’s we also established a French agency, Quality Villas. You can visit their site by clicking www.qualityvillas.com. Quality Villas now also have property in Italy, Morocco and in ski resorts in the Alps. We have always and will continue to attract a high standard of property with caring owners. Our local team members live and breathe Wales. We have an accumulated knowledge of Wales, its geography and history second to none. There is always someone to hand to help with answers and solutions to questions. In 2011 there are now 30 of us in the team, we have a paternal approach to employment, putting the needs of people first. We feel this has a positive effect on health, happiness, and profit. 17 of the team have been here more than 10 years, Erene has been here for 40 years! Margaret Rees and son Tim Rees have also re-joined the company with pockets full of fresh ideas to take us, hopefully, through the next 50 years.

50 years experience

Over 50 years ago we started letting farmhouses, cottages and our converted old farm buildings at Cerbid, in an area where my family have farmed for nearly 400 years. Cerbid is a tiny private hamlet on the centre of the St. Davids/Solva peninsula which enjoys some of the finest coastline in Britain. Our office is also located here at Cerbid. As letting agents we now represent properties in selected areas of Wales.

Philosophy

Specialise in Quality not Quantity. We accept only 1 or 2 cottages out of every 10 offered. Behave always with Honesty and Integrity. From selection to descriptions of the holiday homes and communication with the customer. (That’s not to say we don’t make mistakes, but we will always act fairly to fix things quickly.)