Creative Retreats, Business Bonding & Location Hire
Company Bonding & Mini Conferences
Wern-y-Cwm offers luxurious, (mostly) en-suite accommodation on site with 16 bedrooms. Whilst the vast majority of delegates must stay on site, we are happy to recommend a list of additional local stays if you have more delegates than our holiday accommodations will support.
The Great Barn and the numerous other reception rooms throughout the farm, offer a variety of options for a company retreat. With many firms adopting hybrid, home or distributed workforces, a few days away together can help to establish or extend team spirit and collaborative thinking.
This property is ideal for a mini-conference, residential annual board meeting, business mentoring or a training course. Our team will be happy to help you with planning, catering and activities - just let us know your thoughts and we will advise. We can recommend and help arrange activities on site or locally to suit your ideas and budget.
Set in 30 acres of private farmland, delegates or colleagues will be free to explore the gardens and grounds and enjoy the many facilities, including terraces with fire pits, den in the dark wood, orchards & vegetable gardens, trampoline, croquet, table tennis and hot tubs and mini gym. Local walks include a steep stroll to the top of the Skirrid Mountain with views over 6 counties or a hearty longer walk to the local pub for a pint and some locally sourced fare, possibly arranging a mini bus collection to save you the uphill walk home! Alternatively, The Walnut Tree Inn, our local Michelin Star restaurant, is just over a mile away and Abergavenny with its stunning covered market, great restaurants and shops, is a 10 minute drive.
The rolling hills and endless countryside will inspire creativity and boost morale. Whether you want to think of a big plan or solve a recurring problem, working in the Great Barn lets you step outside the box and explore new ideas in an inspirational location.
Are you the event organiser?
Have you been tasked with finding a location for your business retreat, company bonding trip, mini conference or office party? With over 30 years of experience in organising business outings, the Wonderful Escapes team offers you the perfect location and help. All you need to do is contact us with your requirements and we will be happy to advise you on any of the following areas:
- Our accommodation layout and suitability for your group
- Additional local accommodation as required in hotels or B&Bs
- Catering options from self-catering to luxury private chefs
- On-site activities, local walks, foraging, games, tree planting and group bonding
- Off-site activities, cultural trips, sporting activities and visits to restaurants and pubs
- Entertainment including live musicians, wine tasting, on-site yoga and massage
- Transfers and transport, including private hire from airports and stations
We are happy to be as hands-on as you need or as hands-off as you prefer, just let us know what you have in mind, or call us for ideas.
Sporting Boot Camps & Yoga Retreats
Wern-y-Cwm is an incredible location for you to hold your Yoga Retreat, Cycling Holiday or Fitness Training Camp. Partnering with personal trainers and yoga teachers, we boast an incredible natural environment, beautiful scenery and a challenging terrain. With the variety of on-site accommodation, and numerous local options for extra guests, the Great Barn with extensive grounds and gardens, you will be spoilt for choice as to where to hold your sessions.
The local area offers some of the best road cycling routes in the UK, with some challenging climbs on quiet country lanes away from traffic and pollution, leaving directly from the farm. Bike Park Wales and Dirt Farm with their exhilarating mountain bike and e-bike trails are within an easy drive and a firm favourite activity for almost all ages. Rock climbing, canoeing, abseiling, horse riding, paragliding, clay pigeon shooting, fishing and even tank driving can all be arranged locally with recommendations on offer.
For Summer 2024 (all going well) we will launch our new wildlife pond garden where you may experience incredible wild swimming and enjoy the grass amphitheatre, the perfect stage for your creative production plus a lovely greenhouse breakout room, all surrounded by our veg, flower and fruit gardens.
Walking and hiking opportunities are in abundance, either leaving directly from the farm, or within a short drive. This farm has been nicknamed Wern-y-Calm for so many reasons. A mid-summer solstice dawn walk to see the sun rise from the top of the Skirrid or a yoga session on the lawn with views over 6 counties will be activities to remember. The gardens and grounds offer multiple options for group lessons or 1-2-1 training. Seek out our 18th century water trough garden and seating. Find the den in the dark wood or follow the wildflower walk down to the bottom field where you will meet our oldest oak, an awesome 400 year old beauty and in winter the confluence of three streams.
Wern-y-Cwm is available to let to yoga teachers, bootcamp and training professionals with sessions booked directly. Our contribution is to provide a space for you to learn, grow and meet likeminded people whilst staying in our comfortable holiday accommodation in beautiful grounds on the edge of the spectacular Black Mountains and the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons). We are happy to share our recommended local contacts and leave you to fully self-manage, or to help you plan and achieve your perfect wonderful escape retreat holiday.
Creative, Theatre, Painting & Cookery Retreat Holidays
Abergavenny and the local area has long been renowned for amazing locally produced food and incredible artists. This area of outstanding natural beauty offers the perfect location to inspire. Whether you wish to hold a mixed creative retreat, crafting, cooking, theatre, writing or painting workshops, the Wonderful Escapes team is on hand to work with chefs and artists to help you plan and execute your retreat.
With our large number of local contacts in farming and food production, you could source the food for your holiday ensuring minimum food miles. Furthermore, the kitchen garden, orchard and farm offer great opportunities to pick-your-own (with permission) or forage for your delicious ingredients in the hedgerows or fields.
Wern-y-Cwm is just 10 minutes from Abergavenny, and offers the perfect place to stay for visiting the Abergavenny Food Festival.
Preferential Rates for NGO’s & Charities
Our ethos at Wonderful Escapes is to embrace the circular economy and support those working to improve the outlook for people and the planet. We welcome and are happy to offer discounted rates to NGO’s, charities, environmental and human rights organisations who may need a safe space to hold their conferences, team trips or symposiums.
One recent event included 28 delegates from 22 countries. We helped with complex travel, arranged catering for a multitude of food preferences and dietary requirements from Halal to Vegan and booked local activities to suit the groups requirements.
Film & Photo Shoot Location Hire
We offer film and photography crews a range of options from using the barn for lifestyle fashion and homes photo shoots, to using the mountainous farmland for movies. We are open to discussing requirements with location managers and can accommodate the crew and support staff.
The Skirrid Mountain is easy to reach, albeit permits would need to be acquired from the National Trust if you wished to shoot in the National Park and not on the farm. We are also happy to introduce location scouts to our friends and family in the area, if you can’t find everything you need here, which will permit you to stay here and shoot in the locality at castles, river, working farms, stately homes, etc.
Celebration Holidays with the Party Barn
Wern-y-Cwm and the Great Barn offer an incredible space for your stay on site, self-managed celebration holidays. We are not a wedding venue, and do not accept wedding bookings, but what could be nicer than renting the farm and enjoying a holiday celebrating and making memories? Whether it is a landmark birthday for you, a grandparent or friends, your retirement, a work or family reunion, with plenty of on-site accommodation, your guests will stay in style and the Great Barn offers the perfect setting for the grand banquet.
With flexible tables and seating this Cathedral sized room can be laid out to suit your needs whether that be Yoga, Board Meetings, Lectures, a Banquet or Dancing.
If your planned event is in the spring or early summer, the 10 acres of wildflower meadows are at their best. Maybe your perfect celebration holiday is in high summer watching your friends or colleagues have long lazy conversations in the shaded areas of our stunning grounds, with games and croquet on the lawn.
Or with open fires and underfloor heating, you might be looking for a cosy and romantic autumn or winter stay with berry coloured table dressing and candles, enjoying roasting marshmallows and chestnuts over roaring fire pits.
Whatever your plans, Wern-y-Cwm offers you the open spaces for as much outdoor activity as you wish for, but with the added peace of mind that whatever the weather, the Great Barn is as big as a huge marquee and you can feed your entire residential group at one table.
Event/Retreat Host Reviews
Saran – business retreat – December 2022
We had the most wonderful time at your gorgeous farm. The barn was fabulous for our evening dinner, we enjoyed having a much bigger dance floor than our usual Xmas bash. Loved everything about the room, so special for our small party of 20, some of us crashed out on the sofas in front of the fire around midnight !
The farmhouse is so comfortable and warm despite some wild weather outside, great quality beds and towels etc. Really enjoyed the sunrise on Friday morning. Having stayed at many well equipped houses, your kitchen was the best ever.
Vicki – yoga retreat – May 2022
The retreat went really well and everyone loved the property and location – how could they not, it's amazing! They enjoyed climbing the Skirrid and the wild swimming went down really well with most. Everyone went a bit outside their comfort zones which is great for that sense of achievement feeling.
The property was a good fit for our use and we managed to eat outside quite a bit and use the lawn for yoga too which was fab. The hot tub was a huge hit obviously. How fantastic to have this brand new for our retreat. We look forward to booking again.
The Symposium on Strength and Solidarity 2022
Our Not-for-profit organization decided to hold one of our annual meetings at Wonderful Escapes! From the outset, Laura and Emily were incredibly helpful, enthusiastic and did everything to ensure we had a comfortable stay, delicious food and a successful meeting!
The location is serene and they have put a lot of love and warm touches into the property. They took us on a breathtaking hike nearby and this was one of the highlights of our stay. We would definitely book another stay at Wonderful Escapes without hesitation and are grateful for their warm welcome, hospitality and for going out of their way to meet our needs !
Interested in hosting your event with us?
You may hire Wern-y-Cwm Farmhouse, Dairy, Cider House and the Great Barn as a whole, or in parts to suit your numbers. We can also recommend some amazing local cottages or hotels to provide a few extra rooms where needed, although the vast majority of guests should stay on-site. We are as flexible as possible, so each enquiry is dealt with on an individual basis.
Please get in touch, detailing your requirements so that we may respond with a quotation.
Wonderful Escapes is the trading name of Wern-y-Cwm furnished holiday lets & banqueting barn which is suitable for self-managed bookings for smaller groups. We are also happy to offer a managed service to co-ordinate the suppliers for your bigger group holiday bookings, retreat or activity holidays.
