Man turned holiday cottage up mountain in one of gloomiest parts of Wales into solar and eco success

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


It may be an old granite building 700ft up a hillside in one of the most gloomy parts of Wales for weather. But this did not stop John Whitehead turning Bryn Elltyd at Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, into a beacon for solar and other eco measures.

John, an ex-aerospace engineer and technology teacher, did much of the engineering work at the guest house and now holiday cottage himself, which he says highlights that even small businesses and individuals can make a difference.

The sustainability story began when John and his wife, Ceilia, visited the Centre for Alternative Technology, near Machynlleth in 1982 and were amazed to see working solar panels in a slate quarry. John left his aerospace career, fitted solar panels on their suburban semi-detached home in Coventry and devoted the next 20 or so years to teaching technology.

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The chance came in 2007 to change careers and create a green guesthouse, 700ft up a mountain in Eryri National Park. Bryn Elltyd is an 1883 granite building, which was a challenge for energy efficiency.

John has sensitively developed the property with massive insulation and turf roofed buildings, lined with sheep’s wool. He added solar panels, hot air extraction from conservatories, rainwater loo flushing and biological sewerage into a reed bed and duckpond.

The property was one of the early adopters of a boiler that turns local wood to gas and burns it at 900C. The boiler is computer integrated with a massive solar array.

He is now among the first in the UK to be recognised by a national sustainability programme for small businesses. He has been awarded a Certificate of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) by the BT Sustainability for Small Business Programme.

John and Ceilia Whitehead, of Bryn Elltyd, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog
John and Ceilia Whitehead, of Bryn Elltyd, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog

“This excellent programme examined most aspects of how a business and individuals interact with sustainable local and planetwide objectives,” he said.

“Bryn Elltyd is a little ahead of the curve, as the business has run totally on renewable energy since 2013 and had the first Tesla destination electric car charge points in Wales, pioneering sustainability.

“Linked to this recognition of real sustainability knowledge will be a function at House of Lords on November 6 which I shall be travelling to from Snowdonia by train, as it’s the greenest form of transport and least damaging to the environment."

Bryn Elltyd is a member of MWT Cymru, an independent organisation representing more than 550 tourism and hospitality businesses across Powys, Ceredigion and Southern Snowdonia (Eryri).

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