Idyllic.

This is the word that comes to mind when I think of One Cat Farm. It’s pretty easy to make a place look idyllic, but to make it feel idyllic too is another level, and one that One Cat Farm achieves with ease. 

On arrival we set down our bags and the kids picked their beds, and just like that they were off to play and explore. I sat myself down in one of the chairs on our little porch and began to immediately relax. Minutes passed with no one needing me, or telling me they were bored, or treating me as their own personal cruise director, so I took a big leap and picked up a book. It was a daring act, one that just screamed to my children that now might be the time to need me, but magically no one flinched. I sat and finished not one but two books that I’d started reading before our trip. We hadn’t even been there a day but it felt like miracles were already occurring.

I’d dared to suggest before our trip that we try to keep our holiday screen free. A big leap, but somehow it actually happened, and without even trying. On the one occasion the boys came into the hut in search of devices, I gently told them it was quiet reading only, so they both grabbed a book and snuggled up in the bed with me to read. I may have had to pinch myself at that point to check I wasn’t dreaming!

After a day out exploring on the second day of our holiday we had a whole afternoon of relaxing at One Cat Farm. I thought we would break the screen free streak for sure as it wasn’t exactly warm for our holiday, but the kids surprised me once again. Content to alternate between the rope swing and the hammock, as well as going for a little row on the pond and following the cat and chickens around, they were in their element, and I got to read a whole book; from start to finish. I don’t know what spell they cast over one cat farm but I approve of their magic.

Not only did One Cat Farm feel idyllic, but I became a more idyllic version of myself whilst I was there . A screen free life, spent mostly outside, reading books, cooking food and s’mores over the camp fire every evening, laying about in the hammock, all the while serenaded by the sounds of my children happily playing and having their own little adventures without me. A truly idyllic way of life if ever there was one.

It’s been so long since we’ve been able to have an actual vacation from daily life, that I think we relished it all the more. One Cat Farm gave us rest and relaxation at it’s finest. Which lets face it, when you take 3 children on holiday with you, finding such rest is like finding a unicorn.

Whilst I may have left “Idyllic Rachael” behind at One Cat Farm, it’s enough to know she will be there waiting for me, not if, but when we return.

If you want to see photos from our time in Ceredigion, or from our previous trip to One Cat Farm a few years ago, then check out the blog posts below.