The Shell House Hermitage

I don't know about your part of the world but down here in West Wales it is not uncommon for people who are born and bred here to stay pretty close to home. Our farming neighbour, Trevor, has never been to Tenby - only 5 miles away - because 'he's never seen the need to go'. Likewise, he's only seen the new (10 year old) Severn Crossing once. That was last year, when it also afforded him his first sighting of the 'old' Severn Bridge opened in the 1960's. It makes you realise that we don't explore the place we live in enough and last year I was completely surprised to find out about the Shell House at Cilwendeg, a place about 35 minutes from me. I resolved to go this year knowing it was only open on Thursdays during the summer months. Yesterday, all my 'jobs to do' finished earlier than expected so I decided to take off and find it.

The Shell House is at a place called Cilwendeg and you drive onto the park and leave your car for a short walk to a gateway which leads up to it. It is a magical walk through overhanging trees and dappled shade and the house can be seen ahead of you, tantalising you and making you want to walk faster but you will also want to walk slower, enjoy the atmosphere and take in the sheer peace of the place. When you get there you find this restored Shell House, the most beautiful ornamental grotto, full of Gothic detailing and rustic ornament.

The Shell House was built in the late 1820's for Morgan Jones the Younger as a tribute to an uncle but in addition to serving as a memorial it was also used by his family for cool amusement in the summer months and a contemplative reading room in the depths of winter. It was a wreck until restored about eight years ago by The Temple Trust, a charity that seeks to preserve historic garden buildings and monuments.

The Shell House is quite small and you can only just open the door and stand in a little gated porch. Photos were a bit hit and miss because of the light (my excuse) but the interior is so elaborately decorated with native seashells that it is hard to know what to look at first. There are also minerals and coloured glass fragments amongst the shellwork and the only exotic shells are the large Queen Conch shells which form a centrepiece in each of the wall panels.

There is something magical in the design of the Shell House and the restorers have helped bring a feeling of enchantment to the place by placing some ornately decorated owls in the house as Genus Loci.

I was not surprised to find myself the sole visitor on a glorious day and I was secretly glad of it. It was a rare place and the feeling of calm it induced was very, very special. I stayed about 45 minutes but as I walked away there were another couple of visitors walking up the path who stopped and told me about the local church, also open only on Thursdays, which was intrinsically linked to the Shell House. They were both born and bred locally they told me but had never been to Cilwendeg. I told them that was exactly what had brought me there too. Don't you just love coincidences like that?

I walked off and found the nearby Capel Colman Church, down the end of a dead end road, something you'd never know was there. It was lovely inside and again, recently resored. Morgan Jones the Younger's esteemed uncle was the first to restore what was originally a medieval chapel on the estate in 1721. The church was so remote and forgotten that , at that time, it had been singled out as being fit 'only for the solitary habitation of Owles and Jackdaws'. Morgan Jones then restored it again in the current style in 1833. Such fascinating history - and on my doorstep. There are places around us that we take for granted because of their proximity. I shall go back again to the Shell House and Capel Colman this summer but with a sketchbook instead of a camera and explore other local places too. You never know what wonderful surprises are within your reach.