LEAN CUISINE
About twenty minutes from Alfie’s place we suddenly realized we had not eaten. Time had been ticking away as we had deliberated our fate for the following day. Surely Alfie would have a filet mignon with pepper sauce and fresh vegetables waiting for us on the dining room table, along with a bottle of red to wash it all down? I’d heard he lived on some sort of self-sufficient farm so was intrigued to find out more! We called our host with great expectations, only to be given directions to a fish and chip shop in St Clears, where I must say, they served us the most disgusting and greasiest pie and chips I’ve ever had the displeasure of eating; welcome to Wales! Finally we turned off the main road, headed down a long, dark and muddy lane, which supposedly would lead us to Alfie’s place. The narrow lane seemed to go on for miles until we hit the bottom of the track where we finally veered into a driveway where I could just about make out in the darkness the 18th Century farmhouse known as Delacorse. Set in thirty acres of pristine Welsh countryside, the farm fronts onto the River Taf, a perfect spot for summer blasting on freeride gear. Alfie and his mum Annie have lived here since 1992 and for the most part they live a self-sustainable lifestyle growing all their vegetables on four acres of the land while also cutting wood to burn for a biomass system that provides heat and hot water for all three of their properties.
