The multi-award-winning Nantyffin Cider Mill Inn – regarded as the gastronomic high point of the Brecon Beacons area – has been sold after 16 years in the same hands.
The Grade II-listed property (whose name means The Brook by the Border) was a drovers’ inn during the 16th century and became known for its cider production in the 19th century. It built up its current reputation as the leading food destination in Wales under chef proprietor Sean Gerrard.
The inn sits at the foot of the Black Mountains in the Usk Valley to the west of the small market town of Crickhowell on the busy A40 between Brecon and Abergavenny.
It combines the values of the traditional British pub with the classic bistro style of rural France, with the menu extending to traditional dishes from Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean.
The property – which retains period details such as exposed beams, stone walls and open fireplaces – incorporates public and lounge bars, an 80-seat restaurant, and two-bedroom owners’ accommodation on the first floor.
Outside, there are trade gardens, a paddock, a car park and a stone outbuilding.
Vic and Anne Williams from Abergavenny take over the reins from Gerard, who has run the inn for the past 16 years and now plans to focus on his two hotels, Peterstone Court in Llanhamlachi and the Manor hotel in Crickhowell.
The Bristol office of Christie + Co sold the private, free-of-tie lease (which runs to February 2016) off an asking price of £95,000.
By Angela Frewin