Dolgoch Hostel -- Launch

You may remember the report somewhere on this site saying how a Trust was buying Dolgoch hostel from the YHA. It is a former farmhouse in a near-wilderness area of mid-Wales. We've just had the launch today. One old gentleman described that he was born there, and described aspects of his schooldays -- he has written a small book about it (in Welsh!). Another person described how he helped with turning it into a hostel in the 1970's. It is a pity that the YHA, having benefited from the enthusiasm of volunteers over the years, has thanked them by SELLING the hostel to some of those same volunteers. But it is great that it is now receiving tender loving care from the volunteers. The other hostel in the area that the trust run, has achieved 1100 bednights in 2007-08, compared with around 400 per year when the YHA was running it. They are still linked into the YHA Enterprise scheme, so the YHA make more profit from them than when they owned them.

Of course, these hostels are very different from most other hostels discussed on this site. But they are well within the British tradition of hostels in remote countryside. The thing is, those enthusiasts are mostly the same people who used to visit the hostels in previous decades, which means that the average age of the supporters is somewhat high. They obviously don't appeal to the same people who do the Grand Tour of capital cities. I wonder if younger people will catch on to the pleasures of staying in cosy self-catering hostels miles from anywhere, one without a phone, the other without electricity (water-power and solar-power are planned!).