Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre is situated beside

Llyn Ogwen Llyn Ogwen (; ) is a ribbon lake in north-west Wales. It lies alongside the A5 road between two mountain ranges of Snowdonia, the Carneddau and the Glyderau. Somewhat unusually, the county boundary at this point is drawn so that the lake its ...

, in Gwynedd, Wales. It is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, who bought the property at auction in October 2014 for £450,000. It was formerly for many years part of

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

's Outdoor Learning Service, providing outdoor education, and with links to the climbing community.

Thomas Telford

Located on the London to Holyhead

A5 road (Great Britain) The A5 (commonly known as the London-Holyhead Trunk Road) is a major road in England and Wales. It runs for about from London to the Irish Sea at the ferry port of Holyhead. In many parts the route follows that of the Roman Iter II route ...

, Ogwen developed as a stage coach inn and the present stores building was once stabling for horses. The nearby Tin Can Alley was a source of honing stones used to sharpen tools during the construction of the A5 by

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

. This mammoth project started in 1815 and it was 1836 by the time the first mail coach crossed the Menai Straits via Telford's bridge. Telford designed the milestones and the hexagonal toll houses every five miles. Toll houses survive in

Capel Curig Capel Curig (; meaning " Curig's Chapel") is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. Historically in Caernarfonshire, it lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226, reducing slightly to 206 ...

and Bethesda, Wales whilst in the middle stands Ogwen.

Climbers

The centre is informally referred to as "The Cott" and has been used as a base for climbers since the nineteenth century. During the 1890s climbers stayed at Ogwen or the

Pen-y-Gwryd Pen-y-Gwryd is a pass at the head of Nantygwryd and Nant Cynnyd rivers close to the foot of Snowdon in Gwynedd, Wales. The area is located at the junction of the A4086 from Capel Curig to Llanberis and Caernarfon and the A498 from Beddgele ...

and early accounts make mention of Mrs Jones of Ogwen Cottage; " Mrs Jones at Ogwen Cottage always most good naturedly received and fed us if we turned up, no matter at what hour.” In 1895 Archer Thompson ascended Twll Du, climbing the ice with an unusual tool; "According to tradition Thor was armed with a hammer for his battle with the Frost Giants, and with such a weapon, we too, were luckily provided in the form of a hatchet, surreptitiously removed from Mrs Jones' coal cellar at Ogwen.” The 1894 Climbers' Club Journal contained an advert for The Cott citing it as "the chief centre for climbers visiting Snowdonia….the cottage is on the high road and conveyances meet visitors at Bethesda Station if so desired.”

Geoffrey Winthrop Young Geoffrey Winthrop Young (25 October 1876 – 8 September 1958) was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering. Young was born in Kensington, the middle son of Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet (see ...

, a noted alpinist with many first ascents to his credit, stayed at Ogwen between visits to the Alps in the early 1900s.

Mountaineering School

1959 saw Ron James, Trevor Jones and Tony Mason-Hornby purchasing The Cott from Mrs Williams and opening it as a mountaineering school. Ogwen became a climbing base and Mrs Williams gave the new owners advice on mounting rescues; "Fire a red flare in the car park – get the climbers together and put the one with the cleanest boots in charge.” With increasing leisure time and improved transport links, Ogwen grew as a climbing mecca and The Cott's instructors regularly became involved in rescuing climbers in trouble and gradually a specialist mountain rescue team evolved into what is now the Ogwen Valley

Mountain Rescue Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tech ...

Organisation.

Birmingham City Council

Ron James remained chief instructor for another five years after Birmingham City Council purchased The Cott in 1964. Over the next 45 years thousands of Birmingham people attended courses at Ogwen. Until the 1980s courses were for a fortnight but economic considerations and the need to take more students meant a reduction to six days. The Adventurous Activities Licensing Service (AALLS) pays regular visits and while the activities may not be as extreme as they once were, Ogwen is probably the only centre in the UK to programme multi-pitch climbing for secondary school students.

Activities

The traditional core of mountaineering activities remains with an emphasis on mountain walking and climbing but the programme has expanded to include kayaking, gorge walking, canoeing, ski trips, orienteering, expeditions. A student might ascend Hope on the Idwal Slabs as their first ever climb, before descending Suicide Wall by abseil. An evening of orienteering and then the next day might see a kayak descent of the Afon Llugwy or a walk up Tryfan.

Residential experience

The National Trust for Wales purchased Ogwen Cottage in 2014 and since 2015 works in partnership wit
The Outward Bound Trust
to offer young people from all over the country a memorable outdoor experience.

Sale in 2014

In October 2014 it was sold off by Birmingham City Council, which had to close its outdoor education service due to funding cuts and an increasing number of schools switching to different venues for educational trips. The

purchased it at auction for £450,000.CP Bigwood Auction results
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References

External links

Ogwen Cottage OPC home pageBirmingham City Council Outdoor Learning ServiceOVMRO
{{Coord, 53.1232, -4.0187, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Conwy County Borough Outdoor education organizations Capel Curig Education in Conwy County Borough Mountaineering in the United Kingdom