James Eifion Thomas Blacksmith

06/06/2026

Bore da pawb!
It’s not raining and the gazebo has survived the wind overnight!
Looking forward to the Open Gardens today. There are 13 private gardens to enjoy and 3 galleries, ourselves, our neighbours at Coast and Wild and David Light’s gallery on the way down to Pwllgwaelod. A brilliant map and brochure can be picked up at Yr Hen Ysgol where you can also enjoy tea, coffee and cake.
Hopefully see you later
Diolch
Eifion

05/06/2026

Well it’s nearly 9pm and me and the team (wife Ceri, kids Iolo & Angharad, and my brother Arwel ) have just called it a day on our garden preparations for tomorrows Dinas Open Gardens.
It’s all looking good and only a few more bits to complete in the morning.

We have just put up my gazebo in case its a bit wet, and the display area in my workshop will also be open…… Ceri has spent the morning doing a bit of dusting!

01/06/2026

Build Video of a Dragon we recently delivered. Quite a lot of work in this one.

31/05/2026

So just under a week to go until the Open Gardens event in Dinas.
This morning Ceri asked me to tidy up this area as it had a lot of brambles growing over some old tree stumps.
Apparently this wasn’t quite what she had in mind…..
I’ve removed the tree stumps with the help of my brother, a digger, a forklift and a tractor over the course of four hours.
It’s now taken me the rest of the day to make good the ground…..
Hopefully it will all have settled in a bit by Saturday….🤔😐……😬

29/05/2026

Great fun last night helping out Owen and family from Fishguard Sports AFC with the positioning of the sponsors boards on each of the 18 holes at Newport Links Golf Club.

I’m one of the hole sponsors and also provided the metal stakes that support the sponsor boards.

It was great to see The Line King’s mini robot line marker in action on the fairway of hole 11. This was for a “nearest the line” competition and I was very impressed with how the little robot managed to keep such a straight line on such undulating terrain..

Give him a call if you need any sports pitches or running tracks marked out….

Good luck to everyone competing today.
Pob lwc i pawb sydd yn cystadlu heddi.

04/05/2026

Making the most of the Bank holiday weekend to crack on with the garden area.

Saturday morning we had Angharads last netball match of the season and then in the afternoon I spread a bulk bag of bark over some new landscape fabric on the centre border. Ceri and Iolo filled the new path and seat bases with small pebble/gravel, again over w**d control fabric.

Just managed to get the small patio area paved yesterday morning before we headed off to the duck race at Llwyngwair Manor.

This morning I’ve managed to pave the larger patio bit while Ceri and Iolo have been putting plum slate onto one of the borders.
Hoping to head out for a coffee and an ice cream this afternoon but Ceri wants to finish off the slate in the border first….

Looks like every weekend is going to be busy in the lead-up to the open gardens.
Nothing better than a target in order to get things done!!😀

01/05/2026

Not long to go to the 2026 Dinas Open Gardens……and our garden is still a building site!😬

At least we still have just over a month to get it tidy,,,,,,🤔😀🪴🪏🌻

28/04/2026

Here is Kian doing an excellent job on these Roses for a set of three gates that we are working on.

23/04/2026

Delighted to have been asked to make another table frame for Mr Nick Kinver of Kinver Designs.
It’s fabricated from 100x100 box section that we have left to rust. Nick has then coated it with a clear matt sealant.
I have also made a matching bench for him.
Nick has made the beautiful oak top for the table and bench.
We delivered them both to Nicks’s client earlier this week. The table top was attached to the base once we had it in the house as it was too heavy for us to manoeuvre as one piece.
My brother is pictured with Nick putting the final fixings in place, while I obviously was walking around taking pictures….

24/12/2025