Blainau

Morgan at Blainau's front gate and yard.

Blainau (pronounced "Bly-knee" /blaɪnɪ:/, or "Bly-kny" /blaɪnaɪ/ by the Welsh characters) is the name of Morgan's farm, located approximately 5 miles​ from Talgarth. The farm was first leased by Ivor and Gwen Thomas on the 18th of September 1935.

By the time of the main story, Blainau has been reduced to 120 acres, with approximately 300 sheep. When the Old Gentleman died in 1970, "​the pigs went, halved the cattle, good grazing turned to rough pasture". (pg 60)

All filming was done on location in Wales with few location names changed. The real working farm used for Blainau can be seen here: Blainau on Google Maps

Loading map...{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":14,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlainau\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Blainau\n","link":"","lat":51.97403590639915,"lon":-3.185853731938446,"icon":""}]}

## Land and farm

Blainau covers 120 acres and manages 300 sheep. After 1970 when the Old Gentleman died, the pigs went, the cattle were halved, and good grazing turned to rough pasture (pg 60). There is a chicken coop in the yard full of bantams (pg 42), and between the coop, barn and green, the wreck of an old animal house can be seen. This is presumably the pig pen, although no reference is made to the structure in the book or show.

## Pre-story history and the Estate

Throughout the story, there are many references to the Estate which holds the land for Blainau. In real life, Blainau is a part of the estate owned in 1791 by Wilkins Walter (the land listed under Upper Blaenau/Blaenua-Uchaf as leased to Rees Thomas in 1791). The estate and lease records can be found here, and a land map is available here. The location of the farm is Blainau, Brecon LD3 0EW, UK.

By the time the tenancy is taken over by Ivor Thomas in 1934, the land has presumably changed hands as it is now a part of the Cae-Nest Estate, managed by Tom Duncan, and previously by Colonel Edwards (pg 88). Blaenua-Uchaf, the second house on the land, has fallen into disrepair, and Ivor presumably helps restore the farmhouse at Upper Blaenau.

## Contents and Trivia

### Living room

* The television seen in episodes 2 and 6 is a GEC colour model, potentially in the 2000s series (exact model unknown) which were manufactured from the mid-1960s through the 1980s.
	+ The programme shown on the television is '*Wildlife on One: Run Rabbit Run*' hosted by David Attenborough. This episode aired on Thursday the 10th Nov 1983, 20:05 on BBC One London. This timing matches the time on the grandfather clock in the episode which is at approximately 8:40pm, which means this part of the episode may have been filmed at the time the documentary was originally broadcast .
	+ Note that in this episode, Colin mentions that it is Sunday (the 15th of April 1984), however, this documentary was not rebroadcast on television until Mon 15th Jun 1987, 12:30 on BBC One London.

### Kitchen

* As far as is seen in the show, there is no fridge at Blainau. The ham that Morgan cooks for dinner in episode 2 can be seen on the counter near the sink after Lee returns from Talgarth. It can be assumed, based on context and dialogue, that Morgan has also been down to Talgarth during the day and picked up the ham fresh. He may have purchased this from W.J. George Butchers Ltd. Morgan also keeps his beer in the cupboard which, while not uncommon, is another indication that they do not own a fridge.
* Something in the kitchen is run on paraffin - either the stove/oven, water boiler, or both (mentioned by Lee in episode 6 when he mistakenly takes Ros's car tooting for the paraffin delivery).

### Bathroom/laundry

* In episode 1, there is a the sound of a flushing toilet from downstairs when Lee and Val are talking upon arrival at Blainau. In episode 2, Pugh flushes the toilet and is seen coming out from a side door within the kitchen, through the living room, while zipping up his fly. Both these things indicate that there is a toilet downstairs in a room off the kitchen. In episode 5, Lee notes that the bathroom upstairs is "just a bathroom", indicating that there is no toilet upstairs.
* In the first shot of episode 3, a built-on addition can be seen on the side of Blainau. In episode 5, washing can be seen hanging in the kitchen behind Lee. Presumably the washing is brought in from the wash house on the side to dry above the stove.
* There are no shots of the wash house/bathroom.

1. ↑ ROWE, Alick, 1984, *Morgan's Boy*, Sphere Books Ltd., London
2. ↑ '*Wildlife on One: Run Rabbit Run*', BBC Programme Index, retrieved 17 August 2021, https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=Wildlife+on+One%3A+Run+Rabbit+Run#top