Trip Report: Wales (northern), April 2026, 12 days
 

I just returned from 12 days in Northern Wales doing a self-planned driving trip to gardens, stately homes and castles. I always find Fodorites and their trip reports very helpful when planning my trips, in addition to being fun reading and dreaming for the future. So I’m sharing my experiences in Wales and hope that it will be interesting to those who know the area and useful for anyone planning a trip. Be forewarned, it’s lengthy since I find the details and impressions in other people’s trip reports helpful

BACKGROUND: I’m a late-60’s solo traveler and although I’ve been to the UK dozens of times, I had never gone to Wales. I stay in apartments since I’m sightseeing the entire day and just want to eat dinner in the apt and read, relax, plan the next day, etc. Before I decide on an apt, I do a rough itinerary to figure out what I’m going to be doing so that I can stay in that general area. I ended up staying in the Conwy area in a wonderful self-catering flat that averaged £110 (about $150) per night for a two bedroom/2 bath apt. I moved to another self-catering cottage in the Dee Valley (near Llangollen) for 3 nights at £125 per night (about $168), two bedroom/1 bath just off the A5 amid sheep meadows. I stayed one night at either end at the Premier Inn Railroad Station in Chester for about £80 per night (although they’re no-frills, they’re very clean, inexpensive and the beds are comfortable, TV is good, etc.)

Also, I’m not a foodie. My reason for traveling is to explore, feed my history craving, learn new things and just absorb…so I leave at 9 AM and don’t get back home until 5 or 6 PM. I’m exhausted from sightseeing all day, so I eat dinner in the apt while I rest and recharge. I’ve started trying to have a couple of “nice” lunches so that I get a dining experience without going out at night

Day 1, Thu, 4/16: Sunny and 50’s
I flew Virgin Atlantic from JFK to Manchester in Premium class. Flight was packed full and my expensive seat wasn’t very comfortable so didn’t get much sleep. Manchester airport is small so it’s easy to get around; I planned to take a train from the airport directly to Chester, spend the night and pick up my rental car the next day and this worked very well. It felt like I walked a fair distance from the terminal to the train station (maybe a ½ mile?). Because getting my luggage and going through passport control was so fast, I was done by 8:40 and the train ticket I had bought via Trainline (on-line) was for 10:25 - and you had to use it for that specific train, no switching times! I didn’t want to hang around the train station for nearly 2 hours so I asked the ticket guys if I could take an earlier train instead and they explained that because I had bought it online I would have to make any changes online blah blah blah. I decide just to buy a ticket from them for the 9:25 for £16. The money was well worth it to arrive in Chester an hour earlier.😁. I heaved my luggage onto the overhead rack and settled in. The train was busy for the first two stops because it went to downtown Manchester and then nearly everybody got off. I asked the conductor what the stop was just before Chester so that I could maneuver my suitcase out of the overhead rack and she explained that she announces stops before we arriving; (it turned out that she checked on me and took my suitcase down for me which was very kind).

This Premier Inn was within walking distance from the train station (maybe 6 blocks?) and you can’t check-in before 3:00 pm but I left my bags with them and went out to explore.

Chester is a very old city, with Roman origins and lots of Victorian buildings (both red brick and pseudo-Tudor black & white). I walked to the Cathedral for an 1:00 pm organ recital and a tour with a few quick shopping stops. The cathedral far exceeded my expectations from a history, architecture and personality perspective. I had time before the organ recital so went to their café for lunch. It’s in the old refectory, complete with carved stone, stained glass, & marble floors. I had ham and cheese on homemade brown bread and a shortbread cookie - tasty, inexpensive, what a deal😆

The organ recital featured the organist from a Liverpool church, and he played very unusual pieces; as he explained it, the theme was mythical creatures - Icarus, naiads, underwater cathedrals, etc. so the composers tried to make their music sound like those creatures; although I’m not explaining it well it was very effective. I’ve been to several organ concerts in large churches, and I like the way the sound envelops me. I don’t have a preference in terms of composers since I get drawn up into the music. I enjoyed it so much that when it was done, I wanted to tell somebody and sitting behind me was the Dean so we had a very nice chat. He was interested where I was from and how I had found my way to Chester and he gave me some garden recommendations and mentioned that he had started his career in Chester but then lived someplace else for 50 years and now he’s back. What an interesting life clerics lead.

I had purchased a ticket for the 2:00 cathedral tour and through a lot of back-and-forth, it developed that the official volunteer who is supposed to lead the tour hadn’t shown up or something so one of the staff gave me my very own personal tour (I was the only one waiting). His knowledge of the cathedral’s architecture and history, as well as the contextual history, was extensive so the tour was fascinating. The Cathedral is very active and instead of constantly restoring it to one of the prior styles (e.g. Romanesque, Medieval, Victorian, etc.), it reflects art and architecture through the centuries including lots of 20th century stained glass. He shared tidbits about the 13th century wood carvings in the choir, the large metal Victorian heaters and the Italian mosaics paid for by a Victorian industrialist. In that one hour, I got an incredible amount of information and had fun; between lunch, the concert and the tour I ended up spending four hours at the Cathedral. I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Chester.

I was tired and footsore, but I couldn’t help stopping in Marks & Spencer on the way back and bought one of my favorite prepackaged sandwiches (chicken salad and sweet corn on brown bread) to eat in my hotel room. Tasty and easy.

Day 2, Fri, 4/17: Cloudy and 50’s
Took a cab to Europcar to pick up my rental car and was dismayed to find out that my reservation started yesterday, not today - grrr, mad at myself for a stupid mistake. Luckily they had a car for me, but it was a bigger car so cost £20 more per day. Sigh. Nice car though, an MG SUV which was almost brand new. Total cost for 10 days rental was £457 (about $616), excluding the cost of the blown tire... stay tuned for that!

Today’s mission was driving from Chester to Bodnant Garden and then checking into the cottage. Just outside Chester, I stopped in a Marks & Spencer grocery store to get my provisions for the week. After I got on the North Wales Expressway (A55), it started to pour rain and I couldn’t figure out the windshield wipers….grrrrr again. I pulled into a parking lay-by to try to figure it out myself; eventually, I googled & found the precise info – not rocket science but there were a lot of dials and settings! Thank heavens. The expressway, while not very scenic, has wide lanes and I felt safe on there. I had read up on roundabouts and watched videos so I handled those OK; (also, on the expressway, they tended to be pretty straightforward).

Then the rain stopped and the sun came out. Bodnant is a garden only, no stately home to tour. I had lunch in their café before walking around.; a chicken and ham pie, which had a very good crust & came with peas, carrots, and mashed potatoes. They assured me everything was homemade so I bought a shortbread cookie and a flapjack for later. This garden, at this time of year, doesn’t have many flower beds - it’s more meadows, forests, dells, river, etc.. One of their claims to fame is rhododendron and azalea, which were in full bloom and spectacular. The rhododendron were very tall and multiple colors, but the most amazing was the blood red which you rarely see.

I walked about 3 miles following various paths; it was sunny, the temperature was comfortable, birds were chirping, water was rushing and there were lots of plants & trees to see. After several hours, I got tired and it was getting closer to closing time so I was trying to head back to the shops area and specifically the secondhand bookstore! I was in the wooded area near the river it felt like I was walking in circles and there were paths galore that weren’t very well marked so when I saw two men up on a path above me I yoo-hoo’d them & waved but they just waved back so I had to yoo-hoo even louder. Then they stopped and I explained that I was slightly lost and just wanted to get back to the entrance so they told me to walk with them. Very nice men whose wives were sitting on a bench at the top of the hill waiting for them so all four of us walked back and had very nice conversation about gardening. (Aside: a theme throughout this trip is that I keep running into people who I have very nice conversations with - I don’t know if it’s because they are particularly friendly or what. With some of them, like the guy at the cathedral yesterday, we had such great conversations because we were both contributing and I was asking him questions, etc. but generally people always start off with “where have I come from and how come I’m in Wales" and then it just flows from there. Wasn’t it Blanche in the Glass Menagerie who said something about relying on the kindness of strangers? Well, I do that too – why worry and stress when I can ask for help? I have no problem asking for help and I know when to say goodbye so that has become a very enjoyable aspect of my travels.)

The secondhand bookshop was great – a huge quantity of nice quality books that are only £2 each. I can tell I’m going to go home with 20 pounds of books and 10 pounds of shortbread. 😁🤣😆. I have to laugh at myself.

The cottage I’m staying in (Glyn Isa) is about 10 miles from the garden, but it took forever and my stress level was very high. GPS takes you the shortest way which here often involves tiny lanes (B routes) instead of a 2 lane highway. I turned around at least three times to ignore the route they sent me on and eventually found the place. Although the owners gave me lots of directions, it wasn’t clear where my flat was located, so I was I knocked on the door of a place that I knew wasn’t mine and asked them if they knew which flat was mine; the husband knew exactly where I was supposed to be and very kindly led me to it – it wasn’t difficult once you know! He and his wife have been coming here for nine years and they knew that my flat had previously been a mother-in-law flat and he was interested in seeing it. He gave me some recommendations for restaurants and driving routes and said it was a shame that they were leaving tomorrow otherwise they would’ve suggested we have dinner. It’s a shame that I’m so surprised that there are so many nice people around…. Or maybe they’re more prevalent in England. 🤔🤣

I settled in and sent the owners a message with my questions (TV, wifi, hob/oven) and they came over to walk me through everything. I’ve had a relaxing evening on a comfortable sofa, watching various British shows and eating one of my refrigerated dinners. Very satisfying day.

Tomorrow is a full day on Angelsey, visiting Beaumaris Castle and walking around the town.

Your report is so interesting. This is great! I don't know anything about Wales, and there aren't any trip reports on this forum about Wales. None that I've seen anyways. Will you be posting photos?

I'm so excited to see this TR! I'm planning a trip in 2027 that is very similar to your style. I'll return to read and get some tips! Thanks for sharing!

You ended up with a great itinerary. Will be following along. Just one teensy thing - our Plaid Cymru members might object "Or maybe they’re more prevalent in England Wales. 🤔🤣"

Rhododendrons are almost weeds in Wales (and Scotland) They are not native and arrived maybe in the 1700's -- But man, for invasive weeds they sure are GORGEOUS

Thanks all! I'll post more tonight or tomorrow. I did take photos (not nearly as good as yours Karen :)) but I can't figure out how to add them to a post.... I'll test it with a photo of Chester Cathedral cloister..
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Chester Cathedral cloister

Photos from Bodnant Garden:
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Blood red rhododendron you see immediately when entering the garden
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Walking in the woodland area
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Flowering shrubs and trees on a path

Thanks for the trip report. One of my mother's ancestors carved the choir screen at Chester Cathedral. I always visit when I am in the area, though that is not very often now sadly.
Rain and Wales go together of course.
Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

vickiebypass, I love your descriptions of Chester, the cathedral, the organ recital, and the gardens. You are a great writer. I feel like I am there with you!

Regarding rhododendrons, one of our favorite drives while in Scotland was along the Glen Etive road. The hillsides were covered in rhododendrons, what looked like thousands of them. It was so gorgeous! One of the highlights of our trip. I remember the owner of the inn we stayed at called them "pests". But what beautiful pests.

Thank you for all the photos so far. They are beautiful. We love gardens, stately homes, castles, etc. I hope we make it to Wales some day.

Following along and really enjoying your trip report. Wales is on my list too!

Although Chester was a way station for me from the airport to the rental car, I really liked Chester. It was a bustling town but seemed to be mostly locals - very few American accents. I like visiting towns where people are going about their day to day business and lives. Aside from the Cathedral, there are various Roman sites to see and of course the many Victorian buildings whose architecture and exterior decor make wandering the side streets a treat. I returned to Chester for another day/night at the end of my trip to return the rental car and saw more - details to come.

Day 3, Sat, 4/18: Cloudy, then sunny and 50’s
Today’s mission was Beaumaris Castle on the Isle of Angelsey and then wandering the town. Left the cottage about 9:30, had my route all planned in GPS, and it worked almost perfectly except for a couple of wrong turns. Took the North Wales Expressway again and had some brief heavy showers; went through two longish tunnels and along the coast. The water looks gray & choppy today, but wide, sandy & beautiful beaches.

In reading online reviews of the castle, some people commented about the difficulty of using pay kiosks in parking lots since some only take coins or are only in Welsh. GPS found the castle’s parking lot and I saw another couple at the payment kiosk who said the directions were in English and accepted card payments, so very easy to use (just put the receipt on your dashboard). It was a short walk from the parking lot to the center of town and I walked past another parking lot I could have used on my way to the RNLI shop on the pier. Since they sell great tea towels & note cards, I like to buy a new set each year to support their lifesaving efforts, but they weren’t open yet so figured I’d come back (watched various boat crews launching the boats).

There was a stiff cold wind and without sunshine my puffer coat wasn’t warm enough, so I looked up charity shops in the town of Beaumaris and found a hospice thrift shop where I got a fleece lined quilted jacket for $8. That’s the second emergency coat I’ve bought in UK charity shops.😁

I went to a WT Roberts Central Bakery, built in 1892, and bought shortbread, which was good, but I think I like the Tesco’s supermarket version better. I like to wander the back roads off the busier main drag with the gift shops and visitors. Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech were the finest castles built by King Edward I in Wales in the late 13th c. Beaumaris, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was the last one to be built but was never finished since they ran out of money. They offer free 60 minute tours on Saturdays which gave good background info and then I climbed around the walls and inside hallways. Those inner hallways and spiral stone staircases were narrow, dirt & stone floors and dark...I could imagine being there 600 years ago. Walking along the ramparts was something – views of the water and town, with seagulls perched on the walls. One of the things I love about UK sites is that they don’t protect you from yourself – although there were railings on the walls, they let you go anywhere. It wasn’t crowded at all and by mid-morning, the sun had come out and it was pleasant to sit on a bench in the grassy courtyard and ponder history.

My plan was to walk around this lovely seaside town, but I stopped for lunch at a 15th c pub called the George and Dragon and indulged in my favorite beverage, cider (as in alcoholic cider). They had a local brand on tap (Inches) and they had two sizes, either a half pint, which looked very small when she showed me - barely more than an orange juice glass - so I got the full pint. It was really smooth, tasty & went down easily but halfway through I realized I was knocked for a loop! For lunch, I ordered Welsh rarebit. My mother used to make this every now and then and the American Stouffer’s version is pretty good, it’s basically a thick cheese sauce you pour over English muffin or toast. Well, the Welsh version is quite different and much better…. It’s on toast, but it’s covered in a thick layer of cheddar and ale and egg yolk and mustard all blended and then toasted/broiled. It came with very thick cut chips and a nice salad, but the sandwich was very filling not to mention the cider so the sides were uneaten.

I got talking to the couple next to me and we chatted about the Welsh castles which they travel to in their caravan. It turns out they live in Chester so I told them how much I had enjoyed it so we were best buddies then (they gave Wrexham a thumbs down). After about two hours, I had to get moving because I needed some fresh air and exercise. Wandered around St Mary and St Nicholas Church where they had just had a wedding; built in the 14th c., the church contains some fine marble effigies and memorials. It’s small village so is easy to walk up, down and around nearly all the streets – it has a nice variety of architecture (aside from the medieval castle, Victorian brick; Georgian limestone; Edwardian; and late 20th c stucco). The whole village is well maintained. Another site to see is Beaumaris Gaol, which I had planned to visit but my late, long lunch and town wandering meant that it had closed. Oh well – on my way back to the car park, I tried the RNLI shop again but it was closed too. I think a lot of people combine Beaumaris with other sites on Angelsey but I didn’t want to rush, so I left Beaumaris with a warm new/used coat and feeling happy with a well-spent day.

Tomorrow, back to Angelsey for a stately home and hidden garden!
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Beaumaris castle - view from the ramparts looking over Menai Strait
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Beaumaris castle - entrance
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Beaumaris castle - walls with city in background and gulls
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WT Roberts Bakery - founded 1892

Enjoying your TR and photos. We had a very rushed trip through North Wales (around Snowdonia) some years ago, and I hope we will return to do this beautiful region justice.

Day 4, Sun, 4/19: Sunny and 40’s

Off to Plas Newydd and Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens on the Isle of Anglesy, same place as yesterday’s spots. Drive seemed easier today, maybe because it’s early Sunday morning and also because it’s the second or third time I’ve done it! Both sites were easy to find with signage from the A55 and other roads. No rain today, but it is chilly- I haven’t figured the clothing out correctly. I think I’m going to put all of my coats in the back of the car so I can add a vest under a coat on the fly. Will also add my leather gloves and a scarf to the back seat and maybe even my fleece lined pants and top. (I’ll be doing costume changes in the car parks 😜)

Plas Newydd is a stately home that’s been in the family for 300+ years. The current Marquess of Angelsey is the 8th (or 9th) and although he lives in London, he still has a large flat in the estate. His parents and grandparents lived here full-time until 1976 and did lots of modernization to the interior - electricity, plumbing and heat. They also made a concerted effort to develop the land and gardens for their enjoyment versus to create horticultural collections. Makes sense to me, but I forgotten that in the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy (or bored) folks traveled the world, or had people travel the world for them, bringing back plant specimens which is why there’s a lot of Asian or Indian plants in UK gardens.

This stately home was OK; I enjoyed the few rooms that were used most recently by the family because you get a feeling of what it’s like to live there. Interesting to see Colefax wallpaper in some of the rooms since she was a guest there. Many of the other rooms had that museum feel since they were full of 17th and 18th portraits. Two oddities: (1) the initial owner of Plas Newydd was most famous for leading the cavalry in the Battle of Waterloo 1815, where he lost a leg and was awarded the title ‘Marquess of Anglesey’ for his bravery. His prosthetic leg is on display in the on-site Military Museum. (2) There is a 58 ft. mural in the dining room painted by Rex Whistler in the mid-1930’s; he was a friend of the family and was commissioned to paint an imaginary view from the windows of Plas Newydd which includes fantasies such as Italian palazzos, sailing ships, etc. It’s an amusing perspective; he didn’t complete the mural and painted in a burning cigarette on a shelf to say “I’ll be back” but he died in the war.

This was the first National Trust property I’ve visited in a while and I know the NT has been in the midst of controversial changes to their whole approach to properties, leadership, modifying how & what information is provided to visitors, and funding. NT has made a sea change and no longer provide detailed information about each room; in some properties, they have a small “room book” that contains a few paragraphs of general information about the room’s purpose and maybe features one item. Gone are the days where laminated plastic handouts were available in each room that contained details about the furniture, artwork, or objects. I enjoy history and learning about the furnishings so I always found those laminated info sheets extremely interesting. Theoretically, there’s a volunteer in each room (or one volunteer for two rooms) who can answer questions, but it would be impossible for them to know all the details about the room....and they cover various rooms so there’s no way for them to be a serious source of information. I saw an unusual cabinet with lots of inlay and décor, so I asked the volunteer what century and country it was from and she had no idea – the laminated handouts of yore would have provided that info!! As in any organization, volunteers are a mixed bag; some were knowledgeable about one or two items in a room and talked at great length about those specific items; others were “babysitting” the room and didn’t offer any info; other volunteers didn’t know when to stop talking and blocking other visitors from seeing the room furnishings; etc. I had rational conversations with volunteers at several NT sites to express my frustration with the lack of detailed information; it seems the NT has decided that visitors don’t want to read a lot of information and would rather “experience” the room visually; also, if they have too many labels in rooms, it can slow down the traffic flow while people read them. Since they feel they need to provide context around practically every object (as in colonialism, slavery, poor working conditions, etc.) that would require updating all the old laminated info sheets...which would need to be written, vetted by experts & impacted communities, etc. Instead of the NT providing the tools for visitors to learn and become educated, I left most NT sites feeling that I had missed out on a lot of information. (And I’m a person who read the NT webpages for each site so I had some background.). AND, the entry fee was usually £20 which I would be happy to spend if I was getting the old NT experience. And (last rant re: NT), why did nearly every site suggest multiple ways that I could pay a lower entry fee as soon as they heard my American accent? They reeled off several options – was I a member of the Royal Oak? Would I like to join? Was I a member of a local preservation society? Or garden club? I explained that it was my impression the NT needed funds and I’m happy to pay the full amount, which astounded each ticket person – literally, they didn’t know what to say. It’s nice to offer but for heaven’s sake, don’t bend over backwards trying to find a way for people to pay less to enter your sites!!

I had a pleasant walk through the Arboretum, seeing red squirrels, listening to the birds and then popping out on the shoreline to see the mountains across the Menai Strait. Rolling lawns and meadows and a small section of flowers and shrubs. I was intrigued that practically every NT site had a secondhand bookstore selling books at very low prices, often on the honor system with a payment box (proceeds support the NT). The store at Bodnant was amazing – lots of books in good condition. Of course it all depends on the donations they receive, but the Plas Newydd bookshop had books that were so old and ratty, I can’t imagine anyone taking them so I left light handed. Had a so-so lunch at their café, but I needed some sustenance. (I sound like an old geezer “I remember when...” but I do remember when NT cafes had homemade cakes and a few hot items, plus sandwiches. Now they have a lot of hot items (potatoes, pies, rarebit, pizza slice, hot pot) which are all over £12 and a few homemade cakes. I know everything is more expensive these days but I wasn’t willing to spend £15 on a steak & kidney pie that might not be very good; £7 on a pre-packaged sandwich was enough.). Bodnant’s café was an exception to this – in fact, Bodnant might be the role model for NT in terms of café & shop!

The Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens were about eight minutes away and an unexpected gem! It may not be off the beaten path, since they have a coach parking area but no-one I talked to had heard of it. The premise is very interesting: apparently there had been a garden here 300 years ago, which had fallen into disrepair, was totally overgrown – basically no signs of a garden remained. Two guys bought the 200 acre garden ruins in 1996 and have been doing major, major rebuilding. Grading the dirt, bringing in dirt, finding water sources, sculpting topiary, creating flower gardens, and building a secret valley garden below the formal garden. Once you’ve walked through the formal section, there’s a walled garden and then multiple paths lead down into a secret valley garden with three small waterfalls, flowering trees and shrubs and various flowers. I don’t know how many acres that area was - I think not huge - but because it was so vertical it felt like there was always something new around each corner. They built a walled garden with curved walls, a reflecting, pool, and statuary. Colorful border gardens of flowers on either side. The top area intrigued me because they were triangular pointed evergreen shrubs, but they were different sizes and were not placed in a symmetrical row which I liked. Those very formal Versailles style gardens where everything has a precise place and there’s the same layout exactly opposite turn me off.


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Plas Newydd - view from meadow toward home & Menai Strait
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Plas Cadnant
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Plas Cadnant - valley garden
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Plas Cadnant - different topiary near the reflecting pool
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Plas Cadnant - topiary and meadows beyond

Another thing I liked about this garden is that it draws your eye up, either to the meadows and sky above the top area or to the mountains above the valley garden – different vistas. Overall, a very sophisticated garden and I would agree that it’s “hidden” in the sense that the entire garden is off the beaten path but also that within the garden, there are hidden spaces. As a side note, their tea room looked very nice, new and classy furnishings. I bought an almond and cherry cake, which they kindly wrapped up for me to bring home. Even though they were closing, they were very helpful when I asked if they knew about a pub where I could watch the critical Man City v Arsenal football game. They consulted with each other and agreed on the closest place and gave me great directions. I would definitely recommend visiting this garden!

The pub, Bulkeley Arms, was a few minutes away and had a free car park behind it. The game was on various TVs and the back room was the rowdy crowd so I found a seat in the bar where it was an older crowd who watched the game but were also enjoying a pint. Just a soda for me since I had to drive home! Interesting lack of ambience but I was glad I could watch it.

Tomorrow, a university botanical garden and another stately home, which I think will be much more interesting than today’s.

Day 5, Mon, 4/20: Sunny and 50’s

Another beautiful sunny day, and I was all set to visit another stately home and Penrhyn Castle & Gardens in Bangor. I headed off toward the North Wales Expressway (A55) but I didn’t make it through Conwy. Once you’ve driven through the town walls, there’s a section where you go around a sharp turn, with cars parked on side of the road and a very large truck was coming the other direction and I panicked, swung the wheel to the left, bounced off a curb and blew the tire. I was going slowly and there was no damage other than my tire. I drove about 400 yards and saw a very wide driveway which I pulled into. I thought something bad had happened, but I wasn’t thinking straight and I waved to a man and his wife who were walking their dog, they waved back and I said “no no I need help”. So they came over and all I really wanted was for them to look at the tire and give me the name of a gas station locally - I wasn’t thinking logically, must’ve been the adrenaline. Anyway, it was completely obvious that tire was flat and had a hole in it. They told me to call the rental company and let them figure it out which I would’ve done eventually, but it was reassuring to have someone there. They stayed with me while I called the rental company; then lady whose driveway I was parked in showed up and we had quite a conversation about what it happened and how I should move my car in order to leave her room to get in and out, while not blocking the sidewalk, so the man guided me to parking correctly. He also said that the exact spot where I hit the curb happens to a lot of people, and that in that particular location, the curbs are made of granite, which is very hard and sharp, versus concrete or cement curbs that are curved and you kind of bounce off. Whether true or not, I appreciated hearing that and didn’t feel as stupid as I did initially. He invited me to come to his house if I wanted to sit there, but I didn’t want to be trapped with somebody for in terminable discussion plus, I figured I should stay with my car.

I eventually reached Europcar and they put me in touch with AA, the British Automobile Association who has a contract with Europcar. This all happened at about 9:20 and by 12:10 a great big truck arrived and they put my car on the back of the truck and I hopped in the cab so he could take us to their nearest tire location in Llandudno. In the meantime, the dog walker man had returned to check on me, so I filled him in, thanked him very much for all of his help; when AA got there, the driveway lady came out, so I thanked her very much.

Jason, the driver, and I had a chat. He said I’m the fifth American who’s blown a tire hitting a curb in the last week and a half. One of the women was from South Carolina and asked if he knew the queen. Once the car was at the Llandudno tire place, they said it would be about two hours and Llandudno is a Victorian seaside town so I got some lunch and sat on a bench by the beach. (I also bought three more books at a charity shop.😳)

While I was wandering around, I went into a tourist info office and bought a very thorough roadmap of Wales because I am going to figure out my own routes to places so that I can avoid the small narrow roads and this corner! GPS always takes you the most direct route but I don’t mind taking an extra 15 miles and 25 minutes if I can avoid blown tires and stress from narrow roads. I know there’s a map on the phone, but it is so small that you can’t get a big picture and I want to unfold a map and lay out a route. Back to the tire place @ 2:15 and the car was ready.

By this time it was too late to do any sightseeing and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind so I made it home A-OK and I relaxed on the sofa. I had a great view out one window of mountains and meadows & the other window has a cherry tree in bloom and I can hear birds chirping.

I was actually calm when the tire blew and during the day’s logistics, but the stress level, and the disappointment at myself was quite high (and I wasn’t even worrying about the cost. Although I declined the rental car insurance, I have coverage through my credit card and not that I’m throwing money away, but I can afford to pay whatever the rental car company is going to charge me. So money was the least of my worries.). I admit that I had an immediate thought of “I can’t drive here...I have to cancel everything and fly home” but that thought only lasted a few seconds. I knew there was a way to mitigate the driving concerns – don’t drive during the morning rush hour, figure out routes that utilize the wider “A” roads, drive slowly and don’t worry about tailgaters.

And I have to say it was an adventure! I met some more nice people, went to an old fashioned seaside town and made it home alive and car intact.

Tomorrow will be take 2 on a stately home!

Vickie, thanks so much for this brilliant trip report. In about one week I am off to Northern Wales as well. At first I will be staying for 5 nights in Colwyn Bay and explore the area by public transport and on foot from there.

My flight from Frankfurt is scheduled to land at Manchester Airport at 17:20 h and I have a train ticket for a train leaving at 19:25 h.

From your report I understand that everything worked quite well with passport control and luggage, but could you please give me an idea how much time it took for you from the landing of the plane :plane: to your arrival at the train station :train:.

Holding correct lane position when you are used to driving on the right hand side of the road is very difficult. I had a friend who smashed his wing mirror and a whole line of wing mirrors once, so do not feel too bad. Great report

HORSCHECK My plane landed in Terminal 2 (from JFK) at 8:15 am and I was in the train station by 9:10 which includes about 10 mins of me taking extra time since the signage wasn't clear to me. After you come out of baggage area, I followed the large signs to Train Station but kept thinking I had to go down a level so made some mis-steps. It turns out that the walkway to the train station is UP one level from the baggage claim departure point - the signs were correct and I was not.:). Once you get through the turnstyles at the station to the platform, there's a cafe/waiting room (you don't have to buy anything) and a few benches on the platforms.

bilboburgler Thank you for the reassurance - I constantly kept an eye on the center white line to make sure I wasn't drifting into the other lane and it turned out that my left side was the danger zone! If I lived in the UK & needed my own car, I would buy a used car that I wouldn't worry about getting scratched by hedgerows or dinged.

vickiebypass Gosh! Where do I start?! Loving your TR - this would have been a dream vacation for me except for the self-driving part, but stately homes and gardens in Wales? What a great itinerary and adventure! Tho no doubt my teenage son will loathe every moment of this so I have to travel vicarsiouly through your TR. I've only been to Wales once, during my junior year abroad in London, decades ago. I always "complained' that I was born too early, as when I was in London, it was still 1-2 years before Chunnel opened / start of budget airlines. As a result, I did not have the luxury of hopping on the Eurostar to go to Paris, nor hopping on RyanAir to fly elsewhere. OTOH, it gave me the chance to visit other parts of UK - I did trips to Glastonbury/Bath, to the south coast, to Scotland, Cambridge, Liverpool etc, as well as to Wales! I don't think I would have traveled this much within UK if I had those other options back then. Anyway, my trip to Wales was only a couple of days and limited to the big cities as I had to rely on public transit, but I was really fascinated by castles so I had a fab time visting 6 castles on a 3-day trip.

It sounds like you've driiven in the UK in the past? I really admire you doing that solo. As for kind strangers - I have always found kind people everywhere I visit in the world. I almost feel like nowadays in our very digital world, people actually long for real f2f conversations and connections!

Anyway, looking forward to your next installments!

I love your descriptions of Plas Newydd and Plas Cadnant Gardens. You are a wealth of information! I assume that you must have done a lot of research on the home and the gardens since the NT doesn't provide the detailed information anymore.

That is too bad what happened with your rental car tire. You have the right attitude, though. As you say, you met some nice people and discovered a peaceful seaside town. I admire you for driving on the left-hand side of the road. I love driving at home, but I don't feel confident driving in foreign countries, so my husband does all the driving when traveling abroad. He has driven on the left on several trips: Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand. We are leaving for Ireland in less than a week, and he will be doing the driving there. I am a bit nervous, though, about the narrow country roads with stone walls right on the edge of the road. Keeping our fingers crossed for no accidents!

Day 6, Tue, 4/21: Sunny and 40’s

Phew 😅. A good day – I’m back, baby! The time I spent last night with the map figuring out a different route was well worth it. Roads were decently wide and I felt much more comfortable. I even stopped to get gas on a roundabout😳. These roundabouts are all over the place, much more frequent than in the US and are probably the number one thing that Americans say they hate about driving in the UK. It’s quite an art and I’m sure there were times that some people behind me wondering what earth was I doing? I loved the ones where my exit was the first one since that was easy; even those where my exit was the 2nd, straight across the roundabout were OK; but if my exit was the 3rd, I knew I should start in the inner lane but when to move to the outer/exit lane, and put on my blinker, was confusing. I did go around the roundabout more than once while I figured out where I needed to be...

Anyway, it was only 30 minutes to Penrhyn Castle which is unique because it was built in the 1830s by a very wealthy industrialist who had it built in the style of a Norman medieval castle. The point everyone now makes a big deal about is that the family made their money from owning many sugar plantations in Jamaica. The first guy immigrated there in 1653 - that sounds early, but I guess European countries were looking for the new world and riches. By the mid 18th century, the family had prospered, bought more sugar plantations and were staffing them with slaves from Africa. There were various sons who had sons, etc. several of whom “succumbed to disease due to the climate” - not sure what that means, I wouldn’t have thought malaria or yellow fever? Heat rash from wearing too many layers of fancy clothing in the heat and humidity.🤣

In the mid-19th century, one of the descendants who had returned to England married into a family who owned an estate in Wales and lo and behold, it turns out he was a great businessman and amalgamated several slate quarries (NW Wales is a hot bed of slate). He built a port to ship slate from his quarries, a railway system to bring it from the quarries to the port and pretty soon they were exporting slate all over the world and tremendously wealthy.

When I got there, it was gray and very windy and quite cold, about 40°. Inside the castle, it was probably 40°. Ornate and opulent interiors. No expense was spared on the workmanship, such as plastering, woodworking, marble, and of course, the furnishings. But, the place itself is looking a bit shabby. NT has owned the property since the last Lord died in 1949. It was interesting but there weren’t many rooms open due to a shortage of volunteers, and again, minimal information about each room. In the entire castle today, there were only two volunteers so you could imagine practically every room was unattended. They have a brief video as you're leaving the house and it showed several rooms I hadn't seen so I asked somone and she explained that they didn't have enough volunteers to open those rooms today and "that's why we have the video". A shambles and a pale representation of the experience NT properties used to provide to visitors.

In one room, I saw somebody working with a paintbrush, so I chatted with her for a while; it turns out she is on the cleaning/conservation staff, and they use brushes with different types of bristles depending on what they’re dusting - pony tail’s hair, pig hair (which is more bristly so they use that for wood carvings), etc. I asked her about the carpets because the colors were very vibrant and she said they Hoover them once a year. She had a lot more information than any other source and I was glad she was willing to chat. The kitchen areas are open, but again there’s no signage or explanations which is a huge flaw. Having watched a zillion episodes of Upstairs Downstairs, Downton Abbey, etc. I had a good sense of what the kitchen related rooms were used for, but they weren’t stocked with the items that would’ve been utilized.

They also had a secondhand book shop set up in an old stable, which was interesting since it still looked like a stable. In fact, each of the stable rooms had a different genre of books. I found three books there, one of them a hard back that I’ve been eager to read so I’m going to read it very quickly over the next week and then leave it in the cottage so at least I don’t have to carry that one home.🤣 (At these 2nd hand bookshops, I’m able to find books by authors who aren’t typically published in the US so that’s why it’s a mission. I don’t buy other stuff when I travel.)

I had lunch from their café, another tuna and sweet corn sandwich on brown bread, which I took to the walled garden and ate sitting in the sun reading my book. You hear so many birds in the country. The garden had some very nice flowering trees and some tulips that were past their prime and were being replaced by something else flowering. They had a Bog Garden, which I’ve never heard of before - doesn’t sound very appealing does it? Skunk cabbage? Murky water? Bugs? But this was a fancy bog garden so they had some tropical plants and a little thatched treehouse to view the bog from on high.

I spent about 3 1/2 hours there and stopped at the church next-door, St Tegai. This is a historic parish church of Llandegai since the Middle Ages (listed as Grade II) and has been modified over the centuries, with the Penrhyn estate family’s stamp visible on the building. It was a very small church, a bit decrepit, but still being used regularly; I remember hearing in British TV show shows and reading in British books about the ”flower rota” which apparently can be very sought after and highly competitive. Anyway, on the bulletin board in their entry, they had a flower rota which I’ve never seen in real life. Made me smile.😁

I wandered around the cemetery because it was now a beautiful sunny day. Lots of bluebells and primrose. Most of the headstones were in Welsh, but I thought this one was interesting:
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Slate headstone - I wonder how/why he was born on Christmas Island?


It turns out that the church is in a “village” that the wealthy family built for the castle staff to live in, so there are about two dozen small houses, which look quite nice.

Got back to the cottage and sat in the garden for a while.

Tomorrow, Caernarfon Castle and a slateworks.
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Penrhyn - sign on the entry drive
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Penrhyn - bluebells blowing in the breeze! with castle in background
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Penrhyn - amazing details on this hallway column
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Penrhyn walled garden - there were several of these trees
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I purchased the 5 pound guide book in most sites and thought this paragraph was interesting. (I gave the guide book back when I left so they can re-sell it...)
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Penrhyn - Bog Garden

I think you are too harsh on yourself - I really admire you for hiring a rental car and being such an independent traveller.

Your view on the National Trust is interesting. I was a volunteer for a NT property in North Yorkshire for many years. It was definitely considered good practice to check and see whether visitors could save money on their entry fees. I never came across anyone who felt we shouldn't have done so and we'd have been open to criticism if we HADN'T checked.

I agree that NT second hand bookshops can be excellent. A NT site called Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire gets many visitors who come specifically to go to the book shop!

Day 7, Wed, 4/22: Sunny and high 50s/low 60s with a breeze

Off to Caernarfon, primarily to see the castle but also walk along the city walls and old town. I remember watching Charles at his investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1969 on TV. Also, this is one of the 4 castles Edward I built and I’ve seen two others so interested to see this person.

Left the house at about 9:30 to avoid traffic! Used my paper map approach, which worked just fine. I parked in the Morrison’s parking lot a bit away from the castle because I didn’t want to drive in tourist clogged streets. Very easy to use pay & display kiosk! I had a leisurely stroll along Victoria Dock observing a variety of boats at the marina. As I was walking down Church Street, I passed St. Mary’s church and the door was open, so in I went. There was some kind of morning coffee/tea group going on but they told me I was free to wander around. Not a whole lot to see inside, but since they had welcomed me I figured I should take some time. This is an active, well used local church so I enjoyed looking at kids’ letters in honor of Remembrance Day; outreach photos to African churches; stained glass and memorial plaques.

Continued down Church Street, looking at the homes with their small front gardens and meandered onto a few side streets. When I reached the castle, there was a huge tour group going in, so I walked around the main square a little bit. Popped into a post office to ask if they have a book rate for shipping books (in case I decide to package up all the books I’ve bought and send them home versus filling up my suitcase); turns out it would be at least $30 to ship them and since I have some room and sufficient weight allowance to put them in my suitcase that’s what I’ll do….so between the suitcase and the backpack, I will be loaded down😁. Gotta laugh at myself, but it’s fun to look for the books in various charity or secondhand shops. Checked out a few charity shops, sat on a bench in the sun and people watched. A very large, pretty square.

I had lunch in a café across from the castle - a very yummy sandwich of Stilton cheese, salami, and sliced grapes on buttered ciabatta roll. Really good so I will try it at home as a nice change from my normal deli cold cuts or curry chicken salad. The visitor info office was next door so I asked her about walking tours or other things to do and she suggested walking up a steep hill near the Morrisons for a great view (I thanked her but thought, “no steep hills for me!”).

This castle is interesting because it was one of the four built by the same person in the same period, you might think they would all have a similar feel. On a prior trip I visited probably the best one of them, Conwy, which was huge and had many, many stairways taking you through all kinds of interconnecting corridors and towers; there were tons of little things to see and nooks and crannies to walk into; there were some railings, but it felt very authentic and old. In fact, that’s where I realized I have a slight case of vertigo because walking along some of those castle walls or spiral staircases, I started feeling sick and dizzy, and had to sit down. The castle I saw this weekend, Beaumaris, is much more ruined, but you can still walk through interior corridors and on the walls. It doesn’t feel like it’s been updated or maintained for tourists - it feels like it’s just there and nature is taking its course (I know they have a maintenance staff and I’m sure they are shoring up sunken areas and making sure it’s safe, but it does not feel like that). On the other hand, in Caernarfon it’s very obvious that it has had a lot of fixing up. I noticed right away that the inner corridors are much higher and wider than they were in either of the other two castles; unless they were built that way for people to ride on horseback through the corridors, I sense some fakery (as in, redone to accommodate school and coach groups). The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum is located within the castle with free entry included in your castle admission ticket; I had noticed RWF on many gravestones, war memorials and plaques so was interested to learn about this storied regiment. Various uniforms throughout the ages and explanations of the RWF participation in various battles. It doesn’t take long to go through and there’s a RWF shop at the exit. I took a different route back to the car park, ambling along side lanes and noticing the change in era and styles.

As an alternative to the stately homes and gardens, I went to the Inigo Jones Slateworks which was only about 10 minutes away. Wales is the world‘s biggest producer of high-quality slate and they exported something crazy like 200 million tons during the 18th century; demand has reduced by about 90%, but this place is still one of the leading slate workshops. The slateworks initial product was slates for schools and then moved into roof & building tiles, memorials, signage, garden items and commemorative products. They have a self guided audio tour, which is excellent and takes you through all the steps from receiving the slate to finishing/shipping it. You walk through their work yard and into various sheds with huge saws, sanders, planers and lettering machinery. It was amazing to see all the piles of slate waiting to be worked on and then all of the odds and ends and off cuts from pieces they already made. Very interesting and I’m glad I went.

Tomorrow is another stately home and this one should be really good…
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Caernarfon - Victoria Docks Marina
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Caernarfon Castle - I thought this sign was funny
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Inigo Jones Slateworks
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Inigo Jones Slateworks - the yard with unused slate and off-cuts
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Day 8, Thu, 4/22: Sunny and low 60s with a breeze

I decided to go to Erdigg, a stately home and garden, today which is an hour and a half away from my Conwy cottage (near Wrexham). Basically, I have more time in Wales than I really need so I’m shifting things around from my initial plan. I went in circles for about 45 minutes this morning; even though I used my paper map to figure out the best route and entered it to into GPS, GPS kept shifting, and I kept stopping and trying to reroute (I was trying to take a more scenic route). Finally GPS told me that there were a lot of closures on the route I was trying to take - ah, now I get it 😆. So I was on a major highway with 4 wide lanes - the N. Wales Expressway - for the majority of the drive which was fine since it doesn’t make me nervous!


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Road near my cottage
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Erdigg - cordon apple trees
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Erdigg - topiary allee - fun shapes!
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Erdigg
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Erdigg - pruning the pleached limes
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Erdigg
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Erdigg - partierre
What a great house and garden!!! When I arrived, I went to their café and could’ve gotten one of my standard tuna with sweet corn on brown bread sandwiches, but they were doing breakfast sandwiches - bacon, sausage and a fried egg on a bap (English version of a soft roll). That sounded SO good and it was; the egg was cooked perfectly, the sausage was tasty, yum, yum. I enjoyed that sitting in the sunny courtyard and people watching.

I took a free 30 min, volunteer led tour around the exterior of the house which explained historical highlights (including the info in the para below). Very helpful because yet again there’s not much signage in the rooms and the volunteers are of varying quality.

This house was originally built in about 1680 and in around 1750, it became part of the Yorke family through marriage and stayed in that family until 1970 when the last descendent gave it to the national trust. Starting way back in 1750, the sons were only named Simon or Philip so that must make genealogy or historical research a little confusing. The last Simon IV was a recluse/nutcase and allowed the house and gardens to fall into ruin while he was living there (for 50 years). Plus, mining shafts from a nearby colliery under the house caused sinking, wet rot and a myriad of problems. When he died, his brother Philip 3 inherited and set about making the house livable and restoring the gardens to their historic 17th century style. Philip sounds like a good guy; very personable; took photos of the household staff and then wrote poems for each of them on their milestone anniversaries at the house. This house, although definitely a stately home, is very attractive, proportional and homey and you can envision yourself living in the rooms. The scullery, kitchen, housekeeper’s room, butler’s pantry, and silver room are all interesting and nice to have the opportunity to see them. Also, the children’s nursery.

To me, the gardens are the highlights versus the house. Very different style and approach than the other gardens I’ve visited since these gardens are the kind that I could see a family playing, walking, sitting in etc.

The main part of the garden is very appealing to me. It was restored to its initial Baroque style which emphasized symmetry so the apple trees are pruned in pyramids to match the yew topiary. Each row of apple trees is a different variety of apple and in October, they have a big apple festival. There are rows of pleached lime trees- basically lime trees where the branches have been trained to grow horizontally and are grafted onto the branches of the tree next to them, and then all of the shoots are pruned right down to the trunk annually. When they leaf out in July or August, the leaves create a very dense, shady canopy which was originally designed as a cool place for 18th c ladies to stroll. I asked the gardener who was high up on her ladder pruning the limes about this and she was very willing to explain and educate me. Lots of cordon style apple trees on the red brick garden walls; I’ve never seen this type of vertical/diagonal appearance so asked the gardener who explained that Cordon apple trees (aka columnar apple trees) are great because they are space-saving due to having one main stem and short branches that carry the fruit and flowers, so they’re easier to prune and maintain. She was also very helpful and willing to chat and pointed me to their buzzing (literally) insect house and the Victorian glasshouses.

They created a reflecting pool with carp and statuary at the end of the topiary path, overlooking fields through an ornate wrought-iron gate. There’s an appealing rose garden, which no longer contains roses, but is filled with flowering shrubs and plants with benches on grassy lawns surrounded by leafy trees. If I lived here, I’d spend a lot of time in that garden... also strolling among the apple trees and down the pleached lime allee.

In addition to using volunteers in the house, they use volunteers in the garden to supplement the professional gardeners, and if I lived in the UK, I would be volunteering in lots of houses and gardens.

It had been a good day but long with almost 3 hours of driving so I just flaked out at home. I was leaving this wonderful cottage tomorrow to head east so packed up my books, provisions and luggage.

Unless your plane is seriously late you will plenty of time for your train. If you are flying in on RyanAir you will come into T3., otherwise T2. From either just follow the signs which will lead you to the walkway which links the two terminals (T1 is closed now). If you have a flexible train ticket you may be able to get an earlier train.

Enjoying your trip report! Thank you for so much for taking the time to provide this amazing detail and your photos. I loved seeing the pleached limes forming the 'allee'. You're a woman after my own heart, it seems. Regarding the lack of information at NT houses, I've been frustrated by the same. I would hope those houses that have the room's literature printed up would continue to provide those. Like you, I want to understand what the furnishings are made of and what the furniture in the room is called. A knowledgeable docent is a treasure, but there seem to be fewer of them. And, at times, they do seem to just want to keep the traffic flowing.

Makes me eager to return! (But not eager to rent a car. Done once, and really didn't enjoy. But you did get to see some out of the way places. My hiking and bus routes can't get me everywhere.)

MAN can be a bit of a cluster you know what ;) But as John says if you are near on time you'll be more than fine. Where is your ticket to (some destinations have frequent service, some do not.? Is it restricted or changeable?

Horscheck is going to Colwyn Bay, which has an hourly direct service from MAN. So s/he has a fighting chance of getting a train an hour early if s/he has a ticket which allows that.

Thank you! I am really enjoying your trip report.

Day 9, Fri, 4/24: Sunny and mid 60s

I really have lucked out with the weather for this whole trip! Sunny every day except the first 2 days which had showers in the morning. Today I’m leaving the cottage I’ve been in for a week and moving to a different one about 90 minutes east for three nights. I have to take a moment to thank several Fodorites whose feedback on my draft itinerary was that I was staying in too many places – I was re-locating every 2 days and they suggested finding one or two bases since the distances weren’t very far. I changed my plans and am very glad I did – not only did I save the hassle of packing/unpacking and relocating multiple times, my cottage became part of my vacation experience.

Today’s sightseeing mission is Powis Castle, another stately home and garden which is a two hour drive southeast in Welshpool. I decided to take a more scenic route instead of the 4 lane expressway so that added about 30 minutes to the drive time. Pleased with the decision to take the scenic route since it definitely was attractive and an area that I hadn’t seen before, through Snowdonia National Park. Fair amount of traffic and some roadwork and several roundabouts but I’m now an old hand at this (LOL)

Finally got to Powis and saw a pheasant literally cross the drive in front of me and a deer, complete with antlers, sitting in the deer park. Pretty cool (turns out they do a big business in the fall with hunting groups). Admission fee is $25; you see about seven rooms in the palace; because they are doing a multi-year electrical renovation project, several rooms are closed and other rooms are being used as storage for all the items they had to move out of other rooms for the electrical work.

I was finished in the house in less than an hour so decided to have lunch in their café - a sausage roll, which I ate sitting outside in the glorious weather, looking at the landscape and peoplewatching.

But, they redeemed themselves to a degree with a separate museum attached to the house which features south Asian objects collected by Robert Clive, a.k.a. Clive of India. He was there in the 18th century and brought back shiploads of objects; some of which were given to him as gifts, others were booty, and others were stripped from.Mughal palaces, etc. This was the era of the British East Indies company and the colonization of India. The National Trust is trying a new approach in this museum, where they try to show half a dozen objects in their historical context and present a balanced approach. They’ve created an audio guide, which, although I was skeptical at first, actually is very good. It provides background about what was going on in the country at the time, but not just the British perspective; it’s not heavy-handed and provides interesting details about the objects and why they are significant. There’s a huge oil painting which was painted several years after the actual event of a Indian sultan signing over his kingdom to the British, and it was basically used as propaganda back in London, so the audio guide tells you how to look at the painting - for example, beams of light from the heavens shine on the British around the table while the Indians are all in shadow; the British are all serious, but the Indians are laughing and turning aside, etc. It’s a good reminder to never take anything, whether an article, podcast or artwork, at face value since there is always a slant. That separate museum was very interesting.

For me, the gardens were the gem of Powis. They are spectacular in a very different way from the other ones that I have visited. These are much more formal and they have yew hedges from the 17th century that have grown monstrously large and now look like sculpted blobs, a bit futuristic! Initially, they were symmetrical topiary; then the fashion changed and plants, including topiary, were allowed to grow as nature intended; then pruning and symmetry came back; and now these are pruned with a cherry picker because they’re so tall! I wouldn’t call these homey or cozy gardens but I like them much better than Versailles (as in, not as huge, not cold or offputting).

Settled into the cottage I’m staying in for three nights, Swallow Cottage. It’s a building on an old stone farm that I think was part of a barn. The farm is off the A5, about 3 miles from Llangollen which is a bustling town. Although a small town, it’s a base for activities – rafting on the Dee River, kayaking, hikes of various lengths and difficulty, etc – and locals told me that since it’s just over the border from England, lots of folks come for a weekend with their caravans or tents. Some locals told me that they all get their errands done by 10 AM on weekends to avoid the crush of people. So many people come to the town that the town provides fields for parking caravans or setting up tents.

The cottage has a nice yard with flowers and has sheep meadows on all sides which slope down to the Dee River and the local steam heritage railway track. It’s a two bedroom with huge floor to ceiling windows highlighting the gorgeous view. I think it was initially renovated as an elder flat since it has grab-bars in the bathroom, which is a wet room (no tub or shower door). Very nice finishings and comfortable furniture. Nice wooden deck with table and chairs but it wasn’t warm enough to sit outside! And I could see everything – and hear the birds – from inside.

This is the view from the living room.
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View from cottage windows
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Cottage view - Dee River and railway are among the trees in the middle
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Powis - courtyard and cafe seating
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Powis - crazy overgrown topiary!
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Powis - crazy overgrown topiary!
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Powis - over the terraces and grounds

The topiary looks like its eating the castle. Unreal.

vickiebypass, you are an awesome travel writer. You could start your own travel guidebooks. I love your descriptions of the gardens and its history, and your descriptions of your cottage. Did you find your cottage on booking.com? Or AirBnB?

Love the topiary gardens. As shelemm says, they are unreal. Love the exterior of the Powis castle, too, and the outdoor cafe and courtyard!

vickiebypass, janisj, JohnEW2912

Thanks everybody for your help regarding catching a train at Manchester Airport. This all helps a lot to get a good idea what might happen.

I am indeed going to Colwyn Bay in Northern Wales and my ticket is a resticted one which refers to exactly this connection, but it was verry cheap. In fact there is one an hour later connection, but then I probably have to buy a new ticket. Anyway, I am now quite confident that I am going to catch my booked train connection.

Continuing to follow and enjoying this immensely!

Glad you're enjoying my trip report! I like creating them since it keeps the memories fresh and might help someone else. I have an odd way of finding lodging and things to do.... I zoom into Google maps for the area and click on all the little "dots" that appear to see what they are. Sometimes I'll use Google maps search feature (for Lodging or Things to Do) and then click away. I've used this approach for the past several years and I end up finding untouristy places. I NEVER use booking.com; have used Airbnb or VRBO in the last several cities I've visited (e.g. Seattle, London, Basel, Paris, Milan, Glasgow, Rekyavik) but outside of city centers, I like using my Google zoom approach. Some people might find it tedious but I like finding places that haven't been trod by tourists. Of course, once I find them on the map, I google their sites and do my normal scrutiny. Both of the cottages on this trip have mostly UK clientele - in fact, the one in the Dee Valley (Swallow Cottage) had never had an American stay there. My zoom approach is also how I found out about Inigo Jones Slateworks and one of the upcoming gardens.

Two more Powis topiary gone wild pics:

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This is an explanation of the topiary - not a great photo though

Day 10, Sat, 4/25: Sunny and mid 60s

Since the next stately home didn’t open until 11 o’clock, I decided to walk in the sheep field next to the cottage per the instructions from the owners. But I was a little unsure of which track to follow so I turned around and will do it later today (I had a scary adventure getting lost for hours in sheep fields on the Isle of Bute so I’m cautious about venturing out if I don’t have a clear sense of where I’m going). Met the owners getting ready to drive off in a snazzy Morgan convertible - a replica of an antique one – and they were driving to the seaside for ice cream. I confirmed the walk in the sheep field with them.

Decided to explore the town a little bit; since the town was crowded, I parked in the Aldi parking lot which has free parking for three hours and there’s a pleasant path from the parking lot directly into town.

The council built a very nice walkway promenade along the river with gardens and a band stand on one side and water on the other side, plus benches to sit on. Across the river are many tall brick Victorian building buildings. The river is wide and fast moving – saw a kayak zip along and two rafts. It was a nice stroll to town & I wandered around the back streets. I saw the local museum so stopped in and as with so many local museums, it is very well organized and thorough. Bought two more used books. What is it with me and these books? Good grief! Just across from the museum (which is in an ugly 1970s gray brick octagonal building) is an old orange/red Victorian building which has been repurposed into something else, but it has a carved “Girls” over the front door so I asked in the museum and the young woman explained it used to be a primary school and she expects there’s a boys entrance somewhere but doesn’t know where. She didn’t know much about the school at all and in fact, she thought it was empty. She said all she knows is that her mother went to primary school there in the 60s. On my walk back to the car I noticed two large, deserted industrial buildings with Ivy growing up the walls and the roof caved in. I looked around at the people sitting on the benches and thought “hmmm, who would know what those buildings were?” I found an older lady and asked her and she though they had been a seed factory. We had a long conversation because she wanted to know where I was from and what I had seen and you know me, I can talk till doomsday. I asked her if it snows in the winter she said it can but it just depends you never know.

The next house is not a National Trust, instead is owned by the local council. Plas Newydd is an interesting story and it’s claim to fame is that two 18th century lesbians (and their maid) from Ireland ran away to Wales and lived in this house; apparently there was a craze for Gothic decor so while they were living there, they purchased wooden carvings from churches, stately homes, etc. and had all these carvings installed in this house (including headboard, footboards and columns from four poster beds plus stairway newel posts; not to mention various church carvings). The house changed hands many many times over the years and some point in the late 19th century the current owner painted the outside in white and black Tudor style. An odd little house, but there was a fair amount to see including a room with exhibits about the ladies and the house, as well as very good informational plaques in each room, so it all got me pondering. I had a long conversation with the two employees and their friend on the front porch all about the town and the house. They said there’s nothing special going on this weekend. It’s just that every weekend in spring summer and fall when it’s nice weather, the town is inundated with people who have their caravans or are campers. This is a jumping off point for hiking in Snowdonia, of varying degrees of difficulty plus biking plus river, rafting and kayaking.

Off to Caerau Gardens now - the highest garden open to the public in North Wales since 1994. Driving to the gardens I passed Rhug farm shop, which is a big business with signs in both directions for several miles. A high-priced gourmet food store, some farm products, a café, and an ice cream place; tons of people, but extremely limited menu and nothing appealed to me at all so kept going to the gardens because they have a café there. To my mind, a scam😁 and disappointing. Very unBritish – seemed more Hamptons or California. There wasn’t a fresh bit of produce in the place.

Fair amount of traffic on A494, but it all moved along. There are some small signs and you wend your way up and up from the main road through fields, past orchards and finally down a winding driveway to the gardens. The gardens were a real surprise and probably one of the highlights of the trip (next to Erdigg), but first, lunch. Their site says “we are very keen on good honest food and we aim to produce proper home cooked lunches as well as snacks, fresh cakes and great coffee. Most things are homemade. It’s a family affair.” The café is very low key, just a few tables inside and picnic tables outside. Their menu offers several curries, meat, pies, and stew, which I really wasn’t in the mood for. I asked for a ham and cheese sandwich, but they were out of ham… so got a tuna sandwich and a Diet Coke, and the nice lady, who I think is one of the owners, asked if I wanted ice and went into her house to get me ice. The tuna sandwich was tremendously satisfying - it came with a scoop of carrot salad, which was very good in a nice sauce with raisins on tiny leaves of bibb lettuce, which I bet they grew. The tuna was quite tasty and on granary bread, which they make themselves. It was exactly what I wanted, and it was nice to sit out front at the picnic table and listen to the birds and look at the scenery. Interesting how noisy it was from traffic on the A494. Quite steady and loud especially the motorcycles and trucks (of course it was a Sunday so lots of people were out and about touring). Not at the garden though.

The gardens were a real surprise. The couple who bought this in the 90s had a background in landscape design and used to create show gardens at Hampton Court and other RHS shows so they knew how to build different style gardens. They were initially developed using salvaged plants and structures from RHS Show Gardens and 20 years on, it now offers a mix of formal borders, a rose walk, vegetable plots, and varied garden spaces that make it full of surprises. I’m learning a lot about different garden styles on this trip and how they can be blended, or not, and which ones appeal to me. This one reminded me of Sissinghurst in the sense that there are different rooms, which showcase a specific theme or style or plants. Don’t know if that was their vision, but that’s what I got.

Also, before I even arrived at this garden, I’ve been thinking back about the gardens I’ve visited so far and realized that Sissinghurst style is my favorite so this garden was very apt. When I say rooms, they’re not house sized rooms, they are large, but not Versailles sized. They are located perched high, high on a hill overlooking the valley (hence their claim to be the highest garden in Wales). There was a garden with a large, grassy lawn, yew hedges, and flower gardens around three sides of the perimeter with various flowers and low plantings. There were gardens/rooms behind rooms and gravel paths snaking from one into another, in a curvy little path. There’s a more formal parterre room, with triangular windows cut into the hedges so you can look through two different windows. There is a kitchen garden. There’s an orchard garden. Then you follow a path and come upon a very tall circular yew hedge, like a spiral with two entrances and inside are benches around a fountain with a statue of a young girl, sitting cross legged and reading a book. Very appealing and not claustrophobic. There was also a bog garden which I did not go to because it was down some steep steps. There were various ornaments, which were probably used in the RHS shows, like urns, big sculptural globes, arches, etc. They have a rental cottage called the pig sty which I had considered renting and I’m very glad I didn’t because first of all they’re in the middle of nowhere and it would be a real pain in the neck getting back-and-forth to other places but more importantly, it’s located right near the café and parking area so would be a bit noisy, and there was a sleeping loft up a ladder so it all looked a bit rustic for me - lucky escape! They do have 3 or 4 other very rustic cottages way up on their acreage.

It was very relaxing to wander around and explore these gardens, which are not huge, but there’s a lot to see in terms of plants and style styles. Plus, you can see a garden in action because some sections are being dug up for replanting and others are a bit bare. because their plants haven’t bloomed yet.

This was been a very satisfying day of meandering and seeing “small” off the beaten path places which pleased me. And it’s not done yet!

Back to the cottage where I decided to walk in the sheep field now that I knew which path to follow. It was very easy, I followed the wire fence with the sound of a small stream next to me and goofy sheep. They’re very aware that I’m in their area and maybe they’re used to humans as farmers bringing them food so they were waiting to see what I was going to do, but when they got within 8 feet of me, they ran away. Lots and lots of sheep patties to avoid walking in! Many lambs - anywhere from three weeks to being born this morning. Sheep really do say baaaaa. It was fun isolating who was baaa-ing and then who responded either by coming over or with their own baa. At the bottom of the field, I went through the gate and there was the railroad for the historic steam engine railway so crossed that through another gate and into another field. This was along the Dee River which is a large fast moving river used by kayaks and white river rafting. More sheep fields up field across the river. When I got almost to the end of that field, I turned around and came back, it was about a mile in total. It was a very nice walk, but if I lived here, I’d have to wear beat up boots or wellies so that I didn’t have to worry about watching where I put my feet. When I almost back to the cottage, I heard the unmistakable sound of a train coming, so looked down at the railroad, and there was the vintage steam train coming - 5 cars with steam billowing and they blew their whistle. I had considered doing one of these train rides, but I really don’t care about trains and they take a fair amount of time which I didn’t want to spend and now, it turns out that I can see it and hear it right from my own little cottage! In fact, this line stops in most of the little towns that I drove through to get to the gardens, Corwen being the last stop where you’ve got about 45 minutes to wander around the town before the train turns around comes back.

This was a fun day, unexpected with my little walk along the river and around the town; a very quirky house with all the carvings; the great garden which made me think and smile; and a walk in nature through the sheep fields.

Pictures in next postt.

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Clear path to follow in sheep field!
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Lots of sheep in all the fields
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Dee River promenade into town
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Plas Newydd Llangollen (to differentiate it from the Plas Newydd in Angelsey) - carved interior
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Info about Plas Newydd
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Caerau Gardens - corner of flower garden
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Tiny little station on the steam heritage railway below my cottage (no stop as far as I know - just a whistle toot)
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Caerau Gardens - walled garden w/vista
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Caerau Gardens
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Caerau Gardens - woodland
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Caerau Gardens - spiral maze with statue and fountain
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Caerau Gardens - paths between garden rooms
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Caerau Gardens - formal allee and topiary
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Caerau Gardens - looking through a window in two hedges

Vickie - I understand your view of the Rhug estate cafe. It was a bit disappointing when we went there, which is all the sadder as the estate itself is famous for its organic lamb and venison. My eldest son buys meat for his school in London from there (on the advice of his chef!).

Interesting about Rhug estate shops; it's clear they spent a lot of money designing and building all the various entities (gourmet shop, bistro, take away cafe, ice cream hut, outside seating areas, etc.) and that there is history and knowledge standing behind the products. It just didn't seem to me that this type of business was very appealing - other than ice cream cones! Hopefully they are successful but it wasn't a place I would recommend.

Day 11, Sun, 4/26: Sunny and mid 60s

This is my last day in Wales and I don’t have a full day planned so I thought I would give myself an easy start by enjoying the scenery from the cottage in the morning so I settled in with my book and watched the sheep. So far I’ve seen a farmer across the river on an ATV bringing food to his sheep. All the sheep come trotting along; I think he must be rounding them up from farther fields because I see smaller groups of them coming through the hedges to the food area. Then I heard the train whistle and lots of steam. Then there was a brief shower. And of course, the ever present birds. It was a very pleasant two hours but I decided to drive to Chirk and visit the local church before going to the stately home, Chirk Castle.

Quick drive to Chirk (A5 to B5070) and used Google maps to find a free parking lot in the center of town. Heard church bells as I was getting there and saw a few people walking into the church so I entered gingerly since I didn’t want to interrupt a service. Turns out I was there about 20 minutes before the service began and a lady from the parish who was the greeter told me I was welcome to look around. It’s not a very attractive church from an architectural or decor perspective; sort of a hodgepodge, but interesting signs with local history. Everybody who came into the church (all elderly) give me a big hello which I returned. I left before the service and wandered around the graveyard which was quite large. Seems like a lot of people died in their 60s. Getting depressing so I left! As I was finishing up at the cemetery, the church bells were pealing again. I saw several people coming out of the church, wiping their brow and I wondered if they were bell ringers so I asked and yes, they were. We had a nice 15-20 minute chat.

Chirk castle was only about 10 minutes away; tons of cars in the car park and a line of people outside the ticket office waiting to pay. Lots of families with young kids. I think everybody in the UK must have an annual membership to the National Trust - I sure would if I lived here😁. Checked out the café, and they were out of premade sandwiches and nothing looked very appealing, which was disappointing. Chirk Castle was purchased by a sugar trader and privateer Sir Thomas Myddelton in 1595 and stayed in the Myddelton family line for 700 years. The building was interesting, and there were a lot of rooms that were open to the public and there were extremely detailed room guides, like the old days. Interesting rooms and furnishings with lavish décor including several state rooms, galleries and libraries as well as kitchen rooms.

After nearly two weeks, I had sensory fatigue (plus physical fatigue!) and wasn’t in the mood to walk around the grounds (I could see a lot of the topiary from the windows). There were a lot of people in the grounds with kids and/or dogs. Happy to not spend time around them. I didn’t feel like walking down the steep hill to the car park so I asked one of the volunteers if the shuttle was working, apparently it wasn’t but they found a guy who would come up and get me (and someone else who was waiting). He said they didn’t have enough licensed people to drive the shuttle, so once he retrieved us, he parked the shuttle behind the visitor center so no one would see it. [Aside: I expect these large houses are in a difficult situation where they want to receive national funding but then need to comply with various national rules (for example, accessible access & shuttles) and having limited personnel makes compliance tough; also, while volunteers generally do a good job with what they’re given, there are some roles they can’t perform (I think anything involving handling money). I understand that there’s a lot behind the scenes that visitors don’t – and shouldn’t – see. I would be happy if the NT reinstated the detailed laminated room handouts and could certainly look past operational glitches.]

I decided to go back into Chirk and have a late lunch in the restaurant I’d walked past on the way to the church which looked appealing, Castle Bistro. I’ve heard about Sunday roasts so decided to get a Sunday roast meal of roast pork belly. Wowza, that was filling! The pork was very flavorful and I felt as though I should eat the Yorkshire pudding since it is British, plus I ate the parsnips and carrots so no dinner tonight needed (other than the leftover pretzels, cookies, and other snacks I have - it’s either eat them or throw them away🤣)

It’s a odd thing but I think very common to travellers – I’m tired of being on the go every day but going home to regular life seems boring too. I really think I need to investigate seriously finding a place to rent longer term.
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Chirk Castle upon approach
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Topiary seen from inside the castle
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Castle BIstro, Chrik

Thanks for your trip report. I have enjoyed reading about the land of my mother through your eyes.

When I was 17 I bought life membership of the National Trust. It cost me 10 pounds but I have got that back many times over, even though I live in the Netherlands, and since it admits two DH benefits too. It even helped get us discount camping places when we had our campervan.

I understand your fatigue at the end of your trip. From experience I think it is important to allow for some down days, where you just enjoy being, rather than doing. I know it is tempting to see and do as much as possible in a short stay, but part of a vacation is the rest and recuperation aspect too.