Back in 2024, when we went to Northumberland for our summer holiday, I posted a list of the places that we didn’t go to but had considered. I didn’t publish a list last year, as I knew we were going back to Wales this year. But we’ve decided we’ll be going to the Yorkshire Coast on holiday next year, which means I can share the list of places that we considered, but didn’t end up visiting.
The reasons why we didn’t visit these places varies, but mainly it was a lack of time. With me still recovering, and not able to drive, we took things a little more steady this year than last year.
Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)
Yr Wyddfa, or Snowdon to use its English name, is the tallest mountain in England and Wales. It’s also one of the most accessible, with several walking routes and a narrow gauge railway running up it. Whilst I have been up several mountains in my time, including Yr Wyddfa twice, our ten-year-old has never been up a ‘proper’ mountain and so this would have been a first for them.
Because we were holidaying with my parents, who are both getting on a bit, walking up wasn’t an option for us. And, in peak season, the train is very expensive. A return journey with a diesel train would have cost £230 for the five of us, or £300 for a steam train. And these are the prices when booked in advance, which is strongly recommended as availability of tickets on the day can’t be guaranteed. Weather conditions atop Snowdon can be very different than at lower levels, so there’s a risk of booking ahead and ending up with bad weather.
Welsh Highland Railway
By comparison, the Welsh Highland Railway offers much better value for money, being a longer journey all the way from Porthmadog to Caernarfon. However, heritage railways have a maximum speed limit of 25mph, so a journey there and back basically takes all day and doesn’t leave you much time in Caernarfon.
I went on the Welsh Highland Railway from Beddgelert to Caernarfon in 2009, but was part of a group who was able to pick us up in Caernarfon and take us back. It’s a lovely, scenic journey and I’d definitely recommend it, but you need a whole day for it and we ran out of time.
Conwy Water Gardens
Down the Conwy Valley from Conwy are the Conwy Water Gardens. We didn’t go because of the largely negative reviews on TripAdvisor; I get the impression that it used to have more animals than it does now and it seems rather run-down. A colleague of mine also visited recently, and said she was disappointed. We did visit the nearby Bodnant Garden last year which was excellent.
Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant
Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant is a National Trust property near Betws-y-Coed, and was featured on a recent Hidden Treasures of the National Trust episode which also focussed on the Farne Islands. It’s notable as the birthplace of Bishop William Morgan, who was the first person to translate the entire Bible into Welsh. Nowadays, it’s home to many Bibles in lots of different languages.
The lack of information on their web site about admissions prices suggests that it is free for everyone to visit, not just National Trust members. However, it’s one of their smaller properties and so we would have wanted to combine it with something else.
Llandudno Chocolate Experience
We did go to Llandudno last year, but didn’t visit this small chocolate museum. I get the impression that visits are quite short, lasting around an hour or so, and it’s only open weekdays and summer Saturdays. Maybe if we’re back in Llandudno for another reason we might pop in.
Plas Mawr
Plas Mawr was actually within walking distance of where we were staying. It’s a Cadw property, and is an Elizabethan townhouse inside the walls of Conwy. Whilst somewhat hidden away, the house is seemingly quite large, with 17 rooms on show. We just didn’t get around to visiting it.
Castell Rhuddlan
Rhuddlan is yet another castle in North Wales built by Edward I, but it’s not part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, presumably because it’s further east in Denbighshire. Like the other castles, it’s partly ruined and now in the care of Cadw.
Unlike the other castles, it’s not in a coastal location but several miles inland. As such, the nearby river was diverted around the castle, to give it a defensive advantage.
Castell Harlech
We could have visited Castell Harlech, to complete the set of four castles as part of the World Heritage Site, but it was just a little too far away. It’s also in the care of Cadw.
Plas Brondanw
Plas Brondanw was somewhere that I hadn’t previously heard of. It was the home of Clough Williams-Ellis, who designed the village of Portmeirion, which we visited last year. As such, the gardens are quite nice and are open to the public, with RHS members getting free entry as one of their partner gardens.
We didn’t go because it was just a little bit too far out of the way.
Menai Bridges Exhibition
This is a museum about the bridges across the Menai Strait between Anglesey and the Welsh mainland. There are two bridges:
- The Menai Suspension Bridge, the older of the two and built by Thomas Telford around 200 years ago as a road bridge.
- The Britannia Bridge, built by Robert Stephenson. Originally opened as a railway bridge, it suffered a catastrophic fire in 1970 and was rebuilt as a combined rail and road bridge.
My parents did actually visit this last year, whilst Christine and I took our (then) nine-year-old to the Anglesey Sea Zoo. Christine drove us over the Menai Suspension Bridge this time, which was my first time crossing it having previously only used the Britannia Bridge.
Incidentally, there were plans for a third Menai crossing, to relieve the Britannia Bridge which is now essentially the only single-carriageway section of Euroroute 22 in the UK. A preferred route in between the two current bridges was chosen in 2018, but the scheme was permanently shelved in 2023.
