Showing posts with label Castles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Castles. Show all posts

Saturday, 21 February 2026

Christmas Charm & Historic Halls #9 :: Penrhyn Castle

Hi there everyone 😀

I am sure you will be delighted to know that this is the last of my Christmas Charm & Historic Halls posts for this year.

I can’t quite believe that we visited nine different places full of Christmas trees … over the course of just a couple of months. Eight were National Trust properties … so I think I can say we had great value from our membership last year.

Having taken mum to North Wales for a few days mid-December we managed to fit in a visit to Penrhyn Castle in Bangor to see what they had going on.

We have visited Penrhyn at Christmas before and, whilst only the ground floor of the castle is open at this time of year, it’s still a nice thing to do on what actually turned out to be quite a bright day for December …
The first thing we encountered was a Christmas story time session which was just lovely. The lady doing it was so calm and she had the children absolutely enraptured. It was magical …
As well as plenty of beautifully decorated Christmas trees looking fabulous in the ground floor rooms …
… there were lots of tiny mouse scenes depicting everyday life in the castle …
Once again our favourite tree was the one at the bottom of the grandest of staircases … it was spectacular …
It was a fairly short visit but we were only a stone’s throw from the pier so that’s where headed to next … for a bracing walk and drink at the cafe at the end …

Thanks for following this series of posts … I promise there will be no further mention of Christmas trees until at least November 😜

*********************************************

Thursday, 7 August 2025

School’s Out :: 2025

Hi there everyone 😀

It seems to have become a bit of a tradition for David, Alison and my nephew Bobby to kick off the school holidays with a few days staying with us at the lodge.

This is now the third year they’ve joined us … you can read about their previous visits here and here.

As has also become the norm, the weather forecast didn’t look too promising … but it ended up being far better than expected.

They arrived late on the evening of Bobby’s last day at school, ready for what turned out to be four very full days of adventures and new experiences.

And we really did pack a lot in! From a treasure trail around Beddgelert, a coastal walk and paddle on the beach at Borth-y-Gest, crazy golf and an escape room in Porthmadog, to a couple of dips in the pool, fish and chips on the front in Criccieth, the arcade in Pwllheli, two picnics, a wander around Caernarfon, a BBQ, and a visit to Penrhyn Castle. Phew!

Day 1 – Beddgelert
We started off with a Treasure Trail around Beddgelert, with Bobby leading the way …
It’s one of our favourite villages in North Wales … nestled at the confluence of the rivers Glaslyn and Colwyn and surrounded by mountains, it really is a beautiful spot …
Our trail took us past all our favourite places … 
… and we stopped for a riverside picnic … 
… before heading back into the village … 
… and onto the steam railway station, where we were lucky enough to spot the train awaiting its return journey to Caernarfon …

Day 2 – Borth-y-Gest & Porthmadog
On Day 2, we stayed fairly local and started with a coastal walk at Borth-y-Gest … 
… followed by a paddle on the beach …
From Borth-y-Gest, we headed into Porthmadog, where David, Alison and Bobby tackled the (not so) crazy golf course … 
Then it was ice creams in the park … 
… before our big afternoon adventure — the local escape rooms. Things didn’t go quite to plan, but we very nearly made it out, and definitely had a lot of fun trying …
We rounded off the day with fish and chips on the prom in Criccieth. 

Day 3 – Caernarfon & BBQ
By Day 3, Martin and I were starting to flag a little, so we had a slower start and headed over to Caernarfon, where we managed to bag a handy parking spot in the town square …
David, Bobby and Alison got stuck into a rather interesting Geocache … which involved a few wet feet …
We had a wander around the town walls … 
… and a well-earned pitstop in the sunshine at The Black Boy … 
… before pottering in and out of the little independent shops on our way back to the car.

Back at the lodge, we made the most of the late afternoon sunshine with a dip in the pool, followed by a BBQ to finish the day …

Day 4 – Penrhyn Castle
All too soon, it was time for our visitors to head home. But we managed to squeeze in one final stop … a visit to Penrhyn Castle, which is kind of on their way back …
After a final picnic lunch in the sunshine we waved our guests goodbye. We headed back to the lodge where we pretty much flaked out and didn’t move far at all for the next few days 😜

******************************************