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Published: October 31st 2022
I had been coping well during the Covid pandemic but, after 5 months of being stuck at home with only being able to pop out for essential or exercise activities, I was starting to get fed up. The lockdown restrictions had started to ease, and the hospitality industry had starting to open back up albeit with extreme restrictions. My stepdaughter, Sienna, eagerly wanted to visit her friend in North Wales and stay with her for a while, so I suggested that I drive her and the rest of us go and stay in a B&B nearby, as even with strong restrictions, a change of scenery is much needed.
We decide to stop off at the
Sunflower Maze, not too far from Liverpool, as we head up. Fiona had seen a celebrity visit there on social media and wanted to go, and so we planned to incorporate it with our visit to Wales. The
Sunflower Maze has 17 acres of sunflowers. The children are excited to walk through the magical sunflower maze, as we experience the feeling of walking through a 17-acre field of giant flowers looking at us and, in the kids' case, looking down at them. It feels like
a summer's day with the sun beaming down on us as we are surrounded by yellow flowers and the sounds of the bees buzzing around. Once we make it out of the maze, we treat ourselves to an ice cream and a cold ice drink from the cafe stall. Out of the profits made from the entrance fee, half of it goes back to their selected charity, the UK's National Health Service (NHS); the NHS have been brilliant with dealing with the pandemic, which has really hit hard. In recognition to the NHS, the owners have grown sunflowers in one of the fields to clearly show from above the word 'NHS'.
From where we are it's just an hour and a half drive to northwest Wales after a three and a half hour drive up towards Liverpool from Hampshire. When we arrive in Llandudno, which is pronounced as 'Clan-dig-no' in Welsh, we go to Sienna's friend's house to drop her off there and it is nice to see her friend and family as they used to live in our estate, we enjoy a cuppa tea and have a quick catch-up.
We then head into the centre of Llandudno
to find our B&B; parking isn't great, but we are fortunate to find a space not too far from the B&B as it's a case of finding a space either side of a long road filled with houses, some which have been converted into B&Bs. Restrictions are well in place as we have to walk around the B&B wearing a mask, the only time we can remove the mask is when we are in our room or sat down for breakfast. We have to stick to an agreed time allocation for breakfast as only one household can enter the dining room at one time. The restriction measurements do seem a little excessive, but we are glad for some normality.
We enjoy some chill out time in our room before heading out to
Llandudno Pier. The pier is the longest pier in Wales, but the fifth longest in England and Wales combined. There are a few shops and takeaways open on the pier, but not everything is open yet, as the official day for everything to re-open is tomorrow. The rules are only essential shops are allowed to remain open during a lockdown and Wales is a bit behind to
England as we've experienced everything being back open for some weeks now albeit with the many restrictions.
In terms of dinner, we can only get a takeaway, so we go for an obligatory seaside favourite, fish and chips.
Next day Our first full day here in Llandudno and we decide to do a beach visit as the weather forecast is looking promising today in terms of plenty of sunshine. The owners of our B&B suggest we visit
West Shore Beach as they feel it is the prettiest beach and it gets less crowded as its away from the commercial side of the town. From the B&B, it's about a 15-minute walk and we have the pushchair. As we walk along the main road towards the beach, we notice characters from Alice in Wonderland. The connection with this Welsh town and the children's classic goes all the way back to 1861, when an eight-year-old girl called Alice Liddell (the real 'Alice' in Wonderland) would spend many of her summer holidays in Llandudno. Ironically, her holiday home was built on
West Shores Beach, where we are heading. The Liddells were close family friends with Charles Dodgson, who wrote the
books under his famous pen name, Lewis Carroll; It was speculated that Lewis Carroll visited the Liddells at their holiday home and was inspired by Alice and her adventures in Llandudno.
We arrive at the beach, and we are not really sure what the weather is doing; the sky is very overcast and looks full of rain, whilst at the same time the sun is trying to break-out. There is a sea breeze, and it feels rather chilly at times, but we make the most of our time on the beach by putting up the beach tent and letting the kids play in the sand. It's Jovie's first time on a beach where she's been able to stand up and really embrace the fun of playing on a beach.
In the evening we enjoy a family meal at the
Home Cookin' restaurant and take full advantage of a government scheme where we only have to pay half of the bill and the restaurant claims the other half from the government; an incentive to help get the economy going, given the mess that the pandemic has caused. With this being the first evening of all restaurants opening back up
in Wales, and the incentive, we are lucky to get a table at this popular restaurant.
Next day We head towards the pier to purchase a 24-hour tour ticket with
City Sight Seeing Bus Tour where you can hop-on and hop-off as much as you like. There are two bus routes, with one taking you around Llandudno as well as its neighbouring town, Conwy. The other route will take you up the Great Orme, which is Llandudno's mini mountain. We decide to visit Conwy and make a day of it.
Conwy (Pronounced con-way) is a world heritage site with a stunning 13th-century castle. It has a quaint harbour and modern looking suspension bridge. It is also the home of Britian's smallest house. When we arrive in Conwy, we hope-off at
Conwy Castle, but disappointingly learn it is still closed and not re-opened yet to the public; still, we are able to walk around it and admire the size of this beautiful 13th-century castle as well as leisurely walk along
Conway Town Wall, although Jovie is not too keen on the walking with her little legs and even when I pick her up, she is still unhappy. We
made a decision to come without the pushchair because of getting on and off the bus, but perhaps this was a bad decision.
From the castle, we continue to walk leisurely along
Conway Town Wall. These town walls are among the finest and most complete in Europe; stretching almost uninterrupted around Conwy’s medieval heart, they run for three quarters of a mile with 21 towers and three original gateways along their length. If you’ve got a head for heights, you can take a walk along the top of the wall as it loops around Conwy’s cramped medieval street. We decide to stop off at
Cantin, a cafe situated next to
Bodlondeb Park. We are curious to try a Welsh Tea and so we order it. The Welsh Tea is similar to an English Tea where you get a pot of tea and a scone but with the Welsh Tea you get Bara Brith with butter included as well. I've never tried Bara Brith, but it tastes yummy. Bara Brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread that is flavoured with tea, dried fruits and spices, and it complements the Welsh Tea just nicely as I take a sip of my
tea after eating a piece of Bara Brith. Jovie takes a little nap whilst Zak plays in the park, but Jovie's nap isn't long enough and she's not happy.
We head towards
Conwy Quay next to find
The Smallest House in Great Britain. The house measures just 72 inches across, 112 inches high and 120 inches deep. It manages to squeeze a bedroom upstairs and living area downstairs, with very basic facilities. Given its size, it is more suited for one person to live in, but there have been couples living in the house in the past. It was saved from being demolished when a local corporation declared in unfit for habitation but the owner, Robert Jones, managed to save it after touring around the country to get it confirmed it was indeed the smallest house in Great Britain (GB) and so it instead became a tourist attraction in the early 1900's. The Guiness Book of Records confirmed its status as the smallest house in GB in the early 1920s.
We try to enjoy the liveliness of the quay, especially now that the sun has broken through the clouds and is shining, but Jovie just isn't happy and
is very tired. We decide we are losing a battle as she is having a proper toddler tantrum; some people are kind and tell us they've been there themselves, whilst others give us unpleasant stares. I am kicking myself for not taking the pushchair because we could have spent more time here in Conwy, but we've had enough of the tantrum and decide best to get the bus back to Llandudno.
After having an early dinner at
Thaitastic, a lovely Thai restaurant. We meet up with Sienna, her friend and mum, and we follow their car up to the
Great Orme Country Park. The roads up are quite narrow and bendy, as we get towards the top, we have to stop and make way for the sheep to cross the road. We park up at the very top of Great Orme and enjoy the stunning views of the Irish Sea, whilst almost being blown away by the strong winds. We enjoy taking some photos and doing videos of ourselves with our hair being blown all over the place.
Next day We make use of our 24-hour bus ticket and walk to the
City Sight Seeing Bus Tour pick-up location near to the pier for a lift up to the Great Orme. The bus stops off at several locations on the Great Orme and we get off at the
Great Orme Mines. This area was uncovered in 1987 during a scheme to landscape an area of the Great Orme, and the copper mines were discovered. Dating back 4,000 years to the Bronze Age, the extraction has changed how the ancient people of Britain have been viewed previously with their brilliance for mining cooper, some 2,000 years before the Romans invaded Britain. Over the years, mining engineers, cavers and archaeologists have slowly been uncovering more tunnels, which is thought to be the largest prehistoric mine discovered so far in the world. We enjoy walking around, looking at artefacts and exploring the tunnels; unfortunately, Jovie isn't a fan of the tunnels and so we split in two groups, and I stay above ground with Jovie whilst Fiona and Zak explore the tunnels and I subsequently explore on my own afterwards; to be honest, I enjoy a little alone time.
Afterwards we take the bus back down to the pier and walk along the promenade. Jovie is happy as we
purchase for her a large bouncy pink ball, which is almost the same size as her. Along the promenade we see the Mad Hatter statue. From the promenade, we walk down a main road and side street until we find the
Llandudno Chocolate Experience. We thought this experience would entertain the kids and they're immediately happy to receive some free chocolate samples upon purchasing our entrance tickets. The attraction is laid out across nine areas: each one recreating a different part of chocolate's history. This same building is where they make and produce chocolate and, although they're relatively small, they sell their products across Europe and not just the UK. We enjoy the nostalgic collection of UK branded chocolate wrappers, tin boxes and posters; some have changed massively over the years and some we are far too young to remember. I promise I am not showing off because I am in my thirties when saying we are far too young to remember, as some of these items actually date back to the reign of Queen Victoria which ended almost 120 years ago.
We spend our evening at Sienna's friends' house, where we enjoy a homecooked spaghetti bolognaise cooked for
us and make the most of our last evening in Llandudno. It is lovely for Sienna's friend and parents to see Jovie as she was only a newborn baby the last time they saw her before they relocated to Wales from where we live in Hampshire.
We have enjoyed our time in Llandudno and the break has been much needed.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
I love scones
These look tasty.