Holiday Diary – Holiday Cottage near Snowdon in Rhyd Ddu

“The cottage was absolutely beautiful. It was quiet but within easy reach of amenities. The cottage is very high spec, well decorated, furnished and just felt comfortable like a home from home, and the views are absolutely spectacular. I would really highly recommend it, as a good location to North Wales with a very relaxing atmosphere.”
– Cathy McAllister, Ellesmere Port.

When we arrived to this cosy little holiday cottage near Snowdon, we were so surprised that this was an old quarryman’s cottage, given the clean-cut and contemporary feel to the place. Still, it didn’t lose its character with its little inglenook and log burner. Once my partner and I had set our things down and unpacked a bit, one of the first things we did was light a fire (which was enough to heat the whole house). Another favourite part of the property had to be the little stream running at the bottom of the garden. The cottage was perfect and you really couldn’t ask for more.

As my partner and I are keen walkers, we really came to enjoy some of local walks and activities on offer around the area. Well, there were certainly enough of them that David and I could be really picky about what we wanted to do during our four day stay.

Of course, us being us, climbing Mount Snowdon was the first thing on our list and it was so close too that we didn’t have to travel to it. We‘d read that we could take the Rhyd Ddu Path from our doorstep so that’s where we began our walk. Well, we expected a challenge and we were definitely given one and some of the best walking views we’ve ever seen to go with it! It was one of the quietest of the six routes to the summit, which was relay nice for us. The first part of the walk wasn’t too steep which gave us a good warm up for the steeper, rocky Llechog ridge. From there on, the walk was pretty demanding and we were both glad to reach the summit to see the stunning views from the highest point. The walk back down was just as great and we had a wonderful experience which lasted around six hours. We’d love to see it again, and we were so glad to see that if we were short of time, we could take the narrow gauge steam train.

The next day, David and I were a bit sore from the walking but we didn’t want to miss out on the scenery so we decided to pay a visit to the Welsh Highland Railway which wasn’t far from the cottage where we got off at Beddgelert. The village is beautiful and in keeping of its surroundings, set in Snowdonia National Park. Just a short walk away from the village centre we visited is most historical feature; Gelert’s Grave. During the 13th century, a Prince returned to his palace to find his heir missing. Price Llewelyn then slays his hound thinking that the dog had harmed the child. Llywelyn discovered that the loyal hound had protected the unharmed child from a mighty wolf and then dedicated the area to be his place of rest.

It was a lovely day to visit the area as we were able to sit outside next to the river that ran through the village before returning home by the steam train again and relaxing in the cottage by evening.

On our third day, we decided to take the steam train again to visit Caernarfon Castle, a World Heritage Site. It was such an amazing sight! This little tourist town is even set right around the castle which added a medieval feel to the area. Even after we’d been inside we could enjoy it for the rest of the day as it stood tall amongst the surrounding building. We picked up some rock for our friends and family from a little shop before having some lunch along the waterfront. Once we’d left and arrived back at the cottage we thought it would be nice to spend our last evening in The Cwellyn Arms, the local pub, just a stroll away from the cottage. Even the pub offered a wonderful atmosphere were again, a log fire was not missed and there was a great choice food and locally brewed ales. We were definitely sad that it was our last night in Rhyd Ddu but we agreed that we’d come back again to take on some of Snowdonia’s finest walking routes!