Self Catering Barn Near Pwllheli, Llyn Peninsula – Bryncaled Diary

“Despite the inclement weather we all had a fabulous break in a delightful, well appointed cottage. It was close to all amenities and yet remote enough for peace and tranquility. Facilities were spot on, in fact we enjoyed it so much, we considered taking a few extra days onto our fortnight’s holiday, but unfortunately it was booked.

It was our granddaughters 1st holiday, 1st time at the beach, 1st tooth, and 1st paddle in the sea, many other 1sts – so memorable we will have to do it again very shortly. Cannot recommend it highly enough.”

– Alan Jones, Shropshire

As it was such a lovely day, we decided we would spend our first day in Aberdaron so the girls could enjoy the beach. The village of Aberdaron, not too far from where we were staying could only be described as one of the most idyllic little seaside villages we’ve ever come across. Set right next to the sea with nothing but rolling hills and valleys in the opposite direction it’s a village that feels a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We took a walk along the beach and enjoyed some time by the water before learning of its religious history. The island which sits close to Aberdaron, Bardsey Island has been noted as a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years with settlements on the island that indicate that the island has been receiving visitors from a much earlier date.

We also discovered that you can take boat trips over to the island from Porth Meudwy where you’ll be able to spend over three hours on the island, great for birdwatchers and wildlife lovers. This little fishing village really gave us the downtime we needed to relax. It seemed like we were a world away from our normal busy lives.

On our second day we really wanted to make a day of it somewhere where the girls would really remember so we spent half the day in Anglesey Sea Zoo and half in Foel Farm Park which were situated right next to each other. Being that the girls are aged four and seven, they were in their element the whole day. The Sea Zoo, was fairly educational for the girls as they hadn’t seen anything like it before and so they were very interested and intrigued about the different varieties of fish. They were really engaged the whole time with interactive buttons and helpful guides. The Foel Farm Park was also a great experience for the girls where they could feed some goats, sheep and even the resident horses. At the end of it all, they were even holding rabbits and bottle feeding the lambs which was a lovely experience for them.

On our final day we visited Bodnant Garden, where we could see a huge variety of plants from all over the world. It was really nice to see a an arrangement of formal and less formal, wooded areas of the garden set so close to each other so that there is something for everyone. A great thing about the garden was that we were able to pick up activity backpacks for the girls so that they were able to keep entertained throughout the day; often a difficult task.

Our favourite part was walking under the laburnum arch where all you could see was golden yellow with beams of sunlight shining through. We enjoyed the final part of our afternoon in the pavilion tea room, eating a couple of slices of cake with some refreshments which was needed after all that walking. We were sad to go back and begin our packing again that evening ready to leave the next day but we made sure we left enough time for a lovely family meal together that evening. We would definitely recommend this little cottage to any small family looking to get away for a few days. We just wish that we could have stayed longer.