We spent 7 nights in North Wales (near Conwy) in September 2013. Here’s the review of our trip:

Accommodation – The Apple Store (http://www.hoseasons.co.uk/cottages/the-apple-store-hw7379)

This cottage was actually one of the main reasons that we decided to visit the area as I have a thing for hot tubs and the location seemed ideal for visiting as much of North Wales as possible, as it was only a few minutes from the main A55. There’s not much in Mochdre itself, but Conwy, Llandudno and the Tesco superstore at Llandudno Junction are easy to reach by car. As the name suggests, the cottage itself is a converted apple store, with the bedroom and bathroom downstairs, and an open-plan kitchen/dining room/lounge upstairs including a log burner. The sun room and covered hot tub are in the garden itself (we spent a lot of time in that hot tub – it was great!). The Hoseasons pre-departure info incorrectly stated that the property had a washing machine, other than that the cottage had everything that we needed. Unfortunately, the cottage also had something that we really didn’t need – a pervasive damp smell that was obvious as soon as we first entered the property. We did our best to try and put up with it during the week, hoping that cooking smells or opening the windows would help, but it soon became clear that the smell was settling into our clothes. It’s now over a month since we arrived home and, despite washing our clothes multiple times, the smell is still there and we will probably end up having to throw some things away. It’s such a shame because everything else about the cottage was great – but there’s no way we would ever go back unless we were certain that the damp problem had been fixed.

Things to do

Conwy – On arrival, we parked at the Long Stay car park on Llanrwst road and bought a joint ticket for Plas Mawr and the Castle. We found both very interesting, but we particularly enjoyed the audio tour at Plas Mawr. We are National Trust (NT) members so also used our time in Conwy to visit the Aberconwy Medieval Merchant’s House and the Conwy Suspension Bridge & toll house – neither are very big but still worth a visit. We had tea and cake at the Tower Coffee House near the Castle and ended our day with a walk around the town walls. We ended up spending an entire day there so it was lucky we had bought an 8hr car park ticket!

Anglesey – We started our day with a visit to Beaumaris Castle, which was interesting but our experience was slightly marred by the relatively expensive car park and the rain (most of it is outdoors). We then went to the Oriel Ynys Môn museum & gallery, which had some interesting sections, but overall wasn’t very well laid out. The weather had perked up by then so we decided to drive up to Holyhead to visit the South Stack Nature Reserve. There is a RSPB centre and café there, but most interestingly you can also buy tickets to visit the lighthouse. It’s a long way down (400 steps), plus even more steps to get to the top of the lighthouse, but the views are amazing and the lighthouse tour was very interesting too. Definitely recommended on a dry/clear day.

Llandudno – We arrived early and parked up beyond the pier, near Happy Valley – getting an 8hr ticket again. First stop was the Home Front Museum, which we really enjoyed and would recommend. We then wandered around the town and the pier, before heading to the Great Orme Cable Car. The cable car itself was great, but we were disappointed by the relatively expensive single ticket price and restrictive opening times, which meant that we paid a lot for a one way journey. It’s also a shame that you can’t get a round trip ticket that involves the tram as well. It was a sunny day, so once we reached the top we decided to take a walk down to the Rest and Be Thankful café for tea and cake (lovely!), before walking back to our car along the Marine Drive. A very enjoyable day!

Caernarfon – We arrived early and managed to park right by the castle, on the quay. The castle itself was excellent and we spent hours looking around it, but do bear in mind that some of the tower steps are quite steep, with only rope handrails. Afterwards we got a town map from the tourist office and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area and sampling the local ice cream and cakes.

Llanberis – We had hoped to go up Snowdon but the weather was not playing ball for us so we decided to visit the Welsh Slate Museum instead. This turned out to be a really good (and free) museum – we particularly liked the demonstrations of slate splitting and the re-built miners’ cottages. In the afternoon, we were also able to visit the old Quarry Hospital which is just a short walk away. It’s hard to imagine how on earth they coped without all the trappings of modern medicine – definitely glad we were able to have a look round. Afterwards we decided to make a short visit to Penrhyn Castle, as from the NT guidebook it looked like there wasn’t much to see there. How wrong we were! It’s one of the most impressive NT properties that we’ve ever been to – we will definitely have to go back again one day. The small railway museum was worth seeing too.

Conwy Valley/Betws-y-coed – We started the day at Bodnant Garden (NT), which was really lovely, so it was a shame that the inclement weather forced us to spend less time there than we would have liked. Afterwards, we headed to Ty Mawr Wybrnant (also NT), which is just south of Betws-y-coed. The road gets narrower and narrower as you get nearer the property so we had some hairy moments with cars coming in the opposite direction. There is not much to see on the site itself but the staff member on the day we went was enthusiastic and full of information and really made our visit. Afterwards we headed back to Betws-y-Coed where we had tea and cakes at the Alpine coffee shop on the station platform – a very quirky place and somewhere we would like to go back to. Finally we made a quick visit to the Conwy Valley Railway Museum – sadly this has seen better days so we didn’t enjoy it that much. The mini train rides looked like good fun for kids though.

Overall, we had a really fantastic holiday and will definitely be re-visiting North Wales at some point in future.