A Trip To Wales

Posted on September 15, 2016 By Chris Doyle

Bron Derw Caravan Park

A bit further afield this time Bron Derw Caravan Park   in Llanrwst. That’s a good 80 miles!

You know, writing these blogs makes me realise how lucky we are to live in the North West. Even our house on the outskirts of St Helens and just 15 miles from Liverpool is surrounded by countryside, woodland and farmland, and given, say, an hour or so  driving time you can be anywhere; Lancashire, Yorkshire, The Coast, Wales, The Lake District, The Peak district. Combine that with homely pubs and friendly people and you have a winning combination. Though if I did win the lottery I’d probably go and live in Sidney.

Anyway, here we are in Wales. It’s raining. This caravan park tho. (as the kids say).

This caravan park is the polar opposite of  Lady Heyes. I know we’ve only been doing this for three weeks but it must be one of the most beautiful sites in the UK. It has won campsite of the year several times so I think I’m on safe ground there. In fact here’s a little panorama so you can see for yourself Bron Derw Panorama

We arrived after the office had closed but there was a little welcome note pinned to the door for us and a card inside with the key code for the barrier. We were on the Adult only site (at first I thought ooer missus –  but it just means no children). The site has three separate areas; the adult site with about 20 pitches, a Caravan club site with just 5 pitches and a main site open for any age group, again with about 20 pitches.

Though not far from the main road and the little town of Llanrwst the camp site is set in the countryside with fantastic views I’m told! (it was raining, we could only see 20 yards). As you turn into the campsite and continue along a tarmacked road you pass the general campsite on your left. Then the CC site on your left too, followed by reception and then the adult site on your right. A fenced off dog walking area runs alongside this road. The lawns are immaculately manicured, there are ornamental lamp posts, beautiful hedges and flower displays. Some magnificent Hydrangeas – biggest and most colourful I’ve ever seen

Each area has its own amenities and they are spotless modern and warm. No locks or pay slots here. Very nice. We got set up on our pitch and got hooked up, gas on  and water tanks filled. I have learned by now to take the spray nozzle off the end and just use the open ended hose. That reduces tank filling time by half! We enjoyed a cuppa before taking Muffin for a walk and having a little explore of our site. Luckily I had a large umbrella in the back as it was raining.

After a good night’s sleep we woke up to another rainy day, I took muffin down to the  longer dog walk near the main site while Lesley made breakfast. Eggs Benedict would you believe yummy. After breakfast we had a walk into llanrwst It’s a nice quiet little town and only 5 minutes away. Some places weren’t open yet and I did say to Lesley “I suppose it’s bound to be quieter on a Sunday”  she said “yes, but it’s Saturday!” ah well, at least it wasn’t raining…….…. Oh hang on!

The town itself has quite a nice market town feel to it. It’s well situated too within easy reach of Betws-y-Coed and Snowdonia. If you don’t fancy mountains and I can’t imagine why, you could head the other way to the coast and Conwy and Llandudno. The town has a railway station too so you can get trains to Betws-y-coed and Blaenau Ffestiniog and loads of other places. We will definitely be coming back to this site in Summer (oh wait it’s July already!)  so we will check this out in more details and plan a little train ride somewhere. There are beautiful attractions such as Bodnant Gardens nearby so there is plenty to do. If only it would stop raining.

Well after our walk we just had dinner, a glass of vino or three and read and listened to the radio. Very cosy.

Not much else to report from Bron Derw really, mostly due to the weather. Llanrwst is quite a nice town beautifully located with a good selection of shops, pubs and restaurants. It has bus links and a railway station too so there’s plenty to do. We’d just come to chill out a little and play motorhoming so we just kind of hibernated, not before I got some beer from the biggest Co-op I’ve ever been in though! Must get that waterproof clothing sorted out  then we can go and explore no matter what the weather. (maybe)

What did we learn?

Well we learned that the MH is waterproof – it rains a lot in Wales. To be honest it’s not just Wales, this is a pretty miserable Summer all round. One day the suns cracking the flags, next day you need your heating on! So I guess we learned that you need good waterproof clothing, lightweight stuff that will let you move about without getting a sweat on as it’s still quite warm even though it’s raining –  I’ll be on the lookout for some of that.

We learned that an awning would be good too as it would give you that bit more room and allow you to change boots and remove the ‘not yet bought’ waterproof clothing before coming into the MH.

We learned that removing the sprinkler from the hose speeds up the filling time but I still need to sort out one of those Water Tank Caps 

We learned that the weather can make a big difference. Luckily we had downloaded a couple of shows to watch on Lesley’s i-pad and I enjoy reading too so that was ok. We couldn’t really sit out at all or explore the local area as much as we would have liked.

 

Camping • Campsite • Motor Home     Wales

• ← Capesthorne Hall
• On the Shropshire Union Canal →