Celtic Comfort: A Welsh Escape

When you introduce yourself to North Wales, you make a friend for life. Doug Wallace

NOW THAT “OFF THE BEATEN TRACK” is a holiday requisite, the true traveller’s essential, it’s nice to find a place where I don’t have to veer too far off to get what I’m after – namely, friendly folk, farm-to-table meals, endorphins, fresh air and big-sky scenery. Happily, I find all of this in North Wales, the United Kingdom’s under-appreciated pastoral paradise. The track we’re beating is practically empty as we barrel down the narrow motorway, trying not to freak out about driving not only on the opposite side of the road but also on the other side of the car. The traffic is nothing compared to England or Scotland. Where is everybody? All I can see are sheep covering the rolling farmland, which apparently out-number the Welsh population 3:1. Getting back to nature, another travel checklist item, is a no-brainer here, too, simply because nature is all around me.

Swinging into the resort town of Llandudno, I get my first glimpse of the town’s Victorian-era arc of care-worn, pastel-coloured seaside hotels. They yield such a strong sense of storybook sentimentality, I forget to put money in the meter and we get a parking ticket – road trips are not without their pitfalls. As it’s a little chilly out and slightly preseason, many of the arcades and confections stalls are shuttered, so our cotton candy and pinball games will have to wait for another time. We walk to the end of the 19th-century pier and have a pint with a small smattering of other tourists, staring out at the craggy limestone headland. Cue the peaceful easy feeling, which sets in and never leaves. When it starts to rain, as it often does in this part of the British Isles, we weave up the driveway of nearby Bodysgallen Hall & Spa and let its tiled fireplaces take off the chill. The 600-year-old country manor sports an old-fashioned flounciness that goes hand-in-hand with the rose bushes, fishpond and landscaped gardens, hedges edged with precision. When the sun begins to set, we are already in the lounge with martinis, leisurely  thumbing a meat-forward menu. After ordering, we sink into the sofas and recap the day, before “going through” to the dining room when our appetizers are about to be plated — a type of service style that couldn’t be more British or more special.

Dining in Wales is a nightly treat thanks to incredible lamb, wild game and produce; farm-to-table here means just that. As well, the clean and nutrient- rich seabeds make Wales one of the best places in the world to farm mussels and oysters. Throughout the road trip, we also encounter fresh sea bass right o‘ the boat, melt-in-your-mouth butter (really the fresh bread, however delicious, is just a vehicle for the butter), gin made with foraged botanicals and mountain-fresh water. Wales is famous ftor its award-winning sea salt, too, a perfect food souvenir.  We push back from the dessert plates, head to our room, open a window and fall asleep listening to the frogs. Their songs quickly become the soundtrack to my dreams.

EVERY LANDSCAPE TELLS A STORY
In the morning, I can see our next stop from the room: Conwy Castle, just one of dozens of  World Heritage-listed sites in North Wales, this one dating back to the late 1200s. Fortress ruins always make me wonder how people kept warm 600 years ago, what they ate, where they went to the bathroom, how and where they slept. I eventually snap out of it when I remember that battlements were built for launching arrows, not sitting around drinking tea. I get dizzy climbing the spiral staircases up a few of the castle’s eight towers. We pause at the top to drink in the view of the mountain peaks of Snowdonia, where a local guide has consented to take us on a hillside hike.

At more than 2,000 sq. kms., Snowdonia National Park is made up of both public and private land, much of it farmland. No surprise then that this is a hikers’ haven, with locals and tourists taking to the numerous trails to experience the natural environment and lose their heads in the clouds of the region’s four mountain ranges. Our little jaunt to Aber Falls only takes a few hours, but the reward lasts for hours afterward. Later on back at sea level, a side trip to an architectural oddity turns my afternoon into an indulgence of pure nostalgia. The colourful tourist village of Portmeirion is British folly at its ’nest, constructed mostly for decoration by a noted architect who designed all the buildings in the style of an Italian seaside village, with a mishmash of Mediterranean ornamentation thrown in for good measure. Visited by heads of state, honeymooners and families, the famous and the curious, Portmeirion is also a well- known backdrop for films and TV shows, including “The Prisoner”, a British spy series and cult favourite from 1967. I completely geek out in front of a statue of the show’s late star Patrick McGoohan, scaring away a young family in the process. My shot of him quickly be- comes my Instagram hero of the day. This is just the type of discovery I’ve come to expect from Wales, a fountain of surprises – from natural wonders to history lessons to old-style comforts — things you find when you take the side road or the long way around. But like I say, sometimes you don’t have to go far.

ESSENTIAL NORTH WALES
CHECK IN • Find traditional, old-world comfort at 17th-century Bodysgallen Hall & Spa, midway between Llandudno and Conwy, which sports incredible views and a garden worthy of a period film set. bodysgallen.com • A French fairy tale comes to life at Château Rhianfa on the island of Anglesey. Built in 1849 overlooking the Menai Strait, it offers sumptuous suites with showers built into the turrets. chateaurhianfa.com • Book well ahead into the Michelin- starred Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms near Machynlleth. Chef Gareth Ward creates a food journey via local and foraged ingredients within a country house that dates back 500 years. ynyshir.co.uk

VENTURE OUT • The magnificent Plas Mawr town house in Conwy is one of the best surviving examples of Elizabethan-era finery, once the home of wealthy merchant Robert Wynn. Translating to “Great Hall,” the building’s 17 rooms have been restored to their original 16th-century state. conwy.com/place/plas-mawr • A salt tasting at Anglesey sea salt company Halen Môn will introduce your taste buds to the bounty of the Menai Strait, with take-homes that include charcoal sea salt, salted caramel, black garlic ketchup and smoked water. halenmon.com

Written by Doug Wallace for Cruise & Travel Lifestyles Magazine, Summer 2026 issue