Our Snowdonian Road Trip

You may have seen on my Instagram and YouTube channel that we recently packed up the car for the weekend and headed from South Wales through Mid-Wales to the beautiful Snowdonia where we spent two nights in Barmouth. We were really lucky with the weather being dry during the day and still fairly mild for this time of the year. As it's just over a four hour drive up we decided to spilt the journeys both ways with our first break along the way at the Elan Valley.

This area has some fantastic walks, we spotted loads of Red Kites in the sky above us and the large reservoirs are breathtaking. There is also a an indoor exhibition at the visitors centre with a small children play area, a cafe with a great selection for those looking for a substantial break. Outside there is a fun play park with a nature theme as well as sculpture stones as you walk towards the reservoir. If your heading up North on the A470 this is a great place to break up your journey especially if you have children with you as offers so much space to run around.

After a few hours we jumped back into the car and drove through all the quaint and cute villages and towns along the way, then as you get closer to Snowdonia the landscape changes again, with parts of it looking like middle earth, very dramatic with mountains running down to the sea. We stayed at Away Resorts just outside of Barmouth right on the coast and only a few meters away from the beach, as it was off peak the resort was very quiet which was great for us. It was the first time we had ever done a static caravan holiday so we really didn't know what to expect but check in was a breeze, the caravan was warm and toasty despite temperatures dropping drastically at night and the kitchen was well equipped. The interior could do with a slight update but had everything we needed to be comfortable and was a great base with Portmeirion and Harlech Castle being under half an hour away.

Away Resorts Barmouth also had a great indoor pool which was a huge hit with the boys and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves and was the perfect was to relax after a busy day of exploring the local area. There is also a small outdoor play park on site which we visited one evening, it was a little big for my youngest but perfect for my eldest. I really liked the fact that this was a quieter location with a focus on being so close to the beach and outdoor activities rather than novelty attractions meaning you could enjoy some quality family time. There was meant to be wifi but it didn't work due to bad weather earlier in the week although we didn't actually mind that as it meant we could have a bit of a work and social media down time.

As I mentioned Barmouth is only around half an hour away from the quirky Italian Style Village of Portmeirion so we decided to spend one full day there. I will do a much larger post about this place which is simply breathtaking, magical and slightly bizarre all in one and if you haven't been yet you really need to go, you won't regret it. On the way to Portmeirion you pass through the historical town of Harlech and the impressive castle on the cliff side, we wanted to try and fit in a visit to there as well but run out of time. The one thing about this mini road break is it's shown us just how much of Wales we still want to see and explore and has inspired us to plan a much larger road trip next year lasting around a week so we can take in all the castles and historical places with the kids.

As I said I will do a much larger post just on our time at Portmeirion as that was certainly one of the highlights of the trip and both of the boys where mesmerised by the magic of it all. On our last morning after breakfast and packing up we headed back on the road, this time we decided to stop of at Machinations just over an hour down the road, this unique visitor centre in mid-Wales was just full of wonder and quirky parflinalia. It is home to the largest permanent exhibition of contemporary Automata (mechanical moving models) which were really well made and creative and the kids loved watching which many being hands-on and interactive. Machinations also had a fantastic cafe and made a great spot for an early lunch while just outside the window was a miniature rabbit kingdom where children and visit and feed the resident rabbits.

 As you probably already know we love to travel but it doesn't always have to be overseas, we are just as passionate about exploring locally and enjoying staycations as there are just so many places still to see and explore in Wales and the UK and we had a fantastic time taking in more of what was on our doorstep, so you really don't have to go far for as spot of adventure. Do check our my vlog about our stay below

Thanks to Portmeirion for providing us with day tickets to explore this fantastic Italian inspired village.