Tag: North Wales

The North Wales town expecting an unexpected I’m A Celebrity tourism boom

Never mind Jordan North’s happy place.

The only place to be right now is a small market in North Wales with a Grade I-listed castle.

The reason? Gwrych Castle on the edge of Abergele is hosting the ITV series I’m A Celebrity following a Covid-enforced relocation from the Australian jungle.

I was there just before the show launched to take the pulse on the streets of the small town anticipating a big tourist boom.

Here’s a sample of my feature:

Walking down Abergele’s high street [pictured above], I can sense the excitement building.

The former mayor started a competition for local businesses to dress their shop windows with a celebrity motif and the townspeople have really embraced it.

The barber shop, A Cut Above, has a grinning Ant and Dec with scissors above the catchy slogan:

“Who’s next for the chop?”

Across the road at The Veg Shop, the cheeky-chappie Geordies are sporting dinner jackets and holding aloft leeks, declaring:

“I’m a vegetable, get me out of here.”

The Ready Grass showroom (‘superior quality artificial grass at wholesale prices’), meanwhile, has installed a throne in its car park with two giant, inflatable figures of Ant and Dec, taking a bow in the bracing sea breeze.

Read the full story via Telegraph Travel.

Why my postcard from Llandudno has a taste of seaside nostalgia

It was a weekend of seaside nostalgia.

We took a trip to Llandudno last weekend to write a postcard from the North Walian resort for Telegraph Travel.

But it was also something of a personal journey.

I used to go to Llandudno on family holidays as a child — that’s me aged around five with my mum on the prom at the North Shore [pictured above].

This time I was back with my own two daughters for a UK seaside break after our original holiday plans were cancelled under lockdown.

But how would an old-school seaside resort shape up for two Tick Tock teens?

Here’s a taster of my story:

The collapse of air bridges has led to the North Wales coast enjoying a post-lockdown bonanza.

We find Landudno’s pebbly North Beach busy with rockpool paddlers, despite some rather menacing clouds over the Great Orme, and the cafés along Mostyn Street bustling with al-fresco diners seeking Cymru-sur-mer vibes.

“People are hungry for good food they don’t have to prepare and clean up afterwards,” says Michael Waddy, Executive Chef at the Empire Hotel.

Read the full story here.

Get stuffed! A tastebud-tickling tour of nourishing North Wales

Local produce is a major draw for visitors to Wales.

Indeed, there’s a host of local suppliers and independent producers celebrated each year by the Great Taste Awards Wales.

In particular, the artisan food and drink sector has grown in recent years with a turnover of £4.8bn in 2018-19 and 78,000 people employed in the food and farming sector, according to figures from Food & Drink Wales.

This themed tour would be ideal for an autumn departure around the time of the annual British Food and Drink Fortnight, The Conwy Honey Fair or one of the smaller harvest festivals staged across North Wales.

This route is designed to form an overarching narrative on the theme of food and drink.

It describes the rise of independent businesses, highlighting the range and quality of local flavours, and the human story of our local food heroes.

It builds in rhythm from site visit in Llandudno, via a coach-based scenic tour in the Valley and lunch stop, to a town-centre walking tour of Cowny with time for souvenir shopping before departure.

Along the way we will enjoy product tastings, guest talks from local chefs and an opportunity to meet and sample the goods of local independent food producers in North Wales.

If your group would like to join this independent tour, then please do get in touch.

How to visit the most historic harvest festival in North Wales

North Wales today hosts the annual Conwy Honey Fair, a historic harvest festival dating back to the reign of King Edward I.

I was in Conwy last week to preview the event and find out more about the walled city with its Unesco-listed castle.

I also visited the National Beekeeping Centre of Wales [pictured above].

Here’s a sample of my story:

The Fair dates back more than 700 years to the reign of Edward I when local beekeepers were given the right to sell honey, without charge, within the walls of the town for one day only.

Harvest festivals were always part of the church calendar but the right to hold the Honey Fair was formally decreed by the King in the town’s 13th-century Royal Charter.

“It’s an event frozen in time,” says event organiser Peter McFadden, “and still generates a huge sense of community.”

The town also hosts the Gwledd Conwy Feast, a weekend food festival with street food, show-cooking displays and live music from October 25-27.

Read the full article in Telegraph Travel, Is this Britain’s sweetest town?