“Perfect long weekend with the dog”
Where to start?? This cottage is absolutely brilliant. We arrived early, but Robin ushered us in and showed us around, regardless. The place is clean and neat, and it feels very spacious for its size. The kitchen is well equipped; they even supply tea and coffee (AND a couple of gravy treats for the dog!!). The decor is exactly what you'd want: country cottage, antique furniture, solid floors, etc. The high ceilings and exposed beams are beautiful. The extra touches which Robin and Fiona supplied are really what made our stay special: they have left torches in strategic places for a midnight foray, and they were happy to bring us extra wood for the log burner. They even left two slices of bara brith and some butter for us to have when we first arrived, and it was the nicest bara brith I've had in a long time!!
The village has a couple of lovely pubs (we went to watch the rugby in a pleasing sea of red) with real ales and friendly locals. The proximity to Llandudno is great, but the views are even better. Getting up the single lane track was a little bit scary for us city folk the first time, especially when meeting a 4x4 coming the other way, but it wasn't difficult to access once we'd go used to it.
One thing to bear in mind is that the cottage is a bit cold. It's a stone building which has been around for over 200 years, so that goes without saying. It's not a problem though, just make sure you bring slippers and light the fire early so that it's got time to heat the space. The central heating also works really well, and Robin encouraged us to put it on as much as we needed. I was worried I might be cold getting out of the shower, but it wasn't a problem at all with the radiators blasting out plenty of heat. The bed is really warm and comfortable, too.
If you're not a dog owner, this would still be a great cottage to visit - there's no evidence of dogs there at all - but if you are a dog owner, I couldn't think of anywhere better to stay as a base for going walking and playing about on the beach. You can easily walk to the beach from the cottage. Our pooch loved sitting in front of the fire after an afternoon of chasing pebbles and playing chicken with the waves!
There's also a great collection of DVDs and books in the cottage, to while away a few hours if the weather's bad. Alternatively, you could just do what we did and spend hours staring at the fire!
All in all, highly recommended, and we can't wait to go back!
- hmfrost, February 2014
