Recommendations for South Wales / South West England

Benbecul97

Looking at 10/14 days in South Wales / South West England (in particular Somerset), probably the first two weeks of July.

With Rosslare / Pembroke about 1/4 the price of Rosslare / Roscoff it seems worth investigating a bit more.

Anyone been to these regions?
Recommend sites/attractions etc to keep 2 kids (7/10) occupied?

se conman

Go North. Just back from a week in Snowdonia in the camper, 4 different camp sites, never more than hour from Holyhead, great services on site and beautiful area for walking of all levels.

Benbecul97

Was thinking there would better weather further south/more for kids to do.

Can you post the names of the 4 campsites you stayed in? Thanks

JoeySully

we did 10 days in the camper last year, mostly in wales, got the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead on the way over and then came back via Fishguard.

Here's a little writeup i did for another website on our experience over there

I had booked a campsite in Beaumaris for the first night so i was a quick drive from the ferry. Nice campsite called Kingsbridge although it was a bit away from the town. The rain came down heavy that evening but woke up to a lovely sunny morning. We set off to see the castle at Beaumaris which was quite nice, not the largest that the UK has to offer but nicely preserved. Red boat ice cream shop was a nice treat and the chipper across the road fed us well

I had read about a nice place to park next to Pennom Point on Anglesey, we drove down an had to pay the man at the gate £2.50 to stay the night. It was lovely down there but the constant bell from the lighthouse kept us awake.

We had realized that we were on the third day of our holidays and were still on the Isle of Anglesey so hit the road towards Llanberis and the Electric Mountain. What a lovely place! in between the rain showers we passed the time waling along the lake and the town the went on the tour of the power station which even impressed herself

From there we headed south and stopped in Beddgelert for a night in a forest campsite and took a train that passed the campsite into the town. The dog was even allowed which is a real surprise for us as you cant bring dogs anywhere over here.
Nice town but not much going on there that evening so took a nice path back to the campsite.

The rain came heavier that ever that night and continued all then next day, so we drove for hours until the rain stopped and ended up in Aberystwyth. Spent 2 day there just chilling out.

It was Friday by now and I had arranged to meet my sister who lives near Bath so headed south Friday afternoon. My sister lives in a small apartment so she suggested we go to her friends house a couple of miles away out int he country to stay in their field. Some nice guys they were we had a nice BBQ next to a large army marquee.

Saturday was spent looking around Bradford on Avon and a walk along the Canal. Dinner out on Saturday night in a local pub.

Sunday was a bit wet as well but we were not put off, headed to Cheddar Gorge for a look. Thought it was going to be a small village but its a really long town. We tried climbing up the side of it which was difficult enough but it was possibly on of my most frightening experiences :oops:. When we got up the side of the Gorge, just walking from one of the layby's up what appeared to be a path, we found that we couldn't come down the way we came. we walked for ages to get a way down and there were a few slips and near misses along the way. Got back down all in one piece though

The weather in Bath was to turn nasty on Sunday night and continue for a few days so headed south Sunday evening in a hurry. The new forest was our target and it was quite a quick drive down. We tried to get into a campsite called "Sandy Balls" but it was full up, seems everyone loves Sandy Balls. We had to go to one of the smaller campsites nearby. Took a walk to the nearby pub and met some donkeys along the road just wandering. some nice pub grub and then back home. I must say this camper-vanning is quite tiring .

Next day we checked into the only campsite we could find near Ower, at the edge of the New Forest. Nice place but with the M27 so close there was a lot of noise from traffic. We had booked in there for the rest of the holiday so we had to stick it.
The rain came again so I left her reading her book while I explored Beaulieu Motor Museum. Nice museum but I think its has been taken over by too much James bond rubbish and way too much Top Gear although I did enjoy it.
We did a few walks around the forest and saw loads of wild horses.
Woke up on Wednesday to a very sick dog, she was in pain and couldn't walk, Off to the vet who said, she has a tummy bug and just let her rest of the day.. so a day of book reading and monitoring the patient, by evening she couldn't even stand so over to the doggy hospital where they suggested keeping here overnight on a drip.
A phone-call later that evening with blood results showed nothing unusual, didn't know if that was good or bad. Next morning we called to see what the status was and were told she had improved . Called in and picked her up, a bit dopey from the drugs but able to walk, eat and drink so that was enough for us to take here as we had to catch the ferry the next day.

Our last day and the sun was out for the while day, I was a long drive to Tenby where we Stayed the night, of course just our luck the rain came just as we arrived. The next morning we had a walk on the beautiful beach and nice Town, must call back there some day.

And that was it. back on the ferry Friday afternoon and then the Drive from Rosslare to Cork, arrived home wrecked at 11 o clock.

Benbecul97

Thanks so much for sharing JoeySully - really appreciate it!
Pics are great - really like the last one of Cheddar Gorge.

Thinking of about 10 days too.
What time of year did ye go? Was it just adults or kids too?
Thanks

stevire

Did a similar trip, itching to go back to the Gower in South Wales since, such a nice area. Here's a breakdown of our trip, we mainly stayed coastal:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=84586754&postcount=6

Benbecul97

Thanks alot Stevire! Some of the exact locations I'm looking at mentioned there!

Ye covered 8 of sites there in 10 days. Don't intend moving about that much.
If you had to pick 3/4 sites of those, which would you choose? Ones with plenty to do I suppose. Was it just adults or kids too?

The site in Porlock you mention, was it Burrowhayes Farm? Got excellent reviews.

stevire

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Thanks alot Stevire! Some of the exact locations I'm looking at mentioned there!

Ye covered 8 of sites there in 10 days. Don't intend moving about that much.
If you had to pick 3/4 sites of those, which would you choose? Ones with plenty to do I suppose. Was it just adults or kids too?

The site in Porlock you mention, was it Burrowhayes Farm? Got excellent reviews.

Yeah we had a rough plan to hit Croyde, Newquay and St.Ives so we moved on from each site pretty switftly.

Just two of us on the trip, for kids you deffo have to go to Hendra Holiday Park. So much to do, safe and full of kids, onsite waterpark/restaurant etc. And it was the cheapest stay out of all the campsites.

To pick 3 it would be:

• Hendra in Cornwall
• Ayr in St.Ives (not much for kids but you're in the town centre)
• Kiln Park in Tenby, good facilities for kids here and lovely little town

I think this was the one in Porlock:
http://www.porlockcaravanpark.co.uk/

The campsites in Fishguard and Caerfai Bay, St David were both lovely too. A little out of town so not sure if it's the best option for kids but plenty of walks and that around St.David.

Benbecul97

Thanks Stevire! Lots to consider there.

Looking at Rosslare / Pembroke so will be very close to Tenby / Gower peninsula.

Have ye been to Brecon Beacons National Park / Cheddar Gorge / Bath?

stevire

Benbecul97 wrote: »

Thanks Stevire! Lots to consider there.

Looking at Rosslare / Pembroke so will be very close to Tenby / Gower peninsula.

Have ye been to Brecon Beacons National Park / Cheddar Gorge / Bath?

We did Rosslare - Pembroke too, got the late one over on a Thurs eve and had it pre-arranged with Fishguard campsite that we were staying so got there around 12

Didn't do any of those places you mentioned, we stopped in most major cities along the way; Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol. Did Stonehenge also, can't really recommedn it tbh!

Plenty of surf around the area so we stuck to the coastal route and towns and got a surf in where possible!

Macy0161

We're doing London (staying with relations outside the Low Emission Zone), and then South Wales on the way back this summer. We're booked into Kiln Park for a few nights before coming home - missus was a bit put out when I mentioned unisex toilets!

Somewhere to split the journey back to Wales from London is the next task. Porlock looks nice, but might be a bit far to go. Anyone have any recommendations around Bristol? We were thinking of pushing on and going up to somewhere near monmouth.

Benbecul97

Macy0161 wrote: »

Anyone have any recommendations around Bristol?

No recommendation, looking for info myself!
But Cheddar Gorge, about 20 miles south of Bristol, looks like an area worth a look. See pics above (below!) from JoeySully.