For our first full day in Wales we had decided to start at the nearby Bodnant Gardens, a National Trust property with extensive grounds.
Bodnant Gardens
We arrived just after opening, and there was hardly anyone there. Three hours later when we left, the car park was heaving, and there were plenty of people in the grounds, so I am glad we got to see the place at its quietest, and it was beautifully quiet.
We sat by a small lake at the far end of the grounds, and all you could hear were the sounds of bird song and gently moving water. I sat there thinking that this is what it must have been like during the Middle Ages— just the sounds of nature… and marauding Vikings as they raped and pillaged through your village!
Bodnant is more of a woodland walk than gardens, but those that there are around the house are lovely. The house itself has a beautiful outlook across said gardens and beyond. I’m not sure if someone lives in the house as it was marked as a private property, but I’m not sure I’d want to live somewhere that is visited by 274,000 people a year!
Llandudno
Llandudno was anything but quiet – it was heaving with people and cars desperately looking for somewhere to park and that included us. We went round in circles telling ourselves that we needed a bit of luck in finding a space when one magically appeared!
We headed out from our prized parking spot without much of a plan other than to find a cafe. That sorted we decided to try out Llandudno’s Great Orme Tramway – Britain’s only surviving cable street tramway. This is actually two trams – one taking you to the half way point where you get off and get on another one to take you to the summit. This was sold as giving us better value for money “four trams for the price of two” sort of thing.
It’s not a long ride to the top but the views across Llandudno bay are worth taking the trip up for. There isn’t much at the top so didn’t spend much time there and elected to walk down to the half way station and then get the tram back from there.
Tomorrow we move on.
