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Where we stayed

Plas Esgob, one of the individually

owned cottages rented out by Menai

Holidays, feels like someone’s

holiday home they’ve lent you for a

week. The owner has filled it with

personal, tasteful pieces that speak

of the sea – polished brass yachts,

ceramic seals, evocative paintings

and collages, fish sculptures, sets of

cheeky seaside postcards and ship

figure-head jugs overf lowing with

succulents. There’s no predictable

jaunty bunting and anchor motifs

here, instead think Welsh blankets

and cosy cushions. The lamps did it

for me – everywhere you’d want

one, there was an atmospheric glow.

If a good holiday cottage should be

home from home but cleaner,

finished off and cleverer than your

everyday, Plas Esgob passes with

flying (muted) colours.

W

hen you walk along a coast path, there’s always a house that takes

yourfancy.A‘whatifthiswasours’placewithagatestraight

onto the beach, views out to sea and set a little apart from the

neighbours. Plas Esgob (its roof is visible, above), literally the last

cottage on the Rhoscolyn headland of Holy Island, is that house.

Ynys Môn (Anglesey) is separated from mainland Wales by

the scenic Menai Strait, making Holy Island an island off an island but, because of the

ferry route from nearby Holyhead to Dublin, you can actually get there by train in

under four hours from London. For lovers of secret coves, distant mountains, ancient

burial chambers and standing stones, it is hard to beat.

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BEYOND SNOWDONIA IN NORTH WALES LIES

THE ISLAND OF ANGLESEY WHERE VIEWS AND

BEACHES ARE AMONG THE BEST IN BRITAIN

Words: LISA SYKES

Week away