What we ate
A short stroll across Borthwen
beach at low tide (or the coastal
footpath if you don’t want wet feet
when the tide is in) and up the hill
is The White Eagle. It has a huge
terrace outside and a laid-back,
straight-from-the beach feel inside
the picture windows. Walkers and
dogs are welcomed with good food
and ale; oysters and mussels,
Sunday roa st s a nd homemade pies,
a s well a s fa ncier fa re f rom a k itchen
that clearly knows their stuff. To
wander back home after a tasty
meal, under a full moon and starry
skies, with the sound of waves
crashing on the rocks is why we go
on holiday, yes? A n unexpected
treat was afternoon tea at The
Outbuildings near Brynsiencyn.
It’s a proper feast – definitely skip
lunch for the array of homemade
scones, cakes and sandwiches.
The helpful butchers at Valley
offered up excellent Welsh Black
beef a nd la mb to cook in Pla s
Esgob’s well equipped kitchen.What we did
Ma in ly we went to t he beach, a s
a gate from the garden past the
owners’ boathouse-cum- studio,
leads to a cove that fills at high tide
but later reveals a sandy beach and
rock pools that are never super-
busy, according to the locals. From
an upstairs balcony, the sun-trap
The best thing
Simply stepping out of the back gate
onto open-access heather moorland
and heading into the onshore wind
for the exhilaration that comes from
watching the sea show its power
over the land on the clifftops. On
clear days Snowdonia rises in the
south east across the sea, beyond
the long Llŷn peninsula, punctuated
bythefullstopofBardseyIsland.
There’s the constant sound of the
sea and wind, watching the tide ebb
and f low, seeing the breakers come
in – and all from your own clifftop
cottage and garden. You could
almost believe it was really yours.We also liked
The coastal path walk from
Rhoscolyn to Trearddur Bay
isageologicalfeast.Past
St Gwenfaen’s Well, said to have the
power to cure mental illnesses if you
drop two quartz stones down it, and
the lookout post (the volunteer on
duty will show you what’s going on
at sea and on shore) is the bay of
Porth Saint, where two wild goats
live quite happily among the sea
pinksandcliffs.Veeringoffthepath
reveals the white rock arch Bwa
Gwyn, spectacular whatever the
weather. It ends, as all good seaside
walks should, with an ice-cream on
the beach from the Sea Shanty Cafe
at Trearddur Bay.Menai has over 400 properties in
Anglesey, Snowdonia and the Llŷn
Peninsula. A week at Plas Esgob
(sleeps six, plus a dog) starts at
£1,035; menaiholidays.co.uk.sheltered courtyard and your own
lookout promontory, there are
atmospheric views out to abandoned
Rhoscolyn Beacon, that you’d never
tire of. But even just venturing a few
miles on Anglesey’s western side there
was horse riding at Anglesey Riding
Centre, with more good views, this
t ime across t he st ra it to Caer na r fon
Castle; buying sea salt at Halen Môn
where the Sea Zoo aquarium is a
showca se of ma r ine life found in
British waters. Red squirrels are also
thriving in the pockets of woodland,
as Anglesey is grey-free – you can see
t hem in Newborough Forest or, even
more easily, at Penrhos Coastal Park
near Holyhead.79ESCAPE (^) | A PLACE TO STAY