Wrexham

My son’s wife comes from Wrexham in North Wales and when they booked a farmhouse for a week so they could go up and visit her family, they invited me to join them. I was delighted to have a relaxing week with the family, enjoyed seeing the Welsh family, and the countryside around Wrexham is stunningly beautiful. With my son’s three boys and their Welsh cousins, we often had six children between the ages of 5 and 11 running around the farmhouse.

Wrexham lies between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley. It’s near the English border and the city of Chester, which is easily accessible by bus and famous for its Roman walls and having the largest Roman amphitheatre in UK. Wrexham was the largest settlement in Wales for a time in the 17th century. Its importance grew during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century and was a source of minerals, discovered in the surrounding countryside, and the production of iron, steel, leather and brewing.

Wrexham has gained a lot of notice in more recent years through its football club. Wrexham AFC is one of the oldest professional football clubs in the world, formed in 1864, but it gained particular attention when actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club in 2020.

Bwlchgwyn

The farmhouse was in the village of Bwlchgwyn in the Wrexham County Borough and about 4 miles from the town centre. We learnt while we were there that it’s the highest village in Wales, which no doubt contributed to the wonderful views we enjoyed. It has a population of about 800. There’s a pub (which we didn’t in the end get to; closed on Mondays and Tuesdays) and school but no shop. There are however buses that run from the village to central Wrexham with a journey time of just 20 minutes.

 

Cae Adar Farm was fortunately very big with a large enclosed garden at the back which was ideal as the children could safely play out there. We had two dogs with us as well so it was great to know they were enclosed too. Farmer Geoff – who was very friendly and always ready for a chat – came each day to tend to the sheep in the field at the bottom of the driveway so we couldn’t let the dogs out at the front. From the front of the farmhouse there were beautiful views (photo at top is from my bedroom).

There were some woods nearby and so we could walk out of the farm for a lovely walk.

Central Wrexham

We went into central Wrexham one morning and had coffee in one of Jonathan and Lyndsey’s favourite cafés – Tabernacl. We enjoyed some great coffee and delicious cakes before Lyndsey made her way with the boys to see some of her family, while I thought I’d take a look at St Giles Church, just opposite the café, before heading back to the farmhouse.

 

 

The church – according to my guidebook – is considered one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Wales’, and dates from the 15th century. It has some fine stained-glass windows, one of which is attributed to Burne-Jones. Sadly, I turned up just as a funeral cortège was arriving so I didn’t go in. It’s definitely on the list for another visit to Wrexham though!

Llangollen

We met more of the Welsh family in Llangollen one day. Llangollen is one of the highlights of Wales, about 8 miles from Wrexham, and definitely worth a visit when in the area – although it’s quite small and I’m told gets very busy in the summer months. I’d been just once before, many years ago, when we did a canal boat holiday in the area along the Llangollen Canal. We took our narrowboat across the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which is one of four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales. It’s a hugely impressive sight. However, this time the plan was more modest and tickets were bought for a short (45-minute) trip on one of the horse-drawn canal boats (a longer 2-hour trip will take you across the aqueduct). Timing meant we had an early lunch first. The first choice started lunch too late for us, so we went to an Italian restaurant and pizzeria, Fouzi’s.

We were there before 12 noon and so a bit too early for pizza, but there was a good choice and I had a very good wrap with smoked salmon and avocado in it, which came with salad and fries.

 

Then we made our way up a slope to the canal and the boats. The boys were very excited to see the horses and we learnt that the horse who was to pull our narrowboat was named Hercules.

 

In a week of rather changeable weather (well it was still March/the first days of April), we were lucky that this was a quite sunny day. Narrowboats travel, of course, at a very slow, relaxing pace, but with the horse pulling it, it was peaceful too with no engine chugging away.

 

It was a lovely thing to do and I was as excited by it as the boys!

After the boat trip we walked a little way along the River Dee from the centre of town and enjoyed the lovely views.

Mold 

Now, I’d heard quite a lot about Mold before this trip. I’d even had photos of cups of coffee sent from the Cracked Coffee House. It is my son’s favourite place for coffee and he regularly orders coffee beans from them, which they roast themselves in small batches. They take great care to source the beans responsibly and sustainably and they are sent out straight after roasting, so the beans which arrive at my son’s have been roasted only a couple of days before.

It’s quite a small place – and very popular. We had lovely cakes and pastries with our coffees but they also serve savoury foods and are open every day from 8am till 6pm (10.00-4.00 on Sundays).

 

The coffee was exceptional. Indeed, so good that I had a second! I started with a Flat White and then had a Cortado. It’s really hard to find coffee this good anywhere so I can completely understand why my son will always make a trip to Mold when in North Wales. But, of course, since he buys their beans and has become an expert barista at home, I do have the pleasure of having one of his coffees quite regularly.

 

We were heading elsewhere for lunch so didn’t have time to look round Mold properly. However, another time the 15th century church is worth a visit and there are traditional street markets on Wednedays and Saturdays. My son told me a lovely piece of pottery he bought me a year or so ago came from there, so I’d like to return on a market day.

Lunch at The Pant-yr-Ochain, Gresford, Wrexham

This 16th-century inn is another favourite of my son’s and a table had been booked for lunch there on our last day with Lyndsey’s grandmother and the youngest boy (Alex, 5), while the older two had a trip with their grandmother. So it was five of us for lunch.

 

It’s quite a big place with lots of different areas, all of which looked appealing, but with sun outside it was lovely to be seated in the conservatory with views across the garden.

A Children’s Menu was brought for Alex. It wasn’t an all-in priced one but had a good range of different dishes and a reduced price for kids. Alex chose Mozzarella and tomato topped ‘pizza’ ciabatta with fries (£7.45).

Jonathan and Barbara chose Braised shoulder of lamb, dauphinoise potatoes, rosemary gravy (£26.95). It was a good sized plate of food and I’m told very delicious.

Lyndsey and I chose Salmon and smoked haddock fishcakes, little gem, pea, broad bean, cucumber salad, herb and lemon mayonnaise (£17.95). They were wonderful fishcakes; so tasty and delightfully light and creamy. The salad with them was exceptional too with such a gorgeous selection of vegetables. This was definitely the best fishcake dish I’ve ever had!

Well, we didn’t need a pudding after those wonderful mains, and it was lunchtime when I don’t often eat much … but … the Pudding Menu was too tempting. There was a Lower Sugar Pudding section on the menu, which isn’t something which would normally appeal to me. If you’re going to have a pudding, go all out. But Dark chocolate posset, raspberries, clotted cream, tuile (£6.95) sounded too gorgeous to resist and, frankly, not something that screamed ‘healthy pudding’. We all ordered it … although Alex didn’t want a pudding. He’s not really a pudding kid.

It was fabulous. Rich and indulgent and perhaps – thinking of the description – low on sugar because of the dark chocolate it had been made with.

I ordered an espresso to finish which came with a lovely little square of their homemade flapjacks. Jonathan’s tea came in a pretty pot with matching milk jug and teacup. What a lovely way to serve tea!

 

At the end of the meal, Jonathan offered to show me the gardens, which make this such a brilliant location for lunch or a summer’s evening – apart from the excellent food! There were quite a few people in the garden and it seemed somewhere you could come for a good meal, a snack or just a pint.

 

Jonathan and I drank zero alcohol beers with our meal; the others soft drinks. The bill came to £156 which is remarkable value (certainly by London standards!) for such an excellent meal.

The gorgeous lunch was a perfect end to a wonderful week in North Wales. It had been a lovely, relaxing week of seeing family, outings, walks and some great food.

This article is also featured on GPSmyCity. To download this article for offline reading or create a self-guided walking tour to visit the attractions highlighted in this article, go to Walking Tours and Articles in Wrexham: https://www.gpsmycity.com/gps-tour-guides/wrexham-6936.html