The Little Paddock

Stick to the north Wales coast for a straightforward seaside holiday or drive a bit further for a goodly selection of day trips: the Isle of Anglesey to the west and Wrexham and the outdoor activities of Snowdonia National Park are all within an hour’s drive. Staying local, while away an afternoon or two (after mornings on the beach, naturally) at Rhyl’s three play centres, cinema, theatre and promenade SeaQuarium; Towyn next door should also keep the kids in amusement at Knightley’s Fun Park or happily harness racing at the Tir Prince Leisure Park. A massive market for the grownups is something you might also like to see anywhere you travel; if so make sure your Tir Prince day out falls on a Saturday or bank holiday to get to the leisure park’s mammoth outdoor market’s hundreds of stalls and car boot sale (fresh local produce and billy bargains: you'll go back to base happy). St Asaph’s Tweedmill shopping outlet is open daily all year round apart from Christmas Day and Easter Sunday if Tir Prince just isn’t enough. It’s a four-mile walk via the North Wales Path from Rhyl to the five miles of beaches at seaside town Prestatyn, and an 11-mile drive (or walk, be adventurous) to three miles of sands and the Old Colwyn to Penrhyn Bay promenade walk from Old Colwyn to Penrhyn Bay at Colwyn Bay and stacks of sea fishing from Old Colwyn Beach. If the kids like to walk on the wild side, make a stop too at the Welsh Mountain Zoo just outside Colwyn Bay where they’ll find a children’s zoo among the other animal tenants and Californian Sea Lions enclosure. Inland, the literal weeks’ (months’?) worth of activities at splendid Snowdonia National Park start about 45 minutes’ drive from The Little Paddock: too many to mention here, but a trip around Blaenau Ffestiniog in the centre of the park is recommended as an early stop, then a veer north to the mile long zipline at Zip World Velocity over the Penrhynn Quarry at Bethesda. Finally, however coastal your base is, you can’t come to Wales without seeing a castle – so how fortuitous that fifteenth century Bodelwyddan Castle and its roomy grounds are just outside Rhyl for a day trip around three museums, roomy grounds and interactive exhibits.