A Family Trip to Manorafon Farm

A Family Trip to Manorafon Farm

For this trip we took our whole little family;  Pete, myself, Pete's daughter and little man, it was nice to be able to go all together. 

We decided to book a pitch at Manorfaon Farm which is a place where Pete and myself had been to a couple of times before we had our little one so it holds some good memories for us and makes for a great base for exploring the local area, being situated in Abergele there are good bus links from just outside the main castle gates, yes this campsite is within the grounds of Gwrych Castle.

The site itself has an animal farm park and is excellent for both little and big kids and we all enjoyed visiting the park twice whilst we were staying. There is a small entry fee; £3.50 for adults, £3.00 for children over 2, under 2's are free and if you are staying at the site you can receive discount by purchasing an unlimited entry for during your stay. We also bought tubs of food and the kids loved being able to feed the animals, especially the goats and llama as they found them funny in with their antics. 

The farm is small enough to keep everyone together and big enough to spend a couple of hours wandering with the animals, there are also handling times where the children can hold baby rabbits and guinea pigs, this was a favourite for our two.

They also enjoyed having time in the outdoor play area and "driving" the tractor, there is an indoor area however it was too warm when we there. 

At the end of the trail there is a small gift shop were we treated both of the kids to a cuddly toy, little man choosing a rabbit and little miss a guinea pig, these were taken to bed each night and still are now that we are home. 

Our camping pitch was up on the hill this time and it was reasonably dry when we arrived given the lovely summer weather we have been having! 

It was a great spot as there is no vehicular access meaning the kids could run around on the open grass and we didn't need to worry, they had a great time playing around the trees and making horse jumps from twigs. 

Once we had set up on Friday we went to explore the grounds of the castle, we have visited here previously and had a private tour before most of it was shut off to the public due to safety reasons. The trust has renovated parts of it and re opened the lovely gardens were they hold a number of events throughout the year. We explored around the grounds taking in the scenery from the top of the hill and walking back through a small part of the wood were the kids found a big tree that had fallen, this made a great piece to climb on. 

An Adventure Walk- We May Encounter Some Hills! 

On Saturday we set off on our adventure as the weather was looking good and had made a packed lunch, map loaded on one of our phones and off we went. Although Pete and I had visited here before we never knew about this walk that heads out of the back of the camp, up the road and then into the forest. There is a map you can follow that is situated at the beginning of the trail, however we did struggle as there were not many pointers on the route and we mainly followed any trail through the woods. 

Half way up our first hill there is a bench for a stopping point and to admire the view. 

View out towards Rhyl

 Carrying on up the hill and following the winding path we headed back into the woods and found our way to an old ruined castle called Castell Cawr, here you can take one of three paths, each end up in the same place on the other side, the kids chose the middle path through the woods as little man thought it looked like a house.

On the other side you follow the only trail around, there is a sign that shows a someone falling off a cliff! We carried on with caution, the pathway is narrow and a little slippy in places, if you do ever do this trail you must wear appropriate footwear, we all had walking shoes on which provided enough grip. On one side of you is a straight drop down off the hill, something which you do not want to be doing, we held our little ones hand the whole way down this part, Pete was rather anxious. 

In the middle part of the hill it levels out and the path widens, crossing over a bridge we decided to have lunch and found a fallen tree to sit on in a clearing. Back on the trail we ended up back on the path we had originally been on on the way up, following this back down to the bottom we were back on the road. 

Checking the map on my phone we worked out our next route to get to the next hill. As we carried on down the road the sun was starting to shine through, we had to cross a main road and then onto a public footpath through the farm land. 

Yes we are heading for this next hill!

This trail starts with a steep climb up a farm road, about half way up there is a path that leads away from the main trail and we decided to investigate, we are glad we did as we had such an amazing view. 

The hill in the distance is were we had been in the morning!

As we headed up further there was another path that led away from the main trail, off we headed up through a pine forest. At the top we climbed over a sty and into a field, in front of us stood a tower which was supposedly an Elizabethan Watch Tower. You can only enter the ground floor now as the stair case and upper level has been removed. It was still great to reach here as it marked the point were we wanted to get to on our walk.

The kids trying to push hay bales, good luck with that!

After taking a moment to find our trail back down we were on our way, this was a short path before it opened out on to the road and 20 minutes later we were back in Abergele and only a short walk back to the camp site.
On returning to site we checked how far we had been, 8.3 miles up and down hills! The kids did so well, it wasn't an easy walk though we all enjoyed it and found some amazing views.

No trip to North Wales is complete without a visit to Llandudno!

On Sunday I had noticed that there was an RNLI and Emergency Services demonstration day which looked to be a good day out. Outside the castle gates you can catch the number 12 bus and this take approximately 40 minutes to get into Llandudno. Once there we headed to the promenade were the open day was being held. Set out were the Fire Service, Police, Ambulance, RNLI, Mountain Rescue and the Coastguard. The kids got to go on an inland RNLI boat and both of them loved it. 

After we had looked around we headed for one of our favorite places, the arcade! There is a great variety of games for everyone to enjoy and our personal best ones are the 2p machines and hook a fish. 

 As we were on the pier we decided to watch the demonstration from here and we had a brilliant view out over the bay. As the coastguard helicopter arrived everything got underway with various exercises being shown; rescuing using both the in shore and larger lifeboats with the helicopter to show how they all work together. It was fantastic to watch and the kids liked the helicopter the best

We grabbed a quick lunch after watching and as we have previously been up the Orme on the tram we chose to walk up to the half way station as we were going to visit the Copper Mines, something that the kids haven't done before. 

It is a steep climb, even the cars struggle! There is a stopping place for a quick rest before continuing up and you can also watch the trams pass and give a little wave

At the Copper Mines you have to wear a hard hat for safety and the tour is self guided with boards a long the way that show information.

Once inside the pathway is quite narrow as you head down to the 2nd level. The caves open out inside at places and show how stunning they are when they are illuminated. 

There is a lot of history here and at one point before the mines were discovered the area was going to be turned into a car park, now that would have been a travesty as they are filled with so much of our past and still hold secrets even today!

On exiting the mines there is a small gift shop were the kids found the treasure stones were you can fill a little bag with as many stones as you can fit in for only £2.00, a great idea for the little ones as they enjoyed picking their stones in all different colours and sizes. 

Heading back down into Llandudno we finished the day back on the pier earning more tickets which you can trade in for prizes, both little ones did well with their tickets today earning 985 and were very happy with their prize choices! 

Back at the tent it was time for a surprise for everyone, not even Pete knew about this one! I handed an envelope to little man and after he had opened it little miss read it out - we were staying for an extra night! I think it is safe to say everyone was happy about this surprise!!

Our Final Day- A Visit to the Aquarium

As we had the extra day I had picked up our Tesco Clubcard Boost vouchers that we can use in Rhyl Aquarium. Again the number 12 bus from outside the gates takes you straight there in about 20-25 minutes. 

We have been here many times, little man since he was only 6 months old and now he is older we thought to make it more interesting on the way around he could do the explorer quiz with little miss, for this they have to follow clues and find different fish then stamp their sheet. If they find all of the clues they win a prize at the end. 

This kept them entertained and little man found it interesting and liked finding all the different fish and sea creatures. 

After watching the sea lion demonstration we continued around, this is a great aquarium were you can spend a couple of hours so great for a morning or afternoon trip. The kids found all of the creatures on the quiz sheet and handed it in at the end, little man chose a pencil set as their prize. 

After lunch we headed back to the camp site as the kids both wanted to go in the farm park again and feed the animals. They were treated to an extra hold and cuddle of one of the baby rabbits which made their day, both of them love animals and I think they would stay in the farm all day if they could! 

We also managed to find the worlds smallest rooster! 

Our stay at Manorfon Farm was as expected; brilliant! The facilities are always clean with hot showers and there are laundry facilities and an undercover shelter with sinks to wash dishes. The staff are helpful and very welcoming. We would recommend this site to families and couples as it is a great base for exploring North Wales either in a car or by public transport. There are various sizes of pitch to suit all tent types and also areas for tourers and caravans. 

Before leaving we stocked up with home made sausages and burgers (We have now tasted the pork and apple burgers and tomato sausages, both are very tasty and it certainly makes the difference being home made with 85% meat!)

This is somewhere were we will return to, it makes it easier for ourselves as neither of us drive. We know we can also get a bus to Conwy,  Betws-y- Coed and Caernarfon. 

This was a nice getaway for us all as we got to be together and do things we haven't done before, having only just got home we are busy planning our next adventure!!