Hedgerows, Harry, and a 9:30 Tea Our first day in North Wales
Bodysgallen Hall
Three hundred years of stone, and it still made us catch our breath.
We're back in Britain — and this time we pointed the car north.
Last time we wrote, it was spies, pubs, and a Vesper or two in London. (That story is in the [last post].) That was a different trip altogether. This one is a birthday week that begins in Wales, winds down through the Cotswolds, and ends at Goodwood — no city stop this time. I felt a little like Bridget Jones heading off on a proper weekend holiday. I have no shame about this.
The Long Way North — After the overnight flight we landed, collected the rental car, and drove straight through to North Wales. The drive was the first gift: countryside hemmed with hedgerows and dotted with freshly shorn sheep looking faintly embarrassed about it, and weather that defied every British stereotype. Then, coming up the drive, a pheasant perched atop a stone wall as if sent to welcome us — copper and bottle-green and utterly unbothered, closer than we'd ever been to one.
A House on the Hill — The trees parted and there it was. Grade I–listed, National Trust since 2008, with a medieval tower built to watch over Conwy Castle — the very castle that would sit framed in our dinner window. Harry greeted us, showed us to our lodgings, and — plot twist — turned out to be our bartender that evening. Our room was a quiet little cottage whose window looked over a sheep field; to reach it you pass through a former dairy barn whose rafters now roost owls.
The Best Seat in the House — Our table looked straight out toward Conwy Castle. We both started with the tuna (seared yellowfin, compressed cucumber, wasabi mayo, dill); then Scott had the lamb, slow-cooked and tender, and I had the cod, butter-poached and charred on a chorizo, courgette and bean cassoulet. The kind of meal where you go quiet because the plate and the view are competing and both are winning.
Room With a View
Tea at 9:30 — This far north in late May the evening refuses to end. We closed the day with tea in the garden at half past nine, in full soft daylight.
Tea Time
Worth knowing: Bodysgallen Hall (National Trust, near Llandudno) has a celebrated knot garden and a climbable tower; Conwy Castle is a short drive; the northern light is a gift, so book a late dinner and later tea; and don't rush the countryside on the way in.
Goodnight from Wales — After 34 years of Scott serving, days like this are exactly the ones we promised ourselves. We left the windows open and drifted off to the soft bleating of sheep — and woke to that same sound in the early light, the gentlest alarm clock in Wales. Some mornings you wake up exactly where you hoped you'd be. Tomorrow: Conwy Castle. — Tomorrow the adventure continues in Wales.
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