New Year Eve is always a big deal for me. Every December, since my childhood, I am filled with excitement, joy and hope. To be honest, Christmas is something new in my life, but as a concept of celebration, it mixes with my sense of celebrating Winter solstice and the New Year, and of course the tales of Father Winter (Kis Baba). As every other “special” day, I don’t like it’s commercial wrapping, but I take it as a time for special ones, to be with loved ones, to embrace life and love.
This Christmas, with a last minute decision, my husband and I decided to go away for a few days, with our 20 month old son. Snowdonia was always in my head since I moved to UK, so we booked a hotel in the West cost of Snowdonia, a lovely seaside village, Barmouth.
Our hotel, The Bae Abermaw Hotel, was up on a hill, facing the Barmouth Bay. It’s a Victorian stone building, cosy and modern, and in a great location. We enjoyed the beautiful view from our room, and happy to have more than enough space for our toddler to play around. As becoming a parent after 40 made me a bit fussy and picky, I was pleased with the spacious room, huge bed and the very clean room. (Yes, it even passed my finger test!)
Before having my son, I never cared a lot about the hotel rooms I stayed in. If it's clean and food is good that was fine for me, as I was coming to the room only to sleep. My friends know I can walk nonstop for 10-11 hours, especially if I'm visiting a new place, to see and to do the most of it. But when you have a toddler with you on a trip, with needs, and tantrums, and not very strong legs, you have to adjust your priorities. So, we spent more time in the hotel than usual, going for shorter walks and try to avoid tough nature walks. Luckily, Bae Abermaw Hotel offered a homely environment that we really enjoyed as a family.
We had our traditional Christmas meal at Bistro Bermo, a tiny restaurant in the village, which was fantastic! If you visit Barmouth one day, this restaurant is a must go!
The village is bigger than we expected. It has the traditional seaside village feel, but not in an abondened way. Nice period buildings, encircled by a lovely scenery and nature. Sea, beach, tides and mountains came together with low clouds and an incredibly peaceful scenery. The Barmouth Bridge was like a necklace over the water, where you can have a walk beside the railway, enjoying the view. As winter adds it's own charm, the view was breathtaking from the bridge. I can say it was my favourite part of the village, whilst I took most of my photos here.
The second day we felt a bit more adventurous and tried to have the Panaroma Walk, which was offering a stunning view of both the sea and mountains on top of the hills. We couldn't manage to reach to the very top, as it was a bit dangerous to walk with a toddler. Because of the season, the path was wet and even partially swamped, and the last bit was very steep, narrow and rocky. Still we managed to reach bits of the amazing view up there. And left us with wet sweaty coats (the bottle of wine from the night before is guilty of this) and achy legs of old age. (Hubby was a bit grumpy for a while though! As he always says, I again picked a steep hill to climb.)
If you’re looking for a little winter runaway, Barmouth is only around 2 and a half hours drive from Wilmslow. In summer time it turns into a much more touristy area, so in winter season you can have the silence and peace you’re looking for.
On our visit, I think the only thing missing was, the Snow!
