St Fagans and The Great House

We’ve just got back from a nice weekend away in South Wales. As usual at this time of year we try to combine my birthday, my Mums birthday, my brothers birthday and a Christmas get together into one visit. We usually meet the whole family either in Bristol or somewhere nearby. Covid precautions once again put something of a stop to that as it just doesn’t seem sensible to all meet up somewhere. So, this year we just met my parents and had a nice weekend away in a posh hotel.

The Great House Hotel

When I say we, it was just Anna and myself as Morgan was happier to stay at home alone and wouldn’t enjoy the fine dinning available anyway.

Driving in the Rain

Wales in December pretty much lived up to expectation with lots of drizzle. It wasn’t too bad on the way there and it was a good chance for us to try out our new car on a longer journey. All went well. We started with 100% charge. We stopped at the Moody Cow for a coffee and then again at Pont Abraham Services for lunch. The main reason for the second stop though was to try out a public fast charger. We didn’t need the charge there and then but thought that while we were in having lunch we may as well top up a little. All went well with the charge and we were soon on our way once again.

Merthyr Mawr

We met my parents at The Great House Hotel where we settled into our comfortable, modern room. The staff seemed nice too.

As the weather was looking good we then decided to head out for a little drive and a walk through the dunes at Merthyr Mawr. I’d ran through here on my Coast Path Run so knew it to a certain extent and it was a good excuse for some fresh air.

Dinner at The Great House

Back at the hotel there was time to relax before we headed down to the bar for cups of tea and then into the dinning room for dinner.

Dinner was lovely. The menu had a festive flavour and the food and service were good. I failed to take any photos of the food so you’ll have to make do with using your imagination based on the menu. It was all very tasty though and the portions were generous too. I think I might try Bailey’s Rice Pudding at home!

Festive menu
Festive menu

We sat around chatting for a while and then headed off to bed. We didn’t get much sleep though! It was no fault of the hotel, but there were a couple of guests who had obviously decided to have a weekend away in a hotel for an argument. They spent most of the night shouting, screaming and crying at each other and then slamming doors and stomping around. The did finally stop at around 3:30am but by then there was no chance of me getting any sleep.

So, we headed down to breakfast feeling a little grumpy and very tired. The fact that my chest was hurting didn’t help matters. The delicious granola, yoghurt and berries soon perked me up a little, and the full Welsh Breakfast and a few cups of coffee sorted me out properly! I don’t think the staff knew anything of the overnight commotion and the opportunity to mention it didn’t arise as they were all too nice.

St Fagans

After breakfast we decided to head to St Fagans before the drizzle turned to rain. Another chance to show off the new car. I think my Dad was quite taken with it. St Fagans is free to enter and just £6 to park the car so our plan was to see how it went with the weather. If it got really wet we could just go to the coffee shop! It’s quite a nice way to charge really and the car park was huge. With four of us in the car it was only costing £1.50 each.

It’s just a shame they don’t have any charge points. Again, we didn’t need a charge but when you’re going to be at a destination such as this for a few hours it would be the perfect opportunity to top up. My Dad was interested in the charging procedure too. It would be a good way for St Fagans to make a little extra money as well as providing a service for their customers.

National Museum of History

St Fagans is the National Museum of History and by the looks of it is usually a fairly lively, bustling place. That wasn’t the case on a dreary day in December. I don’t think Covid restrictions helped either. Despite this it was still an interesting place to walk around. We looked at most of the buildings and went into the ones we could. I think in peak season there would be lots of staff and volunteers in period costumes and things going on. Today it was more of a quiet stroll through the woodlands looking at the various buildings and seeing how people have lived through the ages.

We stopped for coffee and cake and by now there were a few more people about. The drizzle was getting wetter but we decided to head over to the Castle and Gardens anyway. It was nice on this side of the attraction too. The castle / house could do with some TLC, but the gardens were nice even at this time of year in the rain.

We saw most things and then headed back to the car as the drizzle did indeed start turning to much wetter rain! Time to head back to the Hotel.

We had a quick pit stop in Tesco for some supplies, which also gave us an opportunity for a 20 minute free charge for the car. Dinner at the hotel was nice once again. The menu was the same but most of use tried something different. Thankfully we had a more peaceful nights sleep too.

There was then just the small matter of another nice breakfast and then time to head back home. We stopped off at a Maidenhead Aquatics for a few new fish for the aquarium and in Carmarthen for a little bit of shopping and were soon back at home in time to watch the Grand prix. A nice weekend away, but there wasn’t quite enough energy left to put up the Christmas Decorations. Instead it was hot chocolates all round thanks to my new Hotel Chocolate Velvetiser that Anna had bought me for my birthday!

1 Response

  1. Avatar forComment Author Mum x says:

    We had a lovely week end too, very relaxing, chatting, walking and eating without having to cook or clear up after.
    I’m also going to try the rice pudding….with extra lol

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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