Archives: Activities

Our friends at Bearded Man Adventures will take you and your friends on this unique adventure down the River Dee, where we tackle the exciting rapids and whitewater waves along the way. This is an adrenaline-fuelled activity that is perfect for an amazing day out for family and friends. These tubes are powered by the river’s flow and steered by pure arm strength.

Be Robin Hood for a day or unleash your inner Viking with our open field archery and axe throwing sessions. Our good friends at Bearded Man Adventurers have all you need to have a great day learning to shoot a bow and arrow or throw an axe!

In 1682, Joshua Edisbury was appointed High Sheriff of Denbighshire and began bulding Erddig; Edisbury was unable to finish before going bankrupt. Erddig Hall is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham. Located 2 miles south of Wrexham town centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 acre estate, which includes a 1,200-acre landscaped pleasure park and the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle. Erddig's gardens have an astorment of rare fruit trees including 180 different type of apple trees! Eddrig's owners have had a bumpy financial history. The National Trust took ownership  in 1973 and began a four year period of restoration.

Chirk was never planned as a family home, the castle was built by King Edward to keep control of the Welsh people. The King gave Roger Mortimer the Chirklands, and was built by master-builder James of St. George (the builder of Harlech, Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Conwy castles). The castle was a symbol of English power and might, controlling the border and it dominating the surrounding land. Originally lime washed white, Chirk Castle stood out prominently in the treeless landscape. The castle was purchased in 1595 for about £5,000 by Sir Thomas Myddelton, a son of the governor of Denbigh Castle and successful London merchant. As a founder of the East India Company, an investor in the expeditions of Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins, he had the means to convert Chirk into a comfortable Tudor residence. His new stone north range contained a hall, buttery and kitchen, with upstairs drawing and dining rooms. This range, with alterations, became the main living quarters of the castle, while the old south range was gradually given over to servants. Inside the Castle rooms of different periods rub up against each other unlike the usual suite of rooms that flow seamlessly. As you walk through the State Rooms, you will pass historic interiors that are examples of the latest fashions of their time, and a collection that has grown through the centuries.

Formed in 1908, the Vale of Llangollen Golf Course is regarded as one of the top courses in Wales and it has become a highly favoured venue for many County, National and Professional events. With its manicured fairways and superb greens, the course is nestles the picturesquely on the banks of the River Dee, overlooked by the glorious Welsh hills. Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and within the designated area of a World Heritage Site (The Froncysyllte Aquaduct).  As far as we know, there is NO OTHER golf club in the World to have such a unique pedigree. The Vale of Llangollen Golf Course has been awarded Gold Status by the HSBC ranking system and is regarded as the top inland course in North Wales. The 9th is regarded as one of the best holes in British golf. There is a minimum standard of dress. Everyone is asked to wear normal golfing clothing and footware on the course and smart casual in the clubhouse: collared or golf specific shirts, tailored trousers or shorts with socks and appropriate golf footwear on the course is required.

Valle Crucis was truly Welsh from the moment it was founded in 1201 by Prince Madog ap Gruffydd and the ‘white monks’ of the Cistercian order. Its Latin name (Valley of the Cross) refers to the nearby ninth-century Pillar of Eliseg, erected for the glory of a Welsh chieftain. Monks had names like Tudur and Hywel. Such home-grown sympathies might well explain the damage suffered during the wars of the English King Edward I and the uprising of Owain Glyndŵr. But it remains one of our best-preserved and most atmospheric medieval abbeys. Valle Crucis began in austerity but was later celebrated by poets for its lavish hospitality – meals served in silver vessels and ale ‘flowing like a river’. In Wales, only Tintern Abbey was richer when it was dissolved by royal decree in 1537. You’ll believe it when you first glimpse the majestic west front of the abbey church. Elsewhere among the romantic ruins (painted by Turner) are the rib-vaulted chapter house and the only surviving monastic fishpond in Wales.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a World Heritage Site. You can walk across, or save your legs and take a leisurely boat ride over 'the stream in the sky'. But there's one thing you have to take with you. A camera. The views are something else.

The Three Eagles is a food pub in the middle of Llangollen. It's very popular so we'd recommend booking your table as its very rare to find a table as a walk-in. Dogs are welcome at the bar and outside in the courtyard.

Llangollen Fringe Festival offers a week-long eclectic mix of Music, Arts & Crafts, Comedy, Workshops, Storytelling, Theatre & Exhibitions.

Plas Newydd is a stone house converted into a gothic ‘fantasy’ by its most famous inhabitants – ‘The Ladies of Llangollen'. The Ladies of Llangollen - Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby ran away from Ireland in 1778 to start a new life together in Wales. Eleanor and Sarah arrived at Plas Newydd in 1780 and lived there for the next 50 years. Notable visitors included The Duke of Wellington, Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott and Josiah Wedgewood. Plas Newydd continues to welcome visitors to the house and garden today. The 'garden' is ten acres of grounds ranging from formal ‘parterre’ and rose gardens to beautiful woodland and dell areas where the ‘Cyflymen’ (fast flowing one) stream is to be found, all this set against the backdrop of the beautiful Welsh hills in this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.