We don’t do beach days that often. The kids had requested one, so we loaded up the car with buckets, spades and towels and headed to one of our favourite spots, Newborough Beach in Lllanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, just a short drive from Plas Newydd.
Newborough (or Llanddwyn) beach is regarded as one of the nicest beaches in Britain and it really is a lovely place. The area has beautiful long stretches of beach and sand dunes along with forest trails and walking routes in the adjoining Newborough National Nature Reserve and Forest. It was also used as a filming location in episodes of the Game of Thrones spin off House of the Dragon.
Getting There and Parking
Newborough has several car parks with the main one being next to the beach itself. The others are quite a walk out, so if you don’t mind the walk then there’s plenty of space around. The main beach car park is chargeable, and is quite expensive. £5 for the first 2 hours and 70p for each additional 20 minutes up to a maximum charge of £15.
It’s a little drive through the forest to get to it, but there is plenty of space to park…if you’re early. It can get rammed on busy days and they will close off the road to the beach when the car park gets full – usually around 10-11am, so if you’re heading there on a possible busy day, get there early.
Facilities
Newborough Beach car park has public toilets (open from 8am-6pm in the summer months) with a water refill station outside. The area also has some small refreshment trucks selling ice creams, drinks and snacks (open 11am-4pm on weekends and school summer holidays)
The Beach
The beach is lovely. It’s a wide open stretch of beach with great views. Eryri National Park is over to the left and you can see the small island of Llanddwyn (home of the Twr Mawr lighthouse) to the right. If you catch the right time, and the tide is out, there are loads of rock pools and areas to go exploring for shrimps and crabs (we caught a massive shrimp on our last trip).
Newborough is also a great spot for some water based activities. There are always paddle boarders and people on kayaks out on the water and this time we saw a few kite surfers racing along the waters edge, taking advantage of the ocean breeze.
We had a lazy morning paddling and building sandcastles this time, as the tide was close in. Tried out hardest to dig a channel from the sea to our moat, but the water came in quicker from the side to flood it.
Tide times are usually written on a board at the edge of the car park if you need them.
Forest Walks & Trails
It was a beach day for us on this trip, but we have done a few of the forest trails on a previous visit. All trails are listed on notice boards as you walk towards the forest area along with an estimate of time and distance, ranging from 1-3 hours. Each route has coloured markers along the way so you don’t get lost too.
We walked around a few parts of the trails, into the forest which has some exercise type equipment in them and benches dotted around. Some of the trails take you around the beach areas or over to the Twr Mawr Lighthouse, whilst the nature trail has animal puzzles and info posts detailing some of the things you might see on your walks. We didn’t see any animals. Nothing wild anyway, but they were still relaxing, peaceful walking trails.
Time for Food
The sun had gotten hot and my arms were burning so we finished our beach day in the early afternoon. We’d spotted a cafe on the way in so though we might stop on the way back for an ice cream. We pulled into Whistle Stop Cafe, about 10 minutes from Newborough Beach and had a bit more than just an ice cream.
Whistle Stop Cafe
Whistle Stop Cafe is part of the Afon Braint Caravan park, located in Niwbwrch. It’s only a small cafe building with a large outdoor seating area with some covered booths, plus a few indoor seats. There is also a toilet block outside with disabled facilities.
Elliott was more than ‘ice cream’ hungry now, so pizza it was. Fortunately, they have quite a small, but diverse menu. Soups, toasties, chicken wings, a variety of pizzas, baked Camembert, burritos, sausage rolls, tea cakes, fries, desserts. A great selection. They do have a breakfast menu too with a good selection. For drinks there was a selection of hot and cold drinks, cans of pop and such. It was also a licenced cafe and they had some bottles of ciders and beers available, including one of my favourites: Gwynt Y Ddraig Black Dragon cider. Unfortunately, I was driving so I had an Iced Latte instead. Hashtag fancy. From the options we chose:
Baked Camembert £7.95
Jo was expecting this to be a small piece of Camembert, but no, it was a whole portion, baked and topped with walnuts and a honey drizzle with side salad and seeded batch bread.
Pepperoni Pizza £13.50
A proper stone-baked pizza and it was lovely. The pepperoni was dripping so you know its good peperoni. The kids shared it but I had to try a bite.
3 Bean Burrito £6.95
The burrito was a decent size, piping hot and the filling was tasty, but it was a bit dry.
Iced Latte
Can’t go wrong with an iced coffee these days. Can’t remember the exact price but I think it was about £5-6.
A Nice Bite to Eat
The food was nice and the ingredients all felt like good quality. The Camembert was definitely the winner though. It’s a nice cafe and the staff we’re polite and friendly. We picked up a few Calippo’s for the journey home and headed out. A nice end to our Anglesey day trip!
You can read more about Newborough on the Natural Resources Wales website and find details of the Whistle Stop Cafe at Afon Braint.
