Winter Wonderland

Shortly before last Christmas, we experienced the most magical week at Henllys.

Leaving North Yorkshire on 14th December, where the snow and ice had started to thaw, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive at Henllys with not a snowflake in sight. The following day more family members arrived from London and Oxford and we set about planning our activities for the week ahead. 

We decided that on Thursday we would visit Llanberis (and the Slate Museum) and Portmeiron, both of which we discovered were free to enter. The men who were demonstrating slate splitting and cutting really made our day because of their friendliness and sense of humour, especially with regard to my great nephew, aged 13, who had a go at splitting slate. 

Beautiful scenery

Portmeirion was gorgeous and we were surprised to find so many shops and eating places open at this time of year. On the way back snow started falling and fell throughout the night – we woke up to almost a foot of snow the following morning! 

The decision about activities that day had been made for us – there was very little chance of getting our cars out. The upside of this was that we were treated to some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. We were fortunate to occupy cottages overlooking not only the golf course but also the Menai Straits and Snowdonia. Blue sky and sunshine added to the sparkling scene and it was truly magical. 

Another advantage of not driving was that we spent a lot of time feeding and watching the birds, of which there is quite a variety at Henllys. It was fascinating to observe the jostling for supremacy between the small and large birds and we were surprised to see that often the gulls were intimated by much smaller birds! There were many photo opportunities!

Snow and sunshine

We also took the opportunity of walking more than we would normally have done. The walk down to Beaumaris to do our shopping was so enjoyable. The snowy fields glistened in the sunshine and sunglasses were the order of the day! As this was the week before Christmas we would normally have found the shops heaving with customers doing last minute shopping, but they were quiet which made it much easier and more enjoyable for us to do our present shopping.

We mainly cooked for ourselves but did have a really special meal on-site at Harry’s Bistro. We had previously booked a table for the Saturday evening, but when the bistro was closed due to snow on the Friday, we fully expected the same to happen on Saturday. However, staff had valiantly walked up to Henllys and we all enjoyed a delicious meal for a family birthday. What dedication to their jobs and to Bondholders – we were impressed and very grateful. 

A wonderful week

There was a wonderful camaraderie on site as Maggie the manager and her team worked tirelessly to help people, clearing roads and steps to enable Bondholders to move around. Many cars had to be dug out of the deep snow and there were always willing hands to help to push. Having a swim and a sauna afterwards was very welcome!

Henllys has always been one of my favourite HPB destinations, and even though I couldn’t show the rest of the family as much as I would have liked of Anglesey, I don’t think anybody could have asked for a better week. We all arrived back home safely to enjoy Christmas and New Year.

Thank you Henllys! We will be back!