Duke visits... Wales
- November 2024

Well, it is soon approaching Christmas as the leaves are falling from the trees, and the hoos get to play the autumn game of find the poop in the big pile of leaves.

Before Santa Paws gets here I had a lovely week away in Wales, so I thought I’d share a few of the things I got up to. I will keep them quite short as I visited a lot of places during my week away.

First place I visited was a trip to the beach in North Wales. It was called Talacre beach. There are some dunes to walk over and then a huge sandy beach appears with views over the Wirral and Liverpool.

We parked in the overflow car park, which cost 60p for 2 hours. There is another car park which is much more expensive that would be better for anymore with mobility issues as you can have a short walk to the beach without going through the dunes this way. There is a big lighthouse there too.



We then came home the scenic route via Mold as dad had been told about some dog friendly beer places to visit. One was too busy for me to collapse up the floor so we visited a newly opened one called The Beer Lab (it has nothing to do with labradors) located on Daniel Owen Square, close to the high street. For beer/cider lovers there is plenty of choice and for us hounds there are biscuits free flowing from behind the bar as well.

I visited National Trust Chirk Castle twice, as I completed a walk on the Sunday as part of the Great Global Greyhound Walk and had a nice walk through the woods, across some fields and chatted to some interested visitors by the castle who wondered why there were so many pointy’s around. I visited again on another day and walked up through the fields with the sheep and enjoyed some good views of the castle. Dogs are not permitted in the formal gardens or castle, but there is a nice grassy section outside the castle and tearoom where you can rest with a hoo whilst the other one visits the castle. I got my National Trust Pooch Passport stamped whilst I visited.







I visited a couple of more National Trust properties whilst away too, Erddig and Attigham park, so picked up another couple of stamps for my passport.

At Erddig, we are not allowed again in the house or formal gardens, however, we can pose outside the house, and can explore the parkland where we did a nice circular walk by the river.

We saw something called a cup and saucer as well, which prompted the hoos to visit the café. There is one in the courtyard which is fairly small but does allow dogs to sit inside, so it would be rude not to. I had a rest in the bookshop whilst the hoos took it in turns going in the house.

At Attingham the dogs are allowed everywhere except inside buildings, so we had a nice walk round the mile walk and through the kitchen garden.



We visited Newtown, a small Welsh town which has a park called Dolerw Park at the end of the shopping area. We didn’t explore much of the park, as we spotted a café that was dog friendly instead. Hafan Yr Afon Visitor and community centre (has a café with both indoor and outdoor seating and is dog friendly. They sell all homemade cakes, scones and savoury treats for the hoos. Mum had a sausage roll, my favourite. They have beds and blankets scattered around ready for tired dog legs to rest on.

We will visit again when we have more time and explore the park as well.

Our big day out was to Chester. The hoos had never been before, so we drove to a park and ride and we travelled on the bus into Chester. This worked out much cheaper than parking fees, as it only cost the hoos £5 for the two of them and we were parked all day.

We started by walking from the bus station up this road where dad mistakenly told mum her favourite sewing shop was, but luckily they are dog friendly too so I got to wander round. They have a few stores mainly scattered around Wales and middle England, but are very reasonable and have an online option too.

After this we walked up to the shops and was surprised how many shops were dog friendly, including lots of restaurants, pubs and cafes.

Dad had done his homework and walked us down this road and just happened to come across another Beer pub, called That Beer Place. It was dog friendly so it would be rude not to go in! They had just won Camra National Cider and Perry Pub of the Year earlier that week. With mum being more of a cider drinker she tried a Blackcurrant cider, which was like very grown up Ribena. They also sell beers and ciders in cans/bottles so we came away with a goodie bag for later.

We continued up the high street, saw a big clock, which told us it was lunch time, so we headed off to find the indoor market. The market is more of a food market than a conventional market, with lots of different stalls serving different foods from across the world. Best of all it is dog friendly, so we found a seat and dad went to two different places to get food for mum and himself. The food was lovely, reasonably priced, and there was a dog stall as well (although dad had packed my treats for me already).

We continued to wander round the streets, looking in lots of little independent shops, more beer shops and then went up the steps to pose with the clock.





We didn’t visit the cathedral on this occasion however this is dog friendly too, as is the visitor centre near to the cathedral. I got a big fuss from the staff in the visitor centre and told them all about my social media presence and that I am a repawter for a doggy newspaper. I left them my business card, and later that day they followed me on Twitter. See I know how to network even if my mum doesn’t.

We walked back along the city walls back to the bus station. We definitely liked Chester and would like to visit again soon.

Well that is enough from me for now, as I am still recovering from all that walking and have many a nap to catch up on.

Thanks
Duke

www.dukesdoggieadventures.wordpress.com