After visiting the West Shore Beach and walking all the way to Deganwy and back I then ventured partly up the Great Orme. I didn’t venture very far; I’d done a considerable amount of walking by that point but as it was the last day of my holiday I pushed on for a bit to see the views from this side of the Orme.
This rather pretty statue can be found just by the West Shore Beach and is yet another one of Llandudno’s homages to Alice in Wonderland, this time representing the white rabbit who is always running late. It was unveiled in 1933 by former prime minister David Lloyd George.
A small green space just down the road from Mostyn Art Gallery, it perhaps isn’t the most photogenic of Llandudno’s areas but it is home to the White Rabbit statue, part of the Alice in Wonderland trail and a couple of other interesting items, including what I’ve since learnt are some infamous public toilets. It was named for the nearby North Western Hotel which is now a Premier Inn.
Personally I think that Llandudno’s West Shore is the best beach in the town. I don’t know what its like at the height of summer but whenever I’ve been it’s been quiet, well maintained and very peaceful. On this trip I ended up walking the length of the beach, carrying on through the Wales Coast Path and then on to Deganwy, a nearby town which will feature in the next post.
I’ve previously written a bit about the art gallery Mostyn but this was my first time actually going inside of the building to see one of the exhibitions. Lady Henrietta Augusta Mostyn, of the Llandudno land owning family, was a patron of the arts and an artist herself and lent her name and support to the creation of the gallery. The building was designed by G A Humphreys and officially opened in 1902.
There are many ways to travel around the Great Orme. On my last trip I ended up walking it a great deal. I’ve already written about going up to see the Pen-Y-Dinas Hillfort, but later that same day I walked down from the Botanical Gardens and along Marine Drive. I wasn’t particularly planning on going all the way round or to the top – the Drive is around four miles long and it was quite late in the afternoon when I started, but I decided just to wander for a bit and see what I found.
One of Llandudno’s most famous sites is of course its pier. Dating from 1878 this is not the original pier – the first was in 1836 by a group wanting to turn Llandudno into a harbour – the idea was defeated by parliament and they got a new railway line instead. Then a wooden pier was built in 1858 that was damaged a year later by a storm. Repairs were made and it stood for another 18 years until the Llandudno Pier company was given permission to build directly over the old pier which was then demolished once the new one was completed. It was, and still is, the longest pier in Wales.
I hadn’t particularly planned on walking up the Great Orme on this trip since I’d been up there before, but then found myself doing so on three different occasions. On this journey I simply decided I was still in a walking mood after being at the Happy Valley Botanical Gardens so I followed the road from the top of the gardens until I came across a trail going upwards and decided to see where it went. At it turned out it was to the site of the Pen-Y-Dinas Hillfort.
Happy Valley Botanical Gardens are tucked away at the side of the Great Orme just along from the pier. The land was that of a former quarry which was gifted to the town by Lord Mostyn in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. The quarry was turned into gardens with an open air theatre and miniature golf course which has since been turned back into gardens and a ski slope and toboggan run.
I discovered The Owls Trust in Llandudno when researching potential things to visit in the town that I hadn’t been to before. The Trust has been allowed to set up their facilities at Bodafon Farm Park and entrance to the farm also includes entrance to the Trust’s bird cages. They are a charity rescuing and rehabilitating injured birds of prey which if possible they release back into the wild and also work to protect rare breeds around the world.
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