South Wales, UK - the best pubs, hotels and places to visit

St David’s 2 is a prestigious new shopping centre in the centre of Cardiff. It builds on the existing St David’s shopping centre that houses Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and Boots.
With the opening of the new shopping centre in November 2009 it is now possible to shop totally under cover from Cardiff’s main shopping street [...]

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I’ve been busy setting up my new Cardiff Bay Restaurants website – http://www.cardiff-bay-restaurants.co.uk/.
It’s still a work in progress, as all websites are, but it’s well under way.  There’s a lot of interest on where to eat in Cardiff Bay and it was clear that a specific site was needed. There are lots of sites listing [...]

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Unfortunately the Blue Anchor Inn in East Aberthaw has caught fire again last weekend.
This is a great local pub with a huge amount of character.   The building dates from 1380.  It has caught fire a number of times in its history – a thatched roof and log fires don’t mix very well
You can [...]

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A few months back we had a romantic weekend away at the excellent New House Country Hotel just north of Cardiff.
We fancied somewhere special and New House certainly lived up to that!
The hotel is situated on the hills just north of the city and has a spectacular view down over Cardiff and the Bristol Channel. [...]

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Last night we fancied avoiding cooking and decided to go out to a local pub.  We wanted to avoid Cowbridge since we guessed that it would be very busy on one of the last Friday’s before Christmas.
A friend recommended the Red Fox Inn in the village of Penllyn just off the A48 near Cowbridge.  The [...]

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I was looking for somewhere local for my special girl’s birthday last Sunday.  A friend suggested “Illtud’s 216” in Llantwit Major.  Of course I knew it, but had never been.  For me it was famous as where Pugsley went after leaving the well known Plough and Harrow in nearby Marcross.  I quickly discovered that Pugsley [...]

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Yesterday we visited Ogmore Castle. The castle dates from about 1116. It’s pretty unusual as it is low-lying and right next to the river Ogmore. There is a moat that apparently used to fill at high tide (the River Ogmore is tidal here). Not much remains of the castle now but it’s [...]

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We went a bit further afield today to the Newbridge Inn in Tredunnock, near Usk (map). The Newbridge Inn is a pub / restaurant and hotel owned by Chris Evans of Radio and TV fame. The head-chef is Iain Sampson. We had booked for lunch, but there wasn’t any need as it [...]

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