Passionate about South Wales - the best pubs, restaurants, hotels and places to visit

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.  [...]

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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 still worth a [...]

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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 was very quiet. [...]

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We had a great meal in Cardiff Bay last night in Signor Valentino. The restaurant is a very good Italian with great food and good Italian service from what appear to be native Italians. Though some of my colleagues had suspicions that some of the waiters originated from Splott We were lucky to have an [...]

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We had a very nice lunch in Cardiff Bay this week. The restaurant is called Demiro’s. It’s located in the Mermaid Quay complex just across the Oval Basin from the Millennium Centre. We normally grab lunch in Coffee Mania but decided to try somewhere new. I’m normally put off by the bigger restaurants in Cardiff [...]

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Quite an interesting review of the Fairy Hill Hotel and Restaurant near Reynoldston on the Gower from late last year. It’s a couple of years since we last had a meal there and we thought the same, good but not mind-blowing. The restaurant has a huge reputation and I guess that it’s always hard to [...]

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A few days ago I met up with some old school friends from Cowbridge in the Bear Hotel in Cowbridge. I was early and had missed the earlier opportunity of a free meal in Cardiff so I decided to go for a bar meal while I waited for my friends. I decided to go for [...]

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