North and South Wales are like Chalk and Cheese

Before I start writing this post let me explain about the title. I am not criticising any part of my country, I am purely making my own observations which to be perfectly honest with you, after my South Wales holiday has been a bit of a shock. The view I have always held of my country is that of unification, as one-ness but it isn't.

I suppose I could compare Wales to a beautiful and amazing diamond.... unique, priceless, beautiful, sought after and if you hold it in different lights it changes........... No matter what the change it remains utterly beautiful and the light can show you hidden aspects.

I live in North Wales, in one of the largest towns in the country - Wrecsam. I actually live in the borough of Wrecsam in a border hamlet called Lavister which is now part of Rossett (Yr Orsedd). Its very agricultural in the North with farms and cattle all around us. Even towards the Llyn Peninsula and Anglesea the story is the same.

Farming is a tough industry and alot of farms have either failed or diversified in order to stay alive. So sadly the North part of Wales has become a mixture of farming and tourism. In fact places such as Abersoch and Llandudno are nick named by us locals as "Little England". Abersoch is a particular eye opener with the amount of range rovers, yahts, boats........... we feel quite poor when we visit in Jason's "truck" in comparison.

The North Wales welsh tend to be insular, and that isn't a criticism, I am a northerner myself but I think it must be the structure of our towns and villages and the fact that everyone *used to know everyone in their town.

The impression I got of the people from the South was warmth, friendliness, a more cosmopolitan feel.They didn't feel as aggressive... Maybe that description is a bit harsh but whenever I have used public facilities in the north, there has been an element of aggression to the point that I can't leave my 10 year old son who is on the autistic spectrum because he usually gets picked on. I know I have only used the LC2 in South Wales but the feel I got from that facility was one of fun.... people were there to relax and have fun..... I felt relaxed and didn't feel the need to be on my son's back all of the time...... Guess what??? he didn't get picked on once!

I expected the South part of Wales to be industrial but I found that it was a mix of the two.... Consider a beach town right next to or part of an industrial and countryside community..... I found that very odd but very attractive.

Having had a hard day at the office........ take your family down to one of the local beaches for a BBQ and some beach fun.

The beaches themselves weren't crowded either as they can be in the North but I suppose that is because North Wales lives on tourism whereas the South doesn't have to.

So.......... I fell in love with South Wales!

* I will cover the town of Wrecsam in another post. I started to describe the town but it became to complicated to include in this post and I felt that it deserved one of its own.

South Wales Holiday

I have just returned from a fabulous week away in South Wales with family and friends. We stayed in a renovated farm house situated in a small village called "Three Crosses".

Let me tell you about the farmhouse! It was pretty darned WOW! backing onto a field of horses, raised decking area with BBQ, hot tub, 3 bathrooms with showers, 2 double bedrooms and 2 single bedrooms, 2 living rooms and a super huge kitchen with aga and to top it off..... the loft had been converted into a childs play area complete with TV, sofa beds, toys and mini pool table!

The farmhouse and barn conversions had been tastefully renovated and we lacked nothing on the holiday, apart from a wok!! There was a trivet for one on the aga but we couldn't find one anywhere!

The hot tub was a hit with the kids, they loved it! Sitting in it sipping their J20's and enjoying each others company. My friend Jan and I didn't fancy a dip but promised Harry that on the last day we would get in there with him which we did for half an hour and I must say it was rather nice sitting in a bubbling hot tub in the drizzle!

We had a lovely time exploring the different beaches. We had Monty Doodle dog with us so we were restricted to dog friendly beaches, despite that fact we were spoilt for choice.

Our first beach was recommended to us by a friend who lives in the area called Rhossili and that was totally amazing. The children thoroughly enjoyed body boarding there and the views were simply stunning. We visited Oxwich and Horton which were equally beautiful.

One day was spent at LC2 Leisure Centre, the water was a bit too cold for my liking but the children enjoyed themselves. Joe, Chloe and Lydia had sufing lessons there and did pretty well at it too. I have never been into a public pool which is so well staffed and so clean! I suppose it could be right that the money goes to the South of Wales and the North doesn't get much..... I mean.... FREE hair drying facilities??? Clean pool floors?? I was spoilt.

I wasn't too impressed with the Mumbles and it was a shame that the pier seemed to be in disrepair, it paled in comparison to the pier in Llandudno. However the children had lots of fun looking for crabs and they found a few as well!

We had such a good holiday we all got quite emotional saying goodbye to each other. It was fun and has given us lots of memories to treasure.