Occasional escapes from the daily grind are one of life’s necessities and Ynys Faelog House, in Menai Bridge, offers the perfect blend of comfort and practicality
‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house... you could hear the sound of six women laughing, as they shrugged off the usual madness of the life of a working mum and handed the minutiae of the weekend over anybody else prepared to taxi their teens and feed their tweens. Yes – it was a girls’ weekend away and oh, how we needed it.
Ynys Faelog House is on the teeny tiny island of Ynys Faelog, which is attached to the village of Menai Bridge, on the Isle of Anglesey, by a narrow walkway and a tidal causeway.
The house has six bedrooms (four on the ground floor, two on the first), three of which are ensuite, with an extra shower in the utility room. There is a vast kitchen-dining space, with bi-fold doors opening onto a terrace with a large dining table. The kitchen-diner opens into a very cosy living room, with loads of sofa space and a very beautiful window seat, set into a deep bay. If you browse the cottage rental sites, there are more than a few properties that offer lots of space for multi-friend or multi-generational family getaways, but at Ynys Faelog there is a level of luxury you rarely find in holiday rentals. It’s quite clear that the owners, who live not so far away and fully appreciate all that this part of North Wales has to offer, have created the sort of house they would like to stay in when holidaying at home, with all the small details that make a self-catering holiday the most relaxing it can possibly be.
Before we could arrive, of course, we had to set off. The journey from Knutsford and Hale, in three separate cars, took under two hours, not bad for a Friday night the week before Christmas. We chose this somewhat crowded hour however because we also had to pay attention to the tides – getting stuck on the causeway would have been more than a little embarrassing. As you have a good couple of hours each side of the lowest point of the tide, it’s not that complicated to manage, and if you get stuck and miss it, you can park up by the causeway and tow your cases across the raised walkway instead. Having decided that overnight cases, plus two days of food (and wine) was far better lifted straight from the car into the house we opted to arrive at low tide. It’s pretty dark at 5pm in north Wales in midwinter, and the drive onto the causeway was an exercise in hope and faith (it’s just pitch black either side) but hey, it wasn’t my car... There’s plenty of parking right by the house, so there were no concerns there, however.
The entrance to Ynys Faelog is warm and bright (some kind soul had nipped in and put the lights on for us) and immediately welcoming. There are masses of hooks for coats and a big black tray in which to deposit shoes and boots. We then ran about the house (six busy mums on a kid/partner-free break, remember) ooh-ing and aah-ing over every discovery, bagsying our rooms and generally feeling a bit giddy.
One of our party has mobility challenges, so took the downstairs ensuite, which is extremely accessible, with a walk-through shower and plenty of space around the bed and doorways to allow for mobility aids. She declared herself thrilled, and we all headed to the kitchen to start dinner and open the wine.
The kitchen is extremely well equipped. Two ovens, an induction hob and two dishwashers, a double fridge-freezer and a separate wine fridge (very useful), plus plenty of pots, pans and utensils, and oodles of crockery. In a six-bedroom house (five double, one twin) oodles is what’s needed, and the two dishwashers proved most useful even for six of us.
After an unbroken night’s sleep (I drifted off to the sounds of owls, which wasn’t what I expected on the coast) and a magnificent breakfast, those who wished to headed over the walkway into Menai Bridge. It’s a tiny place, but with plenty of little independents shops to browse and pick up gifts. There’s also a Dylan’s Deli, which stocks lots of lovely locally made goodies, as well as their own produce and cakes. If you fancy dining out rather than cooking every meal in the house, there’s masses of choice there, too, with a Dylan’s, of course (possibly the most well-known restaurant on Anglesey), Plus39 (an authentic Italian café), pub food, vegan dining and more than a few takeaways. There is also the two Michelin star Sosban and The Old Butchers Restaurant, tucked discreetly away behind an innocent looking door on the main street. This restaurant has unlimited rave reviews on TripAdvisor, but with only four tables is booked up months and months in advance. If you fancy this intimate, seemingly extraordinary dining experience, organise it as soon as you book the cottage.
We chose to cook for ourselves, largely, with one meal pre-ordered from Indian restaurant Spice Island, which also has rave reviews on TripAdvisor, with which we absolutely concur. Two willing volunteers trotted over the walkway to collect it, while the rest of us took care of the very important opening of wine, pouring of gin and warming of plates.
Our final day was spent lazing about doing as little as possible, before catching the low tide back to Menai Bridge. We discussed tennis, and considered warming up the wood-fired hot tub, but sprawling across comfy sofas reading, chatting and Wordling was always going to be the preferred option.
Ynys Faelog House provides every imaginable comfort for a long or a short stay. It’s ideal for those multi-generational celebrations (pop grandma and grandpa in the mastersuite and the kids upstairs, where there are two ensuites and a living room) or girls’ trips or indeed any kind of event. You can mingle in the social spaces or seclude yourself in your room, knock a tennis ball about or participate in the many coastal adventures Anglesey offers, gather round the fire pit, huddle up inside or do whatever makes you happy.
It really couldn’t be made easier for you.
