April 1, 2025 • 44 mins
This week's episode immerses you in the beauty and experiences Wales has to offer. John Hadwin joins us to unveil hidden gems and top recommendations for exploring this remarkable country. You’ll learn about the rich history, stunning scenery, and mouth-watering cuisine that make Wales a must-visit destination.
• Discover the top experiences to explore in Wales
• Why Wrexham is quickly becoming a tourist hotspot
• Insider tips for making the most of your Welsh adventure
• Highlights of local cuisine including Welsh Rarebit
• Importance of allowing time to truly appreciate Wales
• How to work with local experts for a memorable visit
⭐️ Guest - John Hadwin of Boutique Tours of North Wales
📝 Show Notes - Episode 143
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode 128 – Explore North Wales + Beyond with John Hadwin
- Episode 89 – Boutique Tours of North Wales with John Hadwin
- Episode 52 – Exploring North Wales with Doug Collins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Think about visiting Wales but not sure where to
start.
In episode 43 of the UK TravelPlanning Podcast, I chat with
John Hadwin of Boutique Tours ofWales about the top experiences
that make this country sospecial, from breathtaking
outdoor adventures to richhistory, culture and incredible
food and drink.
John shares his expertrecommendations, including some
hidden gems and seasonalmust-dos.
(00:20):
We also discuss Wrexham and whyexploring Wales should be on
every traveler's list.
Tune in for insider tips andinspiration for your next Welsh
adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracey Collins.
In this podcast, Tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:57):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hi and welcome to episode 143 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast, and this weekI am joined by John Hedren.
Again Again, john, this is thethird episode that John Hadwin
has been on my podcast to talkabout all things Wales.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Oh, thank you very much, Tracey.
It's a privilege and I'm soenamoured that you keep coming
back and I know the reason whyGo on and tell me.
Because nobody knows anythingabout Wales.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, clearly you are our Wales expert, Definitely so
.
Episode 89, last year you wereon, and just before Christmas on
episode 128, talking aboutcruise ship excursions.
Now today we're going to talkabout what you consider to be
the five best experiences thatyou can have.
Now, I know your kind ofspecialism is North Wales, but
(02:03):
there's two things I really wantto talk to you about.
One is I know you go toLiverpool, which, before anybody
tells me, I know it's not inWales, but I know you do
excursions to Liverpool and Ilove Liverpool.
But I have to start withtalking about Wrexham.
So introduce yourself, tell uswho you are, what you do, and
let's talk about Wrexham.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
John, Okay, lovely, okay, lovely, thank you.
Well, I'm John Hadwin, the owner, proprietor and the only person
bar my lovely wife runningBoutique Tours, so when you come
out with me, you get me and I'mwith you from your first
inquiry right to the end of thestore physically.
So, yeah, I've been operatingtours since 2009 under the name
(02:44):
of Boutique Tours and very muchspecialize in Wales, and private
tours have come into a leagueof their own, certainly since
COVID, and it's a very nichemarket.
And if I've got to sum up avisit to Wales, one of the best
ways of doing it is actually notthat I'm blowing my own trouble
(03:05):
here, but public transport isnot great.
So if you want to get around ina very limited time, uh, you've
really got to consider makingthe most of that time and making
most of your visit, probablyutilizing somebody like myself,
uh, to help you get the best outof your visit to, to Wales.
So, yeah, we've got a beautifulcountry, very historic, very
(03:25):
scenic and what I call Britain'sbest-kept secret, and everybody
who comes out with me vouchesfor that.
It's very experienced when we gotouring, so a couple of
celebrities I know you put me upthere as one, oh yeah,
absolutely, we've got a coupleof hollywood celebrities with,
uh, ryan reynolds and robmacklehenny, who, um invested in
(03:49):
a pretty unknown football clubin the north eastern corner of
wales, wrexham afc.
They were languishing in thenon-league football leagues and,
um, they came along and put aproposal to the the members.
Now the club is owned by thepeople and, uh, they allowed
(04:11):
them to buy in and it's been afantastic success.
And, of course, they broughttheir hollywood experience with
them and brought out the tvseries uh, welcome to wrexham.
Uh, which has been a massivehit worldwide.
And I tell you, everybody whogets in the car with me now when
we leave from Liverpool orChester or they're in Wales,
(04:33):
they want to go to Wrexham andthey want to go and see the
football club.
So what is it about the club?
Well, they've done a great job.
There's a lot of personalitiesbehind the scenes as well as the
two guys, but you know we'revery proud here in Wales.
I am a soccer man, so if you docome touring with me, you're
going to get the benefit of thesoccer aspects and I get told
(04:55):
off for calling it soccer.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I was about to say that, John.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Down the golf club.
The guys always, like I say cantell you've been out with the
Americans.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
When you said that I could hear Doug going.
Why is he calling it soccer?
It's football.
But then, because you're aLiverpool supporter, he'll
forgive you.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I'll tell you I'm not .
Speaker 1 (05:19):
No, I thought you were.
Don't say you're ManchesterUnited, otherwise I have to stop
the podcast.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I always thought I was a schoolboy in Manchester
City.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh right, I was in.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Manchester United.
So it wasn't like that, I wastoo good for Liverpool, oh.
So, anyway, let's get on theWelsh subject, wrexham.
Basically, wrexham was foundedin 1864.
So they are the third oldestfootball club in the UK and uh,
it makes them the oldest inWales.
(05:48):
And um, we have, with the racecourse ground, uh one of the
oldest international footballstadiums in the world, so that
in its own right is uh gotpeople's interest.
Of course, we've hosted greatFA Cup games there, the knockout
cups, and we've got these greatinternational games and
(06:10):
European football matches.
So, yeah, wrexham is in aleague of its own.
And of course, if you want tothrow a little addition into
Wrexham, look at the lager, thebeer, oh okay, which is brewed,
and we have the oldest lager inum in britain, um being produced
in in rexamon.
That is now being franchisedthrough the two guys, ryan
(06:32):
reynolds and rob mcconnelly,into the us.
So rex is going places and youknow they are uh, our newest
city of wales.
We only have seven cities inwales.
So pretty much one of the lastthings before her majesty the
queen passed away.
She made wrexham uh a city, shegave it city status.
(06:55):
So, um, wrexham has uh been alittle uh sleepy back quarter of
a mining industrial area.
Uh, of course, we have nomining there now.
So, um, now the football is uhhelping create a great tourism
industry and people absolutely,it's amazing if you come talking
(07:16):
football in wales, you'll findthem very passionate.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
There isn't another team so let's let's put that as
our top experience.
Well, there isn't.
Is that that's a put that asour top experience?
Because I I can guarantee thatthe majority of people who
listen to this podcast will befans should I confess I've not
actually watched it yet.
I will, I will do.
I actually was talking to anaustralian friend of mine the
other day and she was.
(07:38):
She was talking about it and Iwas like am I the only person in
the universe that has notwatched this series?
So, honestly, wrexham istotally on the map and I'm
guessing you get a lot ofrequests for going to visit.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
And it's so easy to reach.
It's just off the highway thatruns through Wales.
You know, if you're coming inacross the English border,
you're talking like 20 milesacross the border to reach
Wrexham.
And the great thing is ifyou've watched the Welcome to
Wrexham and um, the great thingis if you've watched the welcome
to Wrexham is the?
Um, the pub, the turf, um,everybody wants to visit the
turf and if you go in there youdo become the celebrity.
(08:15):
If you're an internationalvisitor, people do make time for
you and um, I mean, I even getpeople behind the bar getting a
picture.
You know, photograph, uh,pulling.
Get people behind the bargetting a picture, you know a
photograph pulling pints behindthe bar.
Then we go around the otherside of the ground and we go to
the souvenir store and the shop.
But if people want to come andsee a game, the guys have now
(08:36):
made international tickets alimited allocation for
international visitors.
Because there's such afollowing from the US.
There is a held back ticketstock for you so you can get
priority.
And?
Um, if you want help andassistance on the day, then you
know, make sure you get me aticket as well and I could come
along with you and show youeverything where it is, and even
buy a pint of rex and beer ortwo that sounds like a good deal
(09:01):
to me.
I can also explain how the gamegoes if you don't know football,
because it's a big differenceto NFL, yeah or Australian
football, which I know nothingabout.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I probably said that completely wrong as well.
I'm not a sports fan at all.
So let's talk about otherexperiences that you can have.
So you can have your kind ofyour football fix uh fix, by
going to wrexham, and your kindof hollywood star fix yeah, um.
What else would you suggestthat people experience when they
go to wales?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
well if, if you're in that neck of the woods, it
makes uh a great entrance andgateway to wales.
Uh, coming in, um, you have abeautiful historic house down
the road called the Iardig,which is a bit of life in a
manor house, from upstairs,downstairs lifestyle, so think
of Downton Abbey.
(09:51):
It's our equivalent in Wales.
Further on down the road andquite close by, you've got the
UNESCO World Heritage Site, theFrontisolic Aqueduct.
People don't know about it,probably because they can't say
the name, but it sits on unescoworld heritage site of the
clangothlin canal, so in englishthey would say langollen, in
(10:14):
welsh we say clangothlin and um,there's a 11 mile stretch of
canal there with a stream in thesky, and you can walk across it
, you can boat and you can walkacross it.
You can boat across it, you cankayak across it.
You're about 130 feet above theRiver Dee, which is the border
river, wow, and the scenery isabsolutely stunning.
And, to be honest, if I start atour of Wales, I use that as one
(10:36):
of my first stops.
And people rave about it andsaid, well, everything's got to
be downhill from here.
And I said, said no, this isjust a warm-up.
You know, when you go touringwith me.
I'll take you off the beatentrack and up in the hills around
the d valley.
I'll take you up onto offersdyke, which is a national
walking trail around thebackbone of wales, and there's a
little track up there.
(10:56):
I drive on and you can get themost amazing views down into the
d valley, which is one of oursort of three areas of
outstanding natural beauty inNorth Wales.
And yeah, you've got DeanusBran Castle, which is a
fantastic little hike up intothe hills there and you're
really in another world and it'sso tranquil and it is worth you
(11:20):
crossing the border to come andsee this beauty that we have in
Wales and the history that goeswith it, because that is just
the first of 600 640 listedcastle sites in wales I was.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I was going to ask you kind of what, what
experience you would say shouldwould showcase welsh history and
culture.
But it's going to be thecastles, hasn't it really?
I mean, there's so many.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
A lot of them are in ruins, though I will say yes um,
I do get the old person comingoff the cruise ships, for
example, saying, um, I'm reallydisappointed with the castles.
They're not furnished and I'mgoing.
Well, they are 800 years oldand, uh, we have actually got
one in the border area justsouth of uh clangothland and the
(11:59):
francilic aqueduct, which againmakes a perfect touring date
out of Wrexham Turk, and it'sthe only castle that's still
lived in today from medievaltimes.
So that's part of the NationalTrust.
It comes under their group.
So if you're carrying the RoyalOak membership, that's one you
could use your membership cardfor when you're here in Britain.
(12:21):
So, yeah, you've got afantastic day on day one there
already.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I was going to say, I mean, that's already.
We've got the outdoors, we'vegot history and culture.
Now I'm getting hungry and I'vegot a thirst on what would you
recommend that I try when itcomes to Welsh food and drink?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Okay, you're going to be spoilt for choice.
Now, how big is the venue?
Well, we've got national dishes.
I always talk to people and saythe one you have to try before
you leave the country and it ispretty much available everywhere
.
You'll even get it in England,but the English don't make it as
good as it is in Wales and thedifference is it's got a bit of
(13:01):
mustard in it and the Englishkill it with their mustard.
So our homemade Welsh mustardsare quite nice.
They're seeded mustards.
It's a background taste.
It doesn't kill the flavour ofcheese, which predominantly, is
what the dish is.
So think of cheese on toast.
Okay, it's a luxury version ofcheese on toast.
(13:21):
I did have some guys from theUS say oh, it's the Welsh
version of a pizza.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Oh, okay, that's an interesting take on it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Well, yeah, the dough's a bit different, but no
Welsh rarebit, you have to tryit.
And I've got three or fourplaces that I go with the tours
that I pick out that I rateamongst the best places for
Welsh rarebit.
So that's a privilege of comingout on tour with me.
One of my little secrets To goalong with that.
We've got unique other tastes.
(13:54):
Do you know we?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
had a Welsh caviar.
No, you do, now I do.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I did it, though it's called Lava Bread oh okay and
it's a speciality from the southwales.
Often is served at breakfasttime, so you'll get it on your
plate with your fried or poachedeggs.
Um, it's normally served withcockles and uh, lava bread is
basically boiled seaweed, butit's our welsh version of a
(14:23):
caviar.
It's the nearest we can get tocaviar, so we like to push
things up, but I tell you peopleare not disappointed when they
try it.
Now you can get lava bread whenyou go to like the market
stores where they sell freshfish.
So, for example, in the cardiffopen market you can go to the
fish market.
There they'll be sellingcockles, small shellfish, and
you'll get a punnet of breadwith it.
(14:44):
That that is their specialityfrom the south.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Um I have to say I'm just going to interrupt.
I'm going to interrupt there,john, because it's a good job
that people listen.
Couldn't see my face because itdoesn't appeal, I have to say.
But I don't particularly likeanything, anything fishy or
anything like that.
So I don't does it taste?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
it does taste of the sea.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, yeah so not for me, definitely not.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
No, it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm
a great believer.
When I joined the travelindustry 40 years ago, I was a
very fussy eater.
Now my spectrum goes rightacross the board and the motive
is when you're travelling, justtry it, nothing to lose.
You never know what you'remissing.
And when you come out when youcome out with me on tour that is
(15:29):
top of our list okay, we'll geta photo of me trying and we'll
get a video of me, I'll get youon camcorder for that one.
Now um other aspects we have.
Obviously we have a lot ofsheep in wales, so lamb as a
meat is a dish that we serve upin many different ways, but
traditionally the Sunday roastin Wales is always roast leg of
(15:52):
lamb, and if you catch me in thekitchen on a day off, that's
usually what I'm cooking.
Oh, so yeah, is that your?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
speciality, then yeah , yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Is that your?
Speciality, john, I had mygrandchildren around last week
and I was cooking and I wasgoing to have 14 for dinner, wow
.
So I was cooking two legs oflamb and a little grandson comes
in.
He's only four years old and hesays Grandad, is there a
two-legged lamb running aroundoutside somewhere?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Oh, that's a bit.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
So that carried me all day with a bit of a laugh
and a chuckle, yeah.
So whilst I'm cooking, I like adrop of Welsh wine, and not
many people know we produce winein Wales, so we've got about 18
different vineyards across thecountry.
So, again, one of my new toursthis year is actually to
introduce people to a taste ofWales, and so we'll be going to
the vineyards.
We'll be getting the Welsh rare, but we'll be going to the
(16:48):
vineyard.
We'll be getting the welsh rare, but we'll be getting another
national dish leek potato soup.
Oh nice, we got cheeses as well.
In wales we've got some greatcheeses and, um, if you're not
into visiting a vineyard wastingtime, I can bring out a little
picnic and we go out to a castlesite in snowdonia and sit in
the hills with the views.
Um, so yeah, there's anothernice day for you that might be
(17:10):
better than the welsh caviar dayout to a castle site in
Snowdonia and sit in the hillswith the views.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So yeah, there's another nice day for you that
might be better than the WelshCaviar Day.
Yeah, I think so Now.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I have to do it Now you've said it, I have to try it
.
Amongst the Taste of Waleswe've got things like Welsh
whiskey.
We've got lots ofmicrobreweries and popping up
recently there's been quite arange of gin people.
So you know, gin tasting inWales has become pretty good and
(17:37):
we've got a couple of very goodproducers here in the north
that I go to.
So again, I introduced it sortof on the soft sell this year
when we were passing by I saidhow do you fancy a taste of
Wales with a taste of gin?
And people were raving about itand in actual fact I couldn't
get them out and they werecoming out with bottles loading
the car up, so it must have beengood.
Yeah, so you know, check allthat together.
(17:59):
You're not going to be lost fora good taste of Wales.
And we've got a couple oftraditional dishes like cowl and
lobsters.
They're the stews from simplesort of mining and farming
communities, um, so it's a verycultural sort of uh style of
dining and again, we can popinto places where they do the
lobsters and cowl as well.
So that's just a a few littletasters for you to get your
(18:21):
taste buds going oh no,definitely well.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So we've experienced some football, we've experienced
some outdoor kind of activitiesand enjoying the views.
We've now got some experienceof some history and culture, and
we've talked about some food.
So what else would you say thatpeople have to experience when
they go to Wales?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
How about some hidden gems?
We've got quite a few of themin Wales.
Now a few I've just pulled outof the bag are quite easy ones
to reach if you're travellingindependently or you come on
tour with us.
We're a small country, so we'reno bigger than the state of
Massachusetts in the US, so, togive you an idea, we're roughly
just over 3 million people, butwe have unique places like the
(19:03):
smallest house in Great Britain.
We have the smallest church orchapel which is close by and
just down the road we've alsogot the smallest cathedral.
And now those all pop up on afollowing day from the
Borderland tour that we talkedabout.
Just around the Wrexham area, inthat same vicinity, we have got
(19:25):
a holy shrine called StWinifred's Well and that when I
take people there they're amazedwhy don't we know about this?
And that, officially, is one ofthe seven wonders of Wales,
which was written in a poem by atourist in the 17th century and
it talked about Wrexham withits steeple.
(19:46):
And it talked about Wrexhamwith its steeple, gressforth
with its church, snowdon withouthis people, pistol Rider, which
is a waterfall, clandoughlanwith its bridge and, of course,
st Winifred's Well.
So yeah, this is one of the oldhidden gems Now.
That shrine goes back tomedieval times and we've had
(20:11):
kings and queens come toactually bathe in the waters
there.
It's got very good healingpowers and, bizarrely, I've
witnessed people come out curedwho couldn't walk.
They went in, helped in out ofwheelchairs or they came in in
crutches to the poolside andthey walked out freely unaided.
And I met a guy from Spainrecently there and he said I
(20:34):
come here every year to take thewater because it's cured me.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And he said I was a cripple.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I couldn't walk and I didn't believe him until I
actually saw it.
And you know there are a lot ofCatholics who go there because
it's a Catholic shrine.
So it's just worth seeing,because the architecture of the
place is nice and it's got aunique story attached to it.
So I'm going to leave that forthe people to come and hear it
from me, because it's abeautiful story connected to St
(21:02):
Winifred, who's the saint of thewell itself, so it's known as
St Winifred, who's the saint ofthe well itself, so it's known
as St Winifred's Well.
And it is a real hidden gem offthe sort of tourist domain, but
quite easy to reach.
Waterfalls, if you like thegreat outdoors, they're in
abundance and we've got three orfour.
(21:22):
Pistol Rider, I just mentioned,is the biggest of the
waterfalls hidden in theborderlands, very difficult and
awkward to get there, but youknow, if you love your hiking,
live a bit of a scramble andclimb up.
The views from the top of thewalls fall are amazing, but you
need uh two, two to three hoursthere to to see it properly.
Uh, little roadside drop, uh,solar falls.
(21:43):
It's our famous waterfall.
They're beautiful any time ofthe year.
Uh, and then if you like alittle bit of a walk for about
two hours on the coast nearwhere they make the famous gin
uh called Aber Falls gin, thedistillery.
So you know, start with the ginready, with the gin you walk
into the hill and it's about twoand a half hour round and it's
about a two-and-a-half-hourround-trip walk to the fantastic
(22:04):
waterfalls there.
Where else can we take you?
Let's think Snowdon, themountain, the coastline.
So Snowdon is unique in its ownway in that we've got a railway
that goes to the top of themountain and so you can take a
train or a diesel train to thetop.
That is probably the mostpopular element that people go
(22:26):
for when they come.
They put it up there as anumber one choice.
I've got to give you a tip Ifyou're going to come and think
about doing it.
One, you have to engage theweather, because if you book
your ticket, you can't get arefund on a cloudy day.
Two, it sells out nearly everyday of the week, especially
weekends, and you have to sortof get it.
(22:47):
That's a must-do.
A lot of people do have it atthe top of their list.
Then grab hold of that earlyand book it.
You can book it online.
Another great little place I goto the bottom end of I'm sorry,
it's not the bottom end, it's inthe middle of Snowdonia and
it's hidden away.
It's a farm, traditional farmthat the Snowdonia society have
opened and invested in, has gotthe most fantastic cultural
(23:10):
story attached to it.
It's where a very famous poetcame from in wales and he used
to win our our nationalizedsteadfords for his best stories
and poetry.
And that is absolutelyfascinating.
When I get people into that uhone.
You're on open farmland,rolling countryside and you walk
into this 17th, going on 18thcentury farmhouse and it's in a
(23:35):
time warp.
It's absolutely spectacular.
Again, people love it.
It's got a lovely visitorcentre with a cafe there and
bathrooms, so it's a little bitoff track and hard to find.
Again, if you're coming on aprivate tour.
The great thing about workingwith somebody like myself is I
know the lay of the land, I knowwhat we can get into a day and
usually what I do.
When I start talking to people,I give them a menu of like
(23:57):
here's what you can see, butlike a restaurant menu.
You you pick out what you wantyou know what you want to eat or
do, and I try and frame thetour personally around that.
So that's just a few things in anutshell.
Of course, you've got theisland of anglesey, an area of
outstanding beauty.
Um, one of the great things ofgetting onto that island, it's
(24:19):
got a beautiful, spectacularcoastline, 125 miles of coastal
walks around it.
It'll take you about 12, 13days if you want to be that
energetic.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
No, I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well, we've got the port of Holyhead.
There's a mountain, a countrypark, and on the far side of
that there is some ocean cliffswith a spectacular lighthouse
and it's called Southstack.
That is a top one for peopleand it gets you onto the island
to see the island because, samething with the island, unusual
(24:52):
quirky got to be Welsh.
Go to the town with the longestname.
I'll give you a challenge Countthe letters, okay, and anybody
who wants to write in about thatqualifying factor.
Is you not got to be Welsh?
Okay, count the letters.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Let me know how many you see, because most people get
it wrong all right, I'm gonna,I'm gonna guess 48 and you can
tell me whether I'm right orwrong, or you can just tell me
I'm wrong probably you're wrong.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, we've been here all day.
I can go higher, lower like acar game I thought it was higher
I'll give you a clue.
We have a Welsh alphabet, soit's a trick question.
Ah, okay, there's anotherunusual cultural feature with
Wales it's my get-out-of-jailcard.
Yeah, yeah, right.
(25:37):
So also one other area thatpeople mostly miss out on when
they come to the north isthere's a little bit of land
that goes out into the irish seacalled the clin peninsula.
So if you look at conway,carnarvon, and go south of
carnarvon, you come on to theclin peninsula.
So people have heard of placeslike port merion, the italian
(25:57):
style village, which is reallyunusual quite controversially
it's not really welsh built by acontroversial architect, but
it's a beautiful village to gointo.
Famous for where they filmed thePrisoner.
So, any Prisoner fans out there.
That's on the must-do list foryou.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
My husband has a T-shirt from there.
I'm not a number or whatever,something like that.
I'm not a number.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I'm a man.
They sent a big golf ball outto catch you on the sands.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
that's right, it is beautiful it's beautiful with
the painted houses and thegardens in the summer and, um,
I'll give you a little insidetip there even if you're
traveling independently this isfor all the people who travel
independently, who hire cars,don't and don't need the tour
guide you get to port marion, um, they've got a gate fee and
it's about 20 pound to go in, soit's expensive but it is a
(26:47):
unique experience.
Now the trick is if you go andhave lunch at the castle before
you go into Port Merion so theCastle Doudroith is at the top
of the drive before you go downinto the village have a lunch
there and as long as you havetwo courses, they give you a
ticket to go in complimentary,but you've got to have the lunch
(27:07):
there.
And as long as you have twocourses, they give you a ticket
to go in complimentary, butyou've got to have the lunch
first.
Now the lunch will cost youabout 25 to 28 pound roughly.
It does move around a littlebit, depends what they've got on
the menu.
So if you budget, say, 30 pound, you're getting like a free
lunch yeah, a lunch in thatplace is absolutely fantastic.
Plus, it's a real taste of walesbecause, uh, pretty much what
(27:29):
they do is a taste of wales onthe menu.
So, um, yeah, that's anotherplace you should go and see I
have been, I have been there butbut I didn't do the lunch now.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You see, I should have spoken to you before that.
But yes, I have been and wewere there on a beautiful, sunny
blue sky day and it was.
It was stunning there, it wasgorgeous.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yeah, it's one of those places I get people going
in for like half an hour.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Oh no.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
People stay in it all day.
My philosophy is it's your tour.
You know you come a long way tosee it.
I don't dictate.
Oh, you've got half an hourhere or 40 minutes or whatever I
say.
I'll guide you and say you canhave a if you want to sit
properly.
It's about two hours.
Um, you can stay there all dayand wander through the forests.
You know that they've gothundreds of acres of land, but,
(28:15):
um, yeah, a couple of hours.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Normally you can get through the site and, uh, allow
another hour at least for lunchyes, now I'm going to put you on
the spot a little bit aboutseasons and when.
When is the best time or notthe time to visit Wales, and if
there's anything in particular,that if you've got a kind of
free reign and you can visit anytime from January to December
that you'd say, oh, come forthis because it's amazing, or
(28:39):
don't come in this period oftime because it's not a great
time to come to Wales, whatwould you say?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Right, we are Britain , so we're on the west side of
Britain, we get the westerlyweather that comes in off the
ocean so we do attract a littlebit of rain so you can get rain
any time of the year.
But enough this year, sorry.
Last year we had the highestrainfall on record.
(29:05):
But normally I would say if youwant the best time of year to
visit, may and June.
I'll give you an example of howpopular that is.
I pretty much sell out for Mayand June by the end of February.
So you know that tells you it'sone of the most popular times.
September's also popular.
You're going to get the mainsummer season July, august, when
(29:28):
the kids are off school.
So that's not everybody'sfavorite time to come because
we've got quite a big UK holidaymarket that comes in and takes
the domestic holidays in Wales.
So there's lots of cottages,farmhouses, b&b hotels etc.
So we've got beautiful beachesand coastlines.
So that's what people come for,the bucket and spade brigade as
(29:50):
we call them.
If you're going to come andlike, if you like hiking and
walking, then it's a greatdestination.
There are thousands of miles oftrails.
We have a 870 miles ofcoastline to walk.
We have the unique uh offersdyke through the backbone of
wales.
You never heard of it.
Look it up.
(30:10):
Offers dyke was um so-calledconstructed by um, the king of
mercia, who was known as kingoffer, in around about the late
sixth, early seventh centuryduring covid.
We were doing some excavationsand there's a best preserved
section is in mid wales on theborder with england and they
(30:30):
were digging up lots of romanartifacts and they were digging
up lots of Roman artefacts andthey were saying that the
archaeologists that they'repredating it sort of three to
five hundred years earlier intime which puts it into the
Roman occupation, so they'retrying to prove it was actually
built by the Romans now and notOffa.
We think Offa put his name onit after the Roman occupation to
(30:51):
keep the unruly Welsh out ofEngland or to take the glory I,
I built it.
I built it, yeah yeah, hiking isis a fantastic thing, but
season wise, you know if you goto mountains you're going to get
you can get four seasons in asingle day.
Um, you know, we can get snowfrom november to march april.
(31:11):
Uh, in the mountains must saywe haven't had a lot of heavy
snow, it tends to be quite light, so the road's still run clear.
It's when you go out into themountains, when you're trekking
underfoot, that they get quiteicy and quite dangerous.
We have wardens at all themajor walk points, usually
saying the walks are safe or notsafe.
My advice is you take theadvice of the warden there,
(31:34):
don't attempt to go on themountains.
People do come up for days out,for example, and ignore their
advice, and they're the onesthat end up in trouble.
So yeah, wales is beautiful, nomatter whether it's wet or sunny
, and I have had quotes likethat on TripAdvisor from touring
days that it was a rainy day,but wow, he brought the
destination alive with all thehistory and all the things to
(31:57):
see and do.
And there are places to goindoors on a wet day, places
like Plas Newydd on the Isle ofAnglesey.
It's a national trust.
Penrhyn Castle it's not amedieval castle.
It's what we call a folly.
So there was a tycoon whobought a mountain, who was
involved in the slavery tradewhen the british banned it and
(32:19):
he bought plotter land in walesand bought a mountain and got
into um slate mining and, uh,yeah, made his fortune for his
family that way.
So, yeah, that's, that's aninteresting story place to visit
as well.
In the north that's just up nearthe city of Bangor, penryn
Castle.
So, yeah, I think you can comehere.
You know, I mean, we do getdomestic tourism.
(32:40):
Our hotels are staying openyear-round now, so they're
staying open for the message.
This week I've got some ladiesarriving from Australia touring
with me for three days inSnowdonia and, yeah, we've got a
mixed bag of a forecast.
We've got a bit of snow around,we've got a sunny day, we've
got a wet day.
You know, and I do brief peopleand you know, the great thing
(33:01):
is you can watch the forecast.
They do move a little bit, butgenerally they're a lot clearer
than they used to be and it doeshelp, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I guess you can shift things around if you need to.
If you've got somebody on amulti-data, I guess, if you do
come, in the winter.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
If you do come in the winter, you need to bring like
thermals and wrap up, basicallyhats, gloves, scarves, that sort
of stuff.
Um, you know, if you, if youdon't want to travel, you can
buy them when you get here.
You know the shops, shops arehere as well and there's all the
walking equipment to be poles,or new boots or shoes or
whatever you.
You don't want to carry them,then you can get them here.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Oh, perfect.
Now if somebody's therethinking I want to experience
all of these fantastic thingsthat Wales has got to offer,
what practical tips do you havethat could kind of help them
experience this, as well asobviously working with you?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Yeah, well, take me out of the frame.
Okay.
My biggest tip to anybodycoming from you know overseas
internationally is don'tunderestimate Wales.
Um, now you might be thinking,listening to this, that you're
planning a trip to Europe andyou're going to visit Britain
and you're looking for newthings to do in Britain and your
(34:15):
tour might take you throughEngland and into Scotland and
maybe also to Ireland.
But right on that west coast isWales, small little country.
Biggest fault that people makeis not allowing enough time, and
you'll realize it when you gethere and that is the biggest
feedback I get frominternational visitors.
I wish we'd have realized whatwe were coming to.
(34:39):
I wish we'd have researched itmore.
I wish that I allowed more timefor our visit.
So that is the biggest thing tolook at.
People come for a day and say,yeah, I've seen Wales done it,
but you can't physically do itall in a day.
And I do get people wanting meto drive them through Wales in a
day.
I do do it.
It's a long day.
(35:00):
It's like 12-hour touring dayand I'm just touching it and
it's like a whistle-stop tour.
So give yourself five days.
Okay, that's not me pitchingfor the business here.
Give yourself five days.
That's if you're touringindependently, with a car, for
example.
You'll thank me or you'll thankTracy for it, I know you will
and have a look at the areas youcome into, because every area
(35:23):
you go to here in the north, Ican give you five good touring
days without overlapping thesame area.
There's so much to see and do ineach day.
That is the big surprise.
You're not going to be tryingto fill a day out with something
and people say to me you knowabout my tours when they come
out with john wow, we've seen somuch.
Today we've seen about three orfour times more than we could
(35:44):
have ever done on our own.
Well, that's the benefit ofdoing a private tour, because I
know the lay of the land.
You don't have to think aboutdriving or parking or speeding
and stuff like that.
You know there's the benefit ofa private tour and using
somebody local.
You have their knowledge andyou know they know where to park
the car, they know where allthe attractions are.
They know where all therestaurants are.
(36:04):
You know you're on vacation.
Enjoy it.
You know it's worth the extrainvestment to do that.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
That's me pitching for the business now but I was
also going to say because I did,I did talk about, I did mention
Liverpool at the very beginning.
The reason I'm saying this isthat, if you want, you could
base yourself in North Wales andfrom there you can experience
some of England too.
So Chester's not far away,liverpool isn't far away.
So actually and I know that'ssomething that you offer that
(36:32):
not only can you give them theexperiences in North Wales and
Wales, but you can actually alsocross over the border there's
no passport control and takethem in to see some of those
beautiful English cities as well.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Yeah, I do a two-city tour, with Chester and
Liverpool.
In between we've got abeautiful village, a workers'
village, industrial workers'village, very, very pretty, and
it's a secret gem called PortSunlight, lord Leverhulme who
built it for his workers.
It's a fantastic little place.
People just wow, was this wheretheir workers lived?
(37:04):
You know, they can't believethe quality of the place.
And it sits right betweenLiverpool and Chester.
Cheshire, just over the border,is a beautiful county and I'm
doing a tour, uh, featuringchester, a little bit of history
.
Walk around the walls in thecity, then we pop out to a
beautiful country and you've gotto come on this one.
Uh, this little little inn isuh up on a hill over looking the
(37:28):
cheshire plain.
It's on the walking trail andthen the next hill along on the
walking trail and then the nexthill along on the trail is where
there's a medieval castle builtto protect the border with the
English to the Welsh and itmakes a fantastic little day out
.
So I'm getting a lot ofinterest from cruise passengers
on that tour for a day out fromthe ship because they want to
get out of Liverpool.
But yeah, there's somethingthere for everyone.
(37:50):
You know, if you're into yourmusic.
Then Liverpool's the home ofthe Beatles and that is my new
big tour this year the Beatles.
I've really done a lot ofresearch, I've got into it
massively.
My wife's going.
God, you are a fanatic, youcould take a degree and you know
everything about everyone andyou know all about the family
and where they were born, wherethey lived, all the houses and
(38:11):
everything.
So I've got a lot of quirkylittle stories on the beach,
which is fascinating stuff andyou do like a half day or a full
day.
People think of the cavern.
You know where they played andmade the name, but there's a
place that actually made thembefore they got to the cavern,
made them with all the localsand, yeah, fascinating stuff.
(38:31):
So, yeah, there's loads evolvingand the reason all this has
happened is I've actually movedcloser towards the border.
I still live in Wales, butwe've moved closer to where the
family live, which is by Wrexham, to be honest, and getting to
Chester and Liverpool is quiteconvenient now.
So I am getting a lot of peopleasking for tours out of
(38:53):
Liverpool and Chester who arethere visiting to bring them
into wales and if, if you're intransit and touring around and
you're hitting ireland dublinthere's a fantastic ferry
service, a very quick ferryservice takes about two hours to
get across with the fast ferryfrom dublin.
It's only 60 miles away and, uh, I've got people who fly in to
dublin and come over to wales totour and then go back to dublin
(39:17):
.
Um, some go off to thecotswolds, some go to scotland
or the english lake district.
So again, uh, if you're goingoff in that sort of direction I
can do a feeder, but I call atransit tour day so you're not
wasting your touring time.
So, lots happening as everthere is.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
There's lots.
I'm just trying to think howI'm actually gonna ever go out
on a day with you becausethere's so many I want to go out
on, but you're so busy, you getbooked up so well in advance
because you're so popular.
I don't know, and I will.
I'll be back later on in theyear in the uk, so maybe we can
sort something out then, john,definitely we're gonna get you
in that um now just share withour listeners how, where they
(39:58):
can find you, because that's,that's, that's the next question
.
I need you to tell everybodywhere you are and how they can
get in touch with you to bookokay, so you'll find the website
at wwwboutiquetourswales.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
That's's without the H, because everybody tries to
put a H in W-A-L-E-S.
So Wales, we're not the oceananimal.
Okay, you can also WhatsApp me.
You can email me, which issimply info.
There's a contact form on thewebsite, so that's the easiest
(40:37):
one to use because if you thatout, I've got some of your
details and you can tell me whatyou're looking for.
And, um, if you've got nothinglike planned and you want
guidance, and that's where itall, that's where I come in.
Uh, I'm a very good tourplanner.
I call myself a tour directortoday very, very posh, but you
(40:59):
know, people actually do say youare a true tour director by all
your suggestions, because I'llsuggest accommodation and I'll
suggest restaurants to dine outat lunch stops, so it's more
than just putting a tourtogether.
It's all the little extras,like you know, so it's one-stop
shop basically perfect.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Well, I will put a link to your website in the show
notes at ukchildplanscom.
Forward slash episode 143.
Can you believe it?
Episode 143?
I can't believe.
I'm at that point.
I'm not sure.
I know you will be back on thepodcast, I'm sure sometime, john
, but thanks so much for comingon again and chatting about your
tours and about all thingsWelsh.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, my great pleasure.
Message to everybody listeningin you know, please do look us
up in Wales because you are infor a great surprise and a
beautiful destination.
It won't fail.
I promise you that.
And I did say to somebody whenyou go on tour with me if it
doesn't hit the mark, you get afull refund.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Oh, okay.
Well, I'm sure it will hit themark.
You're that confident 100%.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
That's feedback from everybody is always so positive
when they come to Wales.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Perfect, thanks, john .
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Lovely.
Thank you again.
I look forward to the next one.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the
UK Travel Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know you may receive a
shout out in a future episode.
Love to hear from you and younever know.
(42:39):
You may receive a shout out ina future episode.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next
week, happy UK travel planning.
Think about visiting Wales but not sure where to
start.
In episode 43 of the UK TravelPlanning Podcast, I chat with
John Hadwin of Boutique Tours ofWales about the top experiences
that make this country sospecial, from breathtaking
outdoor adventures to richhistory, culture and incredible
food and drink.
John shares his expertrecommendations, including some
hidden gems and seasonalmust-dos.
(00:20):
We also discuss Wrexham and whyexploring Wales should be on
every traveler's list.
Tune in for insider tips andinspiration for your next Welsh
adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracey Collins.
In this podcast, Tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:57):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hi and welcome to episode 143 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast, and this weekI am joined by John Hedren.
Again Again, john, this is thethird episode that John Hadwin
has been on my podcast to talkabout all things Wales.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Oh, thank you very much, Tracey.
It's a privilege and I'm soenamoured that you keep coming
back and I know the reason whyGo on and tell me.
Because nobody knows anythingabout Wales.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, clearly you are our Wales expert, Definitely so
.
Episode 89, last year you wereon, and just before Christmas on
episode 128, talking aboutcruise ship excursions.
Now today we're going to talkabout what you consider to be
the five best experiences thatyou can have.
Now, I know your kind ofspecialism is North Wales, but
(02:03):
there's two things I really wantto talk to you about.
One is I know you go toLiverpool, which, before anybody
tells me, I know it's not inWales, but I know you do
excursions to Liverpool and Ilove Liverpool.
But I have to start withtalking about Wrexham.
So introduce yourself, tell uswho you are, what you do, and
let's talk about Wrexham.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
John, Okay, lovely, okay, lovely, thank you.
Well, I'm John Hadwin, the owner, proprietor and the only person
bar my lovely wife runningBoutique Tours, so when you come
out with me, you get me and I'mwith you from your first
inquiry right to the end of thestore physically.
So, yeah, I've been operatingtours since 2009 under the name
(02:44):
of Boutique Tours and very muchspecialize in Wales, and private
tours have come into a leagueof their own, certainly since
COVID, and it's a very nichemarket.
And if I've got to sum up avisit to Wales, one of the best
ways of doing it is actually notthat I'm blowing my own trouble
(03:05):
here, but public transport isnot great.
So if you want to get around ina very limited time, uh, you've
really got to consider makingthe most of that time and making
most of your visit, probablyutilizing somebody like myself,
uh, to help you get the best outof your visit to, to Wales.
So, yeah, we've got a beautifulcountry, very historic, very
(03:25):
scenic and what I call Britain'sbest-kept secret, and everybody
who comes out with me vouchesfor that.
It's very experienced when we gotouring, so a couple of
celebrities I know you put me upthere as one, oh yeah,
absolutely, we've got a coupleof hollywood celebrities with,
uh, ryan reynolds and robmacklehenny, who, um invested in
(03:49):
a pretty unknown football clubin the north eastern corner of
wales, wrexham afc.
They were languishing in thenon-league football leagues and,
um, they came along and put aproposal to the the members.
Now the club is owned by thepeople and, uh, they allowed
(04:11):
them to buy in and it's been afantastic success.
And, of course, they broughttheir hollywood experience with
them and brought out the tvseries uh, welcome to wrexham.
Uh, which has been a massivehit worldwide.
And I tell you, everybody whogets in the car with me now when
we leave from Liverpool orChester or they're in Wales,
(04:33):
they want to go to Wrexham andthey want to go and see the
football club.
So what is it about the club?
Well, they've done a great job.
There's a lot of personalitiesbehind the scenes as well as the
two guys, but you know we'revery proud here in Wales.
I am a soccer man, so if you docome touring with me, you're
going to get the benefit of thesoccer aspects and I get told
(04:55):
off for calling it soccer.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I was about to say that, John.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Down the golf club.
The guys always, like I say cantell you've been out with the
Americans.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
When you said that I could hear Doug going.
Why is he calling it soccer?
It's football.
But then, because you're aLiverpool supporter, he'll
forgive you.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I'll tell you I'm not .
Speaker 1 (05:19):
No, I thought you were.
Don't say you're ManchesterUnited, otherwise I have to stop
the podcast.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I always thought I was a schoolboy in Manchester
City.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh right, I was in.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Manchester United.
So it wasn't like that, I wastoo good for Liverpool, oh.
So, anyway, let's get on theWelsh subject, wrexham.
Basically, wrexham was foundedin 1864.
So they are the third oldestfootball club in the UK and uh,
it makes them the oldest inWales.
(05:48):
And um, we have, with the racecourse ground, uh one of the
oldest international footballstadiums in the world, so that
in its own right is uh gotpeople's interest.
Of course, we've hosted greatFA Cup games there, the knockout
cups, and we've got these greatinternational games and
(06:10):
European football matches.
So, yeah, wrexham is in aleague of its own.
And of course, if you want tothrow a little addition into
Wrexham, look at the lager, thebeer, oh okay, which is brewed,
and we have the oldest lager inum in britain, um being produced
in in rexamon.
That is now being franchisedthrough the two guys, ryan
(06:32):
reynolds and rob mcconnelly,into the us.
So rex is going places and youknow they are uh, our newest
city of wales.
We only have seven cities inwales.
So pretty much one of the lastthings before her majesty the
queen passed away.
She made wrexham uh a city, shegave it city status.
(06:55):
So, um, wrexham has uh been alittle uh sleepy back quarter of
a mining industrial area.
Uh, of course, we have nomining there now.
So, um, now the football is uhhelping create a great tourism
industry and people absolutely,it's amazing if you come talking
(07:16):
football in wales, you'll findthem very passionate.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
There isn't another team so let's let's put that as
our top experience.
Well, there isn't.
Is that that's a put that asour top experience?
Because I I can guarantee thatthe majority of people who
listen to this podcast will befans should I confess I've not
actually watched it yet.
I will, I will do.
I actually was talking to anaustralian friend of mine the
other day and she was.
(07:38):
She was talking about it and Iwas like am I the only person in
the universe that has notwatched this series?
So, honestly, wrexham istotally on the map and I'm
guessing you get a lot ofrequests for going to visit.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
And it's so easy to reach.
It's just off the highway thatruns through Wales.
You know, if you're coming inacross the English border,
you're talking like 20 milesacross the border to reach
Wrexham.
And the great thing is ifyou've watched the Welcome to
Wrexham and um, the great thingis if you've watched the welcome
to Wrexham is the?
Um, the pub, the turf, um,everybody wants to visit the
turf and if you go in there youdo become the celebrity.
(08:15):
If you're an internationalvisitor, people do make time for
you and um, I mean, I even getpeople behind the bar getting a
picture.
You know, photograph, uh,pulling.
Get people behind the bargetting a picture, you know a
photograph pulling pints behindthe bar.
Then we go around the otherside of the ground and we go to
the souvenir store and the shop.
But if people want to come andsee a game, the guys have now
(08:36):
made international tickets alimited allocation for
international visitors.
Because there's such afollowing from the US.
There is a held back ticketstock for you so you can get
priority.
And?
Um, if you want help andassistance on the day, then you
know, make sure you get me aticket as well and I could come
along with you and show youeverything where it is, and even
buy a pint of rex and beer ortwo that sounds like a good deal
(09:01):
to me.
I can also explain how the gamegoes if you don't know football,
because it's a big differenceto NFL, yeah or Australian
football, which I know nothingabout.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I probably said that completely wrong as well.
I'm not a sports fan at all.
So let's talk about otherexperiences that you can have.
So you can have your kind ofyour football fix uh fix, by
going to wrexham, and your kindof hollywood star fix yeah, um.
What else would you suggestthat people experience when they
go to wales?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
well if, if you're in that neck of the woods, it
makes uh a great entrance andgateway to wales.
Uh, coming in, um, you have abeautiful historic house down
the road called the Iardig,which is a bit of life in a
manor house, from upstairs,downstairs lifestyle, so think
of Downton Abbey.
(09:51):
It's our equivalent in Wales.
Further on down the road andquite close by, you've got the
UNESCO World Heritage Site, theFrontisolic Aqueduct.
People don't know about it,probably because they can't say
the name, but it sits on unescoworld heritage site of the
clangothlin canal, so in englishthey would say langollen, in
(10:14):
welsh we say clangothlin and um,there's a 11 mile stretch of
canal there with a stream in thesky, and you can walk across it
, you can boat and you can walkacross it.
You can boat across it, you cankayak across it.
You're about 130 feet above theRiver Dee, which is the border
river, wow, and the scenery isabsolutely stunning.
And, to be honest, if I start atour of Wales, I use that as one
(10:36):
of my first stops.
And people rave about it andsaid, well, everything's got to
be downhill from here.
And I said, said no, this isjust a warm-up.
You know, when you go touringwith me.
I'll take you off the beatentrack and up in the hills around
the d valley.
I'll take you up onto offersdyke, which is a national
walking trail around thebackbone of wales, and there's a
little track up there.
(10:56):
I drive on and you can get themost amazing views down into the
d valley, which is one of oursort of three areas of
outstanding natural beauty inNorth Wales.
And yeah, you've got DeanusBran Castle, which is a
fantastic little hike up intothe hills there and you're
really in another world and it'sso tranquil and it is worth you
(11:20):
crossing the border to come andsee this beauty that we have in
Wales and the history that goeswith it, because that is just
the first of 600 640 listedcastle sites in wales I was.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I was going to ask you kind of what, what
experience you would say shouldwould showcase welsh history and
culture.
But it's going to be thecastles, hasn't it really?
I mean, there's so many.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
A lot of them are in ruins, though I will say yes um,
I do get the old person comingoff the cruise ships, for
example, saying, um, I'm reallydisappointed with the castles.
They're not furnished and I'mgoing.
Well, they are 800 years oldand, uh, we have actually got
one in the border area justsouth of uh clangothland and the
(11:59):
francilic aqueduct, which againmakes a perfect touring date
out of Wrexham Turk, and it'sthe only castle that's still
lived in today from medievaltimes.
So that's part of the NationalTrust.
It comes under their group.
So if you're carrying the RoyalOak membership, that's one you
could use your membership cardfor when you're here in Britain.
(12:21):
So, yeah, you've got afantastic day on day one there
already.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I was going to say, I mean, that's already.
We've got the outdoors, we'vegot history and culture.
Now I'm getting hungry and I'vegot a thirst on what would you
recommend that I try when itcomes to Welsh food and drink?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Okay, you're going to be spoilt for choice.
Now, how big is the venue?
Well, we've got national dishes.
I always talk to people and saythe one you have to try before
you leave the country and it ispretty much available everywhere
.
You'll even get it in England,but the English don't make it as
good as it is in Wales and thedifference is it's got a bit of
(13:01):
mustard in it and the Englishkill it with their mustard.
So our homemade Welsh mustardsare quite nice.
They're seeded mustards.
It's a background taste.
It doesn't kill the flavour ofcheese, which predominantly, is
what the dish is.
So think of cheese on toast.
Okay, it's a luxury version ofcheese on toast.
(13:21):
I did have some guys from theUS say oh, it's the Welsh
version of a pizza.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Oh, okay, that's an interesting take on it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Well, yeah, the dough's a bit different, but no
Welsh rarebit, you have to tryit.
And I've got three or fourplaces that I go with the tours
that I pick out that I rateamongst the best places for
Welsh rarebit.
So that's a privilege of comingout on tour with me.
One of my little secrets To goalong with that.
We've got unique other tastes.
(13:54):
Do you know we?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
had a Welsh caviar.
No, you do, now I do.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I did it, though it's called Lava Bread oh okay and
it's a speciality from the southwales.
Often is served at breakfasttime, so you'll get it on your
plate with your fried or poachedeggs.
Um, it's normally served withcockles and uh, lava bread is
basically boiled seaweed, butit's our welsh version of a
(14:23):
caviar.
It's the nearest we can get tocaviar, so we like to push
things up, but I tell you peopleare not disappointed when they
try it.
Now you can get lava bread whenyou go to like the market
stores where they sell freshfish.
So, for example, in the cardiffopen market you can go to the
fish market.
There they'll be sellingcockles, small shellfish, and
you'll get a punnet of breadwith it.
(14:44):
That that is their specialityfrom the south.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Um I have to say I'm just going to interrupt.
I'm going to interrupt there,john, because it's a good job
that people listen.
Couldn't see my face because itdoesn't appeal, I have to say.
But I don't particularly likeanything, anything fishy or
anything like that.
So I don't does it taste?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
it does taste of the sea.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, yeah so not for me, definitely not.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
No, it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I'm
a great believer.
When I joined the travelindustry 40 years ago, I was a
very fussy eater.
Now my spectrum goes rightacross the board and the motive
is when you're travelling, justtry it, nothing to lose.
You never know what you'remissing.
And when you come out when youcome out with me on tour that is
(15:29):
top of our list okay, we'll geta photo of me trying and we'll
get a video of me, I'll get youon camcorder for that one.
Now um other aspects we have.
Obviously we have a lot ofsheep in wales, so lamb as a
meat is a dish that we serve upin many different ways, but
traditionally the Sunday roastin Wales is always roast leg of
(15:52):
lamb, and if you catch me in thekitchen on a day off, that's
usually what I'm cooking.
Oh, so yeah, is that your?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
speciality, then yeah , yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Is that your?
Speciality, john, I had mygrandchildren around last week
and I was cooking and I wasgoing to have 14 for dinner, wow
.
So I was cooking two legs oflamb and a little grandson comes
in.
He's only four years old and hesays Grandad, is there a
two-legged lamb running aroundoutside somewhere?
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Oh, that's a bit.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
So that carried me all day with a bit of a laugh
and a chuckle, yeah.
So whilst I'm cooking, I like adrop of Welsh wine, and not
many people know we produce winein Wales, so we've got about 18
different vineyards across thecountry.
So, again, one of my new toursthis year is actually to
introduce people to a taste ofWales, and so we'll be going to
the vineyards.
We'll be getting the Welsh rare, but we'll be going to the
(16:48):
vineyard.
We'll be getting the welsh rare, but we'll be getting another
national dish leek potato soup.
Oh nice, we got cheeses as well.
In wales we've got some greatcheeses and, um, if you're not
into visiting a vineyard wastingtime, I can bring out a little
picnic and we go out to a castlesite in snowdonia and sit in
the hills with the views.
Um, so yeah, there's anothernice day for you that might be
(17:10):
better than the welsh caviar dayout to a castle site in
Snowdonia and sit in the hillswith the views.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So yeah, there's another nice day for you that
might be better than the WelshCaviar Day.
Yeah, I think so Now.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I have to do it Now you've said it, I have to try it
.
Amongst the Taste of Waleswe've got things like Welsh
whiskey.
We've got lots ofmicrobreweries and popping up
recently there's been quite arange of gin people.
So you know, gin tasting inWales has become pretty good and
(17:37):
we've got a couple of very goodproducers here in the north
that I go to.
So again, I introduced it sortof on the soft sell this year
when we were passing by I saidhow do you fancy a taste of
Wales with a taste of gin?
And people were raving about itand in actual fact I couldn't
get them out and they werecoming out with bottles loading
the car up, so it must have beengood.
Yeah, so you know, check allthat together.
(17:59):
You're not going to be lost fora good taste of Wales.
And we've got a couple oftraditional dishes like cowl and
lobsters.
They're the stews from simplesort of mining and farming
communities, um, so it's a verycultural sort of uh style of
dining and again, we can popinto places where they do the
lobsters and cowl as well.
So that's just a a few littletasters for you to get your
(18:21):
taste buds going oh no,definitely well.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So we've experienced some football, we've experienced
some outdoor kind of activitiesand enjoying the views.
We've now got some experienceof some history and culture, and
we've talked about some food.
So what else would you say thatpeople have to experience when
they go to Wales?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
How about some hidden gems?
We've got quite a few of themin Wales.
Now a few I've just pulled outof the bag are quite easy ones
to reach if you're travellingindependently or you come on
tour with us.
We're a small country, so we'reno bigger than the state of
Massachusetts in the US, so, togive you an idea, we're roughly
just over 3 million people, butwe have unique places like the
(19:03):
smallest house in Great Britain.
We have the smallest church orchapel which is close by and
just down the road we've alsogot the smallest cathedral.
And now those all pop up on afollowing day from the
Borderland tour that we talkedabout.
Just around the Wrexham area, inthat same vicinity, we have got
(19:25):
a holy shrine called StWinifred's Well and that when I
take people there they're amazedwhy don't we know about this?
And that, officially, is one ofthe seven wonders of Wales,
which was written in a poem by atourist in the 17th century and
it talked about Wrexham withits steeple.
(19:46):
And it talked about Wrexhamwith its steeple, gressforth
with its church, snowdon withouthis people, pistol Rider, which
is a waterfall, clandoughlanwith its bridge and, of course,
st Winifred's Well.
So yeah, this is one of the oldhidden gems Now.
That shrine goes back tomedieval times and we've had
(20:11):
kings and queens come toactually bathe in the waters
there.
It's got very good healingpowers and, bizarrely, I've
witnessed people come out curedwho couldn't walk.
They went in, helped in out ofwheelchairs or they came in in
crutches to the poolside andthey walked out freely unaided.
And I met a guy from Spainrecently there and he said I
(20:34):
come here every year to take thewater because it's cured me.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And he said I was a cripple.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I couldn't walk and I didn't believe him until I
actually saw it.
And you know there are a lot ofCatholics who go there because
it's a Catholic shrine.
So it's just worth seeing,because the architecture of the
place is nice and it's got aunique story attached to it.
So I'm going to leave that forthe people to come and hear it
from me, because it's abeautiful story connected to St
(21:02):
Winifred, who's the saint of thewell itself, so it's known as
St Winifred, who's the saint ofthe well itself, so it's known
as St Winifred's Well.
And it is a real hidden gem offthe sort of tourist domain, but
quite easy to reach.
Waterfalls, if you like thegreat outdoors, they're in
abundance and we've got three orfour.
(21:22):
Pistol Rider, I just mentioned,is the biggest of the
waterfalls hidden in theborderlands, very difficult and
awkward to get there, but youknow, if you love your hiking,
live a bit of a scramble andclimb up.
The views from the top of thewalls fall are amazing, but you
need uh two, two to three hoursthere to to see it properly.
Uh, little roadside drop, uh,solar falls.
(21:43):
It's our famous waterfall.
They're beautiful any time ofthe year.
Uh, and then if you like alittle bit of a walk for about
two hours on the coast nearwhere they make the famous gin
uh called Aber Falls gin, thedistillery.
So you know, start with the ginready, with the gin you walk
into the hill and it's about twoand a half hour round and it's
about a two-and-a-half-hourround-trip walk to the fantastic
(22:04):
waterfalls there.
Where else can we take you?
Let's think Snowdon, themountain, the coastline.
So Snowdon is unique in its ownway in that we've got a railway
that goes to the top of themountain and so you can take a
train or a diesel train to thetop.
That is probably the mostpopular element that people go
(22:26):
for when they come.
They put it up there as anumber one choice.
I've got to give you a tip Ifyou're going to come and think
about doing it.
One, you have to engage theweather, because if you book
your ticket, you can't get arefund on a cloudy day.
Two, it sells out nearly everyday of the week, especially
weekends, and you have to sortof get it.
(22:47):
That's a must-do.
A lot of people do have it atthe top of their list.
Then grab hold of that earlyand book it.
You can book it online.
Another great little place I goto the bottom end of I'm sorry,
it's not the bottom end, it's inthe middle of Snowdonia and
it's hidden away.
It's a farm, traditional farmthat the Snowdonia society have
opened and invested in, has gotthe most fantastic cultural
(23:10):
story attached to it.
It's where a very famous poetcame from in wales and he used
to win our our nationalizedsteadfords for his best stories
and poetry.
And that is absolutelyfascinating.
When I get people into that uhone.
You're on open farmland,rolling countryside and you walk
into this 17th, going on 18thcentury farmhouse and it's in a
(23:35):
time warp.
It's absolutely spectacular.
Again, people love it.
It's got a lovely visitorcentre with a cafe there and
bathrooms, so it's a little bitoff track and hard to find.
Again, if you're coming on aprivate tour.
The great thing about workingwith somebody like myself is I
know the lay of the land, I knowwhat we can get into a day and
usually what I do.
When I start talking to people,I give them a menu of like
(23:57):
here's what you can see, butlike a restaurant menu.
You you pick out what you wantyou know what you want to eat or
do, and I try and frame thetour personally around that.
So that's just a few things in anutshell.
Of course, you've got theisland of anglesey, an area of
outstanding beauty.
Um, one of the great things ofgetting onto that island, it's
(24:19):
got a beautiful, spectacularcoastline, 125 miles of coastal
walks around it.
It'll take you about 12, 13days if you want to be that
energetic.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
No, I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well, we've got the port of Holyhead.
There's a mountain, a countrypark, and on the far side of
that there is some ocean cliffswith a spectacular lighthouse
and it's called Southstack.
That is a top one for peopleand it gets you onto the island
to see the island because, samething with the island, unusual
(24:52):
quirky got to be Welsh.
Go to the town with the longestname.
I'll give you a challenge Countthe letters, okay, and anybody
who wants to write in about thatqualifying factor.
Is you not got to be Welsh?
Okay, count the letters.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Let me know how many you see, because most people get
it wrong all right, I'm gonna,I'm gonna guess 48 and you can
tell me whether I'm right orwrong, or you can just tell me
I'm wrong probably you're wrong.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, we've been here all day.
I can go higher, lower like acar game I thought it was higher
I'll give you a clue.
We have a Welsh alphabet, soit's a trick question.
Ah, okay, there's anotherunusual cultural feature with
Wales it's my get-out-of-jailcard.
Yeah, yeah, right.
(25:37):
So also one other area thatpeople mostly miss out on when
they come to the north isthere's a little bit of land
that goes out into the irish seacalled the clin peninsula.
So if you look at conway,carnarvon, and go south of
carnarvon, you come on to theclin peninsula.
So people have heard of placeslike port merion, the italian
(25:57):
style village, which is reallyunusual quite controversially
it's not really welsh built by acontroversial architect, but
it's a beautiful village to gointo.
Famous for where they filmed thePrisoner.
So, any Prisoner fans out there.
That's on the must-do list foryou.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
My husband has a T-shirt from there.
I'm not a number or whatever,something like that.
I'm not a number.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I'm a man.
They sent a big golf ball outto catch you on the sands.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
that's right, it is beautiful it's beautiful with
the painted houses and thegardens in the summer and, um,
I'll give you a little insidetip there even if you're
traveling independently this isfor all the people who travel
independently, who hire cars,don't and don't need the tour
guide you get to port marion, um, they've got a gate fee and
it's about 20 pound to go in, soit's expensive but it is a
(26:47):
unique experience.
Now the trick is if you go andhave lunch at the castle before
you go into Port Merion so theCastle Doudroith is at the top
of the drive before you go downinto the village have a lunch
there and as long as you havetwo courses, they give you a
ticket to go in complimentary,but you've got to have the lunch
(27:07):
there.
And as long as you have twocourses, they give you a ticket
to go in complimentary, butyou've got to have the lunch
first.
Now the lunch will cost youabout 25 to 28 pound roughly.
It does move around a littlebit, depends what they've got on
the menu.
So if you budget, say, 30 pound, you're getting like a free
lunch yeah, a lunch in thatplace is absolutely fantastic.
Plus, it's a real taste of walesbecause, uh, pretty much what
(27:29):
they do is a taste of wales onthe menu.
So, um, yeah, that's anotherplace you should go and see I
have been, I have been there butbut I didn't do the lunch now.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You see, I should have spoken to you before that.
But yes, I have been and wewere there on a beautiful, sunny
blue sky day and it was.
It was stunning there, it wasgorgeous.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yeah, it's one of those places I get people going
in for like half an hour.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Oh no.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
People stay in it all day.
My philosophy is it's your tour.
You know you come a long way tosee it.
I don't dictate.
Oh, you've got half an hourhere or 40 minutes or whatever I
say.
I'll guide you and say you canhave a if you want to sit
properly.
It's about two hours.
Um, you can stay there all dayand wander through the forests.
You know that they've gothundreds of acres of land, but,
(28:15):
um, yeah, a couple of hours.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Normally you can get through the site and, uh, allow
another hour at least for lunchyes, now I'm going to put you on
the spot a little bit aboutseasons and when.
When is the best time or notthe time to visit Wales, and if
there's anything in particular,that if you've got a kind of
free reign and you can visit anytime from January to December
that you'd say, oh, come forthis because it's amazing, or
(28:39):
don't come in this period oftime because it's not a great
time to come to Wales, whatwould you say?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Right, we are Britain , so we're on the west side of
Britain, we get the westerlyweather that comes in off the
ocean so we do attract a littlebit of rain so you can get rain
any time of the year.
But enough this year, sorry.
Last year we had the highestrainfall on record.
(29:05):
But normally I would say if youwant the best time of year to
visit, may and June.
I'll give you an example of howpopular that is.
I pretty much sell out for Mayand June by the end of February.
So you know that tells you it'sone of the most popular times.
September's also popular.
You're going to get the mainsummer season July, august, when
(29:28):
the kids are off school.
So that's not everybody'sfavorite time to come because
we've got quite a big UK holidaymarket that comes in and takes
the domestic holidays in Wales.
So there's lots of cottages,farmhouses, b&b hotels etc.
So we've got beautiful beachesand coastlines.
So that's what people come for,the bucket and spade brigade as
(29:50):
we call them.
If you're going to come andlike, if you like hiking and
walking, then it's a greatdestination.
There are thousands of miles oftrails.
We have a 870 miles ofcoastline to walk.
We have the unique uh offersdyke through the backbone of
wales.
You never heard of it.
Look it up.
(30:10):
Offers dyke was um so-calledconstructed by um, the king of
mercia, who was known as kingoffer, in around about the late
sixth, early seventh centuryduring covid.
We were doing some excavationsand there's a best preserved
section is in mid wales on theborder with england and they
(30:30):
were digging up lots of romanartifacts and they were digging
up lots of Roman artefacts andthey were saying that the
archaeologists that they'repredating it sort of three to
five hundred years earlier intime which puts it into the
Roman occupation, so they'retrying to prove it was actually
built by the Romans now and notOffa.
We think Offa put his name onit after the Roman occupation to
(30:51):
keep the unruly Welsh out ofEngland or to take the glory I,
I built it.
I built it, yeah yeah, hiking isis a fantastic thing, but
season wise, you know if you goto mountains you're going to get
you can get four seasons in asingle day.
Um, you know, we can get snowfrom november to march april.
(31:11):
Uh, in the mountains must saywe haven't had a lot of heavy
snow, it tends to be quite light, so the road's still run clear.
It's when you go out into themountains, when you're trekking
underfoot, that they get quiteicy and quite dangerous.
We have wardens at all themajor walk points, usually
saying the walks are safe or notsafe.
My advice is you take theadvice of the warden there,
(31:34):
don't attempt to go on themountains.
People do come up for days out,for example, and ignore their
advice, and they're the onesthat end up in trouble.
So yeah, wales is beautiful, nomatter whether it's wet or sunny
, and I have had quotes likethat on TripAdvisor from touring
days that it was a rainy day,but wow, he brought the
destination alive with all thehistory and all the things to
(31:57):
see and do.
And there are places to goindoors on a wet day, places
like Plas Newydd on the Isle ofAnglesey.
It's a national trust.
Penrhyn Castle it's not amedieval castle.
It's what we call a folly.
So there was a tycoon whobought a mountain, who was
involved in the slavery tradewhen the british banned it and
(32:19):
he bought plotter land in walesand bought a mountain and got
into um slate mining and, uh,yeah, made his fortune for his
family that way.
So, yeah, that's, that's aninteresting story place to visit
as well.
In the north that's just up nearthe city of Bangor, penryn
Castle.
So, yeah, I think you can comehere.
You know, I mean, we do getdomestic tourism.
(32:40):
Our hotels are staying openyear-round now, so they're
staying open for the message.
This week I've got some ladiesarriving from Australia touring
with me for three days inSnowdonia and, yeah, we've got a
mixed bag of a forecast.
We've got a bit of snow around,we've got a sunny day, we've
got a wet day.
You know, and I do brief peopleand you know, the great thing
(33:01):
is you can watch the forecast.
They do move a little bit, butgenerally they're a lot clearer
than they used to be and it doeshelp, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I guess you can shift things around if you need to.
If you've got somebody on amulti-data, I guess, if you do
come, in the winter.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
If you do come in the winter, you need to bring like
thermals and wrap up, basicallyhats, gloves, scarves, that sort
of stuff.
Um, you know, if you, if youdon't want to travel, you can
buy them when you get here.
You know the shops, shops arehere as well and there's all the
walking equipment to be poles,or new boots or shoes or
whatever you.
You don't want to carry them,then you can get them here.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Oh, perfect.
Now if somebody's therethinking I want to experience
all of these fantastic thingsthat Wales has got to offer,
what practical tips do you havethat could kind of help them
experience this, as well asobviously working with you?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Yeah, well, take me out of the frame.
Okay.
My biggest tip to anybodycoming from you know overseas
internationally is don'tunderestimate Wales.
Um, now you might be thinking,listening to this, that you're
planning a trip to Europe andyou're going to visit Britain
and you're looking for newthings to do in Britain and your
(34:15):
tour might take you throughEngland and into Scotland and
maybe also to Ireland.
But right on that west coast isWales, small little country.
Biggest fault that people makeis not allowing enough time, and
you'll realize it when you gethere and that is the biggest
feedback I get frominternational visitors.
I wish we'd have realized whatwe were coming to.
(34:39):
I wish we'd have researched itmore.
I wish that I allowed more timefor our visit.
So that is the biggest thing tolook at.
People come for a day and say,yeah, I've seen Wales done it,
but you can't physically do itall in a day.
And I do get people wanting meto drive them through Wales in a
day.
I do do it.
It's a long day.
(35:00):
It's like 12-hour touring dayand I'm just touching it and
it's like a whistle-stop tour.
So give yourself five days.
Okay, that's not me pitchingfor the business here.
Give yourself five days.
That's if you're touringindependently, with a car, for
example.
You'll thank me or you'll thankTracy for it, I know you will
and have a look at the areas youcome into, because every area
(35:23):
you go to here in the north, Ican give you five good touring
days without overlapping thesame area.
There's so much to see and do ineach day.
That is the big surprise.
You're not going to be tryingto fill a day out with something
and people say to me you knowabout my tours when they come
out with john wow, we've seen somuch.
Today we've seen about three orfour times more than we could
(35:44):
have ever done on our own.
Well, that's the benefit ofdoing a private tour, because I
know the lay of the land.
You don't have to think aboutdriving or parking or speeding
and stuff like that.
You know there's the benefit ofa private tour and using
somebody local.
You have their knowledge andyou know they know where to park
the car, they know where allthe attractions are.
They know where all therestaurants are.
(36:04):
You know you're on vacation.
Enjoy it.
You know it's worth the extrainvestment to do that.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
That's me pitching for the business now but I was
also going to say because I did,I did talk about, I did mention
Liverpool at the very beginning.
The reason I'm saying this isthat, if you want, you could
base yourself in North Wales andfrom there you can experience
some of England too.
So Chester's not far away,liverpool isn't far away.
So actually and I know that'ssomething that you offer that
(36:32):
not only can you give them theexperiences in North Wales and
Wales, but you can actually alsocross over the border there's
no passport control and takethem in to see some of those
beautiful English cities as well.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Yeah, I do a two-city tour, with Chester and
Liverpool.
In between we've got abeautiful village, a workers'
village, industrial workers'village, very, very pretty, and
it's a secret gem called PortSunlight, lord Leverhulme who
built it for his workers.
It's a fantastic little place.
People just wow, was this wheretheir workers lived?
(37:04):
You know, they can't believethe quality of the place.
And it sits right betweenLiverpool and Chester.
Cheshire, just over the border,is a beautiful county and I'm
doing a tour, uh, featuringchester, a little bit of history
.
Walk around the walls in thecity, then we pop out to a
beautiful country and you've gotto come on this one.
Uh, this little little inn isuh up on a hill over looking the
(37:28):
cheshire plain.
It's on the walking trail andthen the next hill along on the
walking trail and then the nexthill along on the trail is where
there's a medieval castle builtto protect the border with the
English to the Welsh and itmakes a fantastic little day out
.
So I'm getting a lot ofinterest from cruise passengers
on that tour for a day out fromthe ship because they want to
get out of Liverpool.
But yeah, there's somethingthere for everyone.
(37:50):
You know, if you're into yourmusic.
Then Liverpool's the home ofthe Beatles and that is my new
big tour this year the Beatles.
I've really done a lot ofresearch, I've got into it
massively.
My wife's going.
God, you are a fanatic, youcould take a degree and you know
everything about everyone andyou know all about the family
and where they were born, wherethey lived, all the houses and
(38:11):
everything.
So I've got a lot of quirkylittle stories on the beach,
which is fascinating stuff andyou do like a half day or a full
day.
People think of the cavern.
You know where they played andmade the name, but there's a
place that actually made thembefore they got to the cavern,
made them with all the localsand, yeah, fascinating stuff.
(38:31):
So, yeah, there's loads evolvingand the reason all this has
happened is I've actually movedcloser towards the border.
I still live in Wales, butwe've moved closer to where the
family live, which is by Wrexham, to be honest, and getting to
Chester and Liverpool is quiteconvenient now.
So I am getting a lot of peopleasking for tours out of
(38:53):
Liverpool and Chester who arethere visiting to bring them
into wales and if, if you're intransit and touring around and
you're hitting ireland dublinthere's a fantastic ferry
service, a very quick ferryservice takes about two hours to
get across with the fast ferryfrom dublin.
It's only 60 miles away and, uh, I've got people who fly in to
dublin and come over to wales totour and then go back to dublin
(39:17):
.
Um, some go off to thecotswolds, some go to scotland
or the english lake district.
So again, uh, if you're goingoff in that sort of direction I
can do a feeder, but I call atransit tour day so you're not
wasting your touring time.
So, lots happening as everthere is.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
There's lots.
I'm just trying to think howI'm actually gonna ever go out
on a day with you becausethere's so many I want to go out
on, but you're so busy, you getbooked up so well in advance
because you're so popular.
I don't know, and I will.
I'll be back later on in theyear in the uk, so maybe we can
sort something out then, john,definitely we're gonna get you
in that um now just share withour listeners how, where they
(39:58):
can find you, because that's,that's, that's the next question
.
I need you to tell everybodywhere you are and how they can
get in touch with you to bookokay, so you'll find the website
at wwwboutiquetourswales.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
That's's without the H, because everybody tries to
put a H in W-A-L-E-S.
So Wales, we're not the oceananimal.
Okay, you can also WhatsApp me.
You can email me, which issimply info.
There's a contact form on thewebsite, so that's the easiest
(40:37):
one to use because if you thatout, I've got some of your
details and you can tell me whatyou're looking for.
And, um, if you've got nothinglike planned and you want
guidance, and that's where itall, that's where I come in.
Uh, I'm a very good tourplanner.
I call myself a tour directortoday very, very posh, but you
(40:59):
know, people actually do say youare a true tour director by all
your suggestions, because I'llsuggest accommodation and I'll
suggest restaurants to dine outat lunch stops, so it's more
than just putting a tourtogether.
It's all the little extras,like you know, so it's one-stop
shop basically perfect.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Well, I will put a link to your website in the show
notes at ukchildplanscom.
Forward slash episode 143.
Can you believe it?
Episode 143?
I can't believe.
I'm at that point.
I'm not sure.
I know you will be back on thepodcast, I'm sure sometime, john
, but thanks so much for comingon again and chatting about your
tours and about all thingsWelsh.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, my great pleasure.
Message to everybody listeningin you know, please do look us
up in Wales because you are infor a great surprise and a
beautiful destination.
It won't fail.
I promise you that.
And I did say to somebody whenyou go on tour with me if it
doesn't hit the mark, you get afull refund.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Oh, okay.
Well, I'm sure it will hit themark.
You're that confident 100%.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
That's feedback from everybody is always so positive
when they come to Wales.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Perfect, thanks, john .
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Lovely.
Thank you again.
I look forward to the next one.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the
UK Travel Planning Podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know you may receive a
shout out in a future episode.
Love to hear from you and younever know.
(42:39):
You may receive a shout out ina future episode.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next
week, happy UK travel planning.
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