TRAVEL | A Weekend of Wildlife & Family Fun With Hoseasons

This weekend saw me finally bring my 40th birthday celebrations to a close. Not bad considered I’ve managed to milk the whole birthday thing since my special snowboarding holiday back in March, right through to now, the end of June. The weekend break was perfectly timed for a triple family celebration; my birthday, my parents wedding anniversary and Father’s Day.

We stayed with Hoseasons in a lakeside lodge on Angelsey and the location was truly idyllic, set around a beautifully landscaped series of 3 small lakes deep in the countryside,  a 15 minute drive away from pretty Beaumaris. Our lodge was right at the end of the small development, slept 6 and had an outdoor hot tub on a huge veranda, loads of seating and a gas BBQ. Everything we needed for a comfortable weekend break.

Angelsey Hoseason Lodge

Angelsey Hoseason Lodge

Pink footed geese were freely wandering as were plenty of ducks, and we got to see these adorable little goslings waddling around, happy to hop up onto the decking near us.

The quote of the weekend has to go to my sister, who threw a few bits of bread out to feed the ducks. “You shouldn’t do that” I said, “I’ve heard that bread is actually bad for them”. she responded “What do you mean? It’s from Waitrose!”

Angelsey Hoseason Lodge Reivew

angelsey-birthday-june2015-hoseasons

Even in terrible weather, it was still a fabulous view.

angelsey-birthday-june2015-6

The location of Tryfan Lodge is great. We consulted our Geocaching app and found a cache site in a church yard about 1.5km away, so we went for a walk to find it. The walk took us down quiet meandering single track lanes, packed full of wildlife, with bee’s buzzing around and verges full of Elderflowers and Foxgloves.

angelsey-birthday-june2015-9
We located the cache inside the church yard, and triumphantly returned back to the lodge, pleased we’d logged our first ever find.

Foxgloves

angelsey countryside

Perhaps the best bit of the entire weekend for me was a boat trip from Beaumaris, which took us out to visit Puffin Island, somewhere i’ve wanted to go since I was a teenager and seeing puffins has been on my bucket list since then.

puffin island boat trip

fathers-day-june-2015

The weather was grim to say the least, with high winds and intermittent rain. Not ideal for a cruise on the open sea. We were warned that the conditions would make it unlikely to see Puffins, so I was utterly delighted to see several, and even happier that I managed to get some half decent shots.

angelsey-birthday-june2015-13

closeup-gull

As well as spotting Puffins at Puffin Island, we learned that a group of puffins is rather wonderfully known as a circus of Puffins. Puffin Island is a protected reserve, and as such only those with special permission for scientific research are allowed to land on the island. The island is home to thousands of nesting Guillemots and Tamarinds, which were a delight to see.

angelsey-birthday-june2015-puffins  puffins2

puffins3

We were also lucky given the conditions to spot a couple of Atlantic Gray Seals. An absolutely unforgettable experience.

seal

puffin island

nesting-birds2

We stayed at Hoseasons Tryfan Lodge, Angelsey. It cost £650 for a 3 day break in a 3 bedroom lodge that sleeps 6.

If you like the look of our wildlife packed weekend, you can find out more about Hoseasons Tryfan Lodge, Geocaching and Seacoast Safaris who took us out to Puffin Island.

Save

Shell Robshaw-Bryan
Follow Shell