I cannot tell you how excited I was at the prospect of getting to visit Wales. Located east of England, most people recognize “Wales” when it comes to Princess Diana’s title as Princess of Wales. Wales has a lot of royal history attached to it, filled with proud Welsh residents who love their beautiful and abundantly green country. Together with Visit Britain and Visit California in a “royal influencer exchange”, I got to explore some of these royal connections for our weekend in Wales in a lead-up to the royal wedding.
Wales had been on our bucket list for a while. It’s a country that not many talk much about, and not many bloggers have ventured out to it. One reason why I do what I do is to bring people to some places they may not have thought about visiting before (Iceland and Finland are prime examples), so when the opportunity came up to visit Wales, we leaped for joy. I’ve been reading about the royal history of Wales for years and now this was my chance to finally put everything I’ve read about into perspective. With the capital Cardiff being only a 2 hour drive from Heathrow, we hopped into our rental car from Hertz and off we went on our 4-day weekend in Wales.
A Brief History
Before we discuss our adventure-packed weekend in Wales, here’s a brief history lesson about the country and their somewhat tumultuous history with royalty. In 1057, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn united the whole of Wales from several kingdoms, becoming the first King of Wales. Over 160 years later in 1218, Llywelyn the Great signed the Treaty of Worcester with Henry III of England, officially creating the Principality of Wales and making it de facto independent. However, this independence ended in 1283, when Edward I of England invaded Wales, annexed it, and brutally executed Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last ruler of Wales. Less than 20 years later, Edward I bestowed the title “Prince of Wales” upon the heir apparent to the English throne, with the title merging with the crown upon the heir apparent’s ascension, thus the territory of Wales always remaining under English control with an English prince. For centuries, and especially during the Plantagenet and Tudor years, the “English” Prince of Wales typically took up residence at Ludlow Castle in eastern Wales at the age of 2 until their coronation as King of England. Although, before his divorce with his first wife Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII made an exception by having his eldest, and at the time his only child, Princess Mary reside at Ludlow Castle beginning when she was a young girl until she was stripped of her title of Princess. Wales is famously connected to the Tudor dynasty. Owen Tudor, who descends from a powerful Welsh family, fell in love with and married Catherine of Valois, the dowager Queen of England and widow of King Henry V. Together they had two sons, with their eldest son Edmund Tudor marrying Margaret Beaufort. Margaret would later gave birth to their only child – the future Henry VII of England (Henry VIII’s father) and thus the first Tudor king (although it took the events of the decades-long Wars of the Roses to put Henry VII on the throne). In modern years, the Prince of Wales has no constitutional meaning and has no active role in Welsh government, but the title is still bestowed upon the heir apparent of the monarch. Naturally, there are those who still seek Welsh independence and wish to abolish the title “Prince of Wales” altogether.
CARDIFF
Our first stop on our weekend in Wales was Cardiff. Located in southern Wales, it’s the bustling capital city that is filled with people, pubs, castles, and a few luxury hotels. We had the pleasure of staying at the only 5-star hotel in the city – The Principal St. David. It towers over Cardiff Bay, giving guests a panoramic view of the city and beyond from it’s sky high floors. For our first night, we dined downstairs at the Admiral St. David restaurant. It was quick to notice that the restaurant (and hotel!) is very popular with locals looking for a weekend escape in the city. After dining on some delicious shrimp and sea bass, we took in one last sunset view of the city on our private terraces before falling asleep in our cozy bed.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast downstairs in the dining room where the sun began to make her debut, we got ready for our first day of exploring Wales. Our first stop? A little village called St. Fagans. Only about 10 minutes from Cardiff city center, we drove our Hertz car to the village and stopped at a picturesque chapel. The chapel ended up being across the street from St. Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor that is now home to the Museum of Wales. Feeling in the mood for a castle visit, we hopped back in the car and drove back towards Cardiff to explore the famous Cardiff Castle.
Cardiff Outfit
Theory coat (old, similar here and here) // Sézane sweater // Skinnyshirt bow shirt (old, similar here and here) // Joseph suede leggings (faux suede version here) // Stuart Weitzman boots // Strathberry bag c/o (all black version here) // Illesteva sunglasses (old, similar here and here)
ABERGAVENNY
After wandering the historic grounds of Cardiff Castle, it was time for us to continue our weekend in Wales in Abergavenny. After checking in at the Angel Hotel, we popped in next door to famous milliner Alison Tod. I absolutely adore fascinators and couture hats, and with the royal wedding being just a week away from our visit, we got to speak to Alison about her process for designing hats for a few royal wedding guests. While she couldn’t reveal the names of the guests she was designing for, she hinted with a smile that they were close to Prince Harry. She had also previously designed hats for guests attending the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Now I am wishing she could have designed hats for my guests at my own wedding two years ago! We got to play around in her shop with some of her most iconic and most elaborately couture headpieces, which pleased my inner fashionista’s heart. If I could have an excuse to wear a gorgeous couture hat every day, I’d definitely find one.
When our shop visit came to an end, we popped back next door at our hotel for The Angel Hotel’s famous afternoon tea. They were kind enough to give us a spot by the fireplace as we indulged in their award-winning tea. For those who don’t already know, I am actually not a massive tea drinker or a big tea fan, despite me having an obsession with attending afternoon tea (I usually drink hot cocoa since I am allergic to coffee). But our wonderful hostess kept wanting me to try different teas from their award-winning collection, which I happily obliged. To my surprise, I loved them! I actually tried some of Tor’s and ended up ordering more of his for myself. That’s how good the tea was! We tried not to fill up too much on the incredible food, since we had a dinner reservation at the hotel’s restaurant The Oak Room shortly. But while we were both enjoying tea and dinner, we noticed a lot of people around us speaking Welsh, which made us realize that these spots were also extremely popular with locals as well as tourists. Because we travel so often, it’s so nice to be surrounded by locals as it truly validates a place we visit, in our opinion.
BRECON BEACONS
With boxes of freshly baked goods in my lap in the car, we drove to our final stop for our weekend in Wales – Brecon. Located only a few miles from the English border, we checked into our final hotel, Llangoed Hall, surrounded by dreamy landscapes of rolling green hills and magnificent trees. Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, is passionate about organic farming, which is quite evident everywhere you turn in the gloriously green country, especially around Brecon.
On our first morning in Brecon, we were picked up by Janet Redler who then took us on a little private tour of Brecon Beacons. We first stopped at the village of Brecon, where we went inside the gorgeous Brecon Cathedral.
Afterwards, we got to visit a spot that made Tor feel like he was in Disneyland – Penderyn Distillery. It’s the only distillery in the entire country of Wales (although they are opening two more locations in Wales soon!). Since Tor’s brother lives in England and is familiar with Penderyn, he spoke highly of their whiskey before he even knew it was on our itinerary. I am not much of a whiskey drinker (I really only like wine), but I had to try some of their famous, award-winning batches. While I may be indifferent to the taste, I oddly like the smell. During our tour behind-the-scenes of their process, I found myself really enjoying the smell. Maybe it was all the barley, I don’t know. But Tor had a grand old time at his whiskey tasting (he definitely got tipsy!), and I actually enjoyed their Welsh Cream Liqueur so much that we bought a bottle to bring back home.
Brecon Beacons Outfit
Barbour jacket (old, similar here and here; last seen here) // Ganni sweater (similar here) // Joseph suede leggings (faux suede version here) // Stuart Weitzman boots
Llangoed Hall Outfit
RED Valentino cape and polka dot shirt c/o (similar cape here and here, similar shirt here and here) // Joseph suede leggings (faux suede version here) // Stuart Weitzman boots // Strathberry bag c/o
For our final morning during our weekend in Wales, Calum Milne (the owner of Llangoed Hall), had a special surprise for me. When we came down the stairs in the morning from our room (we stayed in the stunning suite #3), we saw two vintage cars parked out front. Mr. Milne had heard that I have a royal obsession, and these two cars have some of the biggest royal connections we would encounter on our entire trip – they were once owned by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II’s parents! I know Mr. Milne thought I was really composed upon seeing them in person, but inside I was freaking out. When he asked if I wanted to sit inside them, I nearly collapsed. The first car I sat in was King George VI’s, although he owned it when he was still Duke of York. As I sat in this beautiful vintage car, I couldn’t help but mutter, “King George VI sat right here. He was right here!” That notion in itself made my royal-obsessed heart flip a little bit.
Even Tor got a kick out of sitting in the car, as he has been forced to watch pretty much any royal film or tv show with me numerous times. Mr. Milne then invited me to sit in the back of the Queen Mother’s car, which she rode in with her daughters Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret just before her husband became the new King of England. Sitting in the back, I took a moment to step back in time and imagine a young girl with perfect chocolate brown curls sitting in the exact same spot more than 80 years ago, unaware that one day she would be fated to become the country’s longest reigning monarch. The icing on the cake was the special cupboard in the back of the car, which was actually a whiskey bar! The Queen Mother loved to be driven around in her car with a glass of scotch in hand (she was a true Scotswoman after all). I would have totally done the same thing but with wine instead. Wink wink.
After 4 magical days exploring hidden royal gems of Wales, it was time to say goodbye. Our weekend in Wales was a gateway to us wanting to explore even more of the country. We were very lucky to have been blessed with completely rain-free weather on our entire visit, which is apparently very rare. It felt like Wales was showing off, and she succeeded. We fell in love with it, and we know there’s so much more to be seen, explored, and enjoyed that we are already planning a trip to come back. I cannot recommend this country enough.
Our royal adventure with Visit Britain and Visit California continues as we explore The Cotswolds! Click here to read.
Thank you to Visit Britain, Visit California, and Hertz for partnering on this post. All hotels and restaurants were arranged by Visit Britain but as always, opinions are my own.
Photos by Torrance Coombs and myself.
This post was breathtaking (is it the word?) from the beginning till the end! I now really want to go there and as I told you I’m probably going around next October. This was such a royal trip! I’m so happy for you that you spent a lovely time there!
Also I have a question: the orange three-stage cake you made, was it a carrot cake? Because it sounded delicious!
And I can’t believe, sitting on the bow window, you wore the Sezane dress I wanted to wear for my sister’s wedding!!! And I actually asked myself ‘would Alyssa wear it? What would she think about it?’ and now I have my answer so I can definitely order it and see if it fits me! Your approval (even non-said) means and help me a lot. At last, when you said in the car ‘King George VI sat there’ I had the same reaction when I went to Rovaniemi and I shoot this video for you I was like ‘see, I’m right where you were a month ago’.
Maybe it’s too much aha. but to tell you that you’re as royal as King George VI.
See you soon, can’t wait to hear more about this long trip.
Bisous
Chloé
I’m so glad you liked this post! And it was actually a 3 tier rosewater cake 🙂
And yes I am obsessed with that Sézane dress too!
Hello Alyssa,
it’s everytime a joy to read your
blog.
I like how you write
and the many pictures.
I can not await
the next blog entry
from your next trip.
Editha
Thank you so much!
It was really nice to read this post (as well as every other ones but this one was my favorite) because I love Wales as well so reading about how much you love it and the places you visited makes me want to go back right now. I was able to spend 3 weeks in the south west of Wales in May and I was able to visit so many castles. I can see why you are so interested in Wales’ history, it’s fascinating. Pembroke castle was my favorite, you should definitely visit it one day, I’m sure you would love it!
Can’t wait to read about your next adventure!
Marine
Pembroke Castle is on my wish list for next time! As well as northern Wales!
I love this post Alyssa! I’ve never really considered visiting Wales before, but it’s definitely going on my list now. Also, I would have *died* over those cars! I have a bit of a royal obsession too, so that’s really amazing that you got to experience that.
I was fangirling so hard in those cars!
I’ve never really thought about visiting Wales before but this post definitely has me convinced! I’m a lover of all royal history and I would have been squealing inside so hard at everything you’ve seen!! Especially the cars oh my heart <3
Thank you for giving me some inspiration to plan my next trip!
Yes you must visit! We are hoping to visit more of Wales next time to give you all a taste of the North 🙂
I really enjoyed this article! It definitely made me want to visit Wales. I’m also super interested in everything royal so it was nice seeing that you could enjoy that vintage car. I wonder if he treats every guests like that or you were an exception 🙂 I would love to see that one day as well. Thanks for the quality content, I will surely stick around!