Life on Ynys Môn
We're incredibly passionate about the island we now live on, having only lived here for a small part of our lives, we can certainly see why Ynys Môn natives love it so much.
Below you'll find some suggestions of things to see and places to visit if you ever come to the island. If you're looking for places that are dog friendly, keep an eye out for the little icon of Fern and Nuka, our two dogs and we've even included some handy basic Welsh you could try and add into conversations while you're here!
Parc Arfordirol Penrhos Coastal Park
Penrhos Coastal Park is simply stunning. A site which covers around 200 acres, it's got shore lines and beaches, historical structures and wildlife galore. So, whether you're wanting to soak up a bit of sun and dip your toes in the water, or take a stroll through the ancient woodland to find remnants of the old Penrhos estate (which became home to the Stanley family) whilst spotting the red squirrels, you're in for a treat!
Penrhos sits moments outside of Holyhead, just off the A5 where you'll find a little café and ample free parking. The site and café is dog friendly, but can be very busy with dogs in peak times. There are toilets for humans and plenty of dog bins around the site as well. You can walk, jog or cycle around the park or pick up the coastal path to continue on around the island's coast.
Locals and those who have visited from further a field are trying to save the site from being destroyed and turned into a holiday village, once you visit and fall in love with the history, wildlife and everything in between, you'll see why. There is a Facebook group dedicated to trying to save it so please feel free to head over there and show support.
Coedwig Niwbwrch & ynys Llanddwyn
Newborough Forest & Llanddwyn Island
Newborough is somewhere else on the island that we've spent a lot of enjoyable hours. Whether it was exploring the island and old pilot cottages or following some of the many trails through the woodland, we thoroughly recommend. There are accessible trails, specific horse riding trails as well as mountain bike routes and running paths.
There are a few carparks throughout the site with one large main carpark near the beach, the parking isn't free but it's well worth it. Quite often there's refreshment vans in the main car park too. There's a designated BBQ area and toilets as well. It's bursting with wildlife from wild horses to red squirrels!
There are seasonal dog restrictions on the beach in place during the spring/summer, and dogs should be kept on leads on the island but other than that the site is incredibly dog friendly. Newborough is incredibly popular with visitors during the holidays (especially after House of the Dragon used it as a location) and parking throughout the local village gets chaotic, so we'd always recommend visiting in quieter times and being mindful of local residents.
Mynydd Parys - Parys Mountain
Located just south of Amlwch, Mynydd Parys was once the largest copper mine in the world. There's a self guided walk that takes you all over the surface of the site, with evidence of the mines history all over! It's an area quite open to the elements and is very undulating thanks to the miners of the past and their pickaxes, shovels and gunpowder!
There's free parking and again, the site is dog friendly, but due to the nature of the site it's recommended to keep dogs on leads at all times. For those interested in the history of the site, there's the Copper Kingdom visitor centre a couple of miles away.
The colours are fascinating and it certainly feels very out of this world, which explains why things like Dr Who have filmed there. It's worth mentioning that in spring and summer, there have been a few adder sightings at the site so again, stick to the paths and keeps dogs on leads.
Ynys Lawd - South Stack
South Stack is an island just off Holy Island on the northwest of Anglesey. If you want to visit the island and the historic South Stack lighthouse you have to descend 400 steps down the cliffs. Take a tour up the lighthouse (the tours are brilliant, but we may be biased as Hannah's mum works there!) to learn all about the history, but it's recommended you check South Stack's Facebook before making a visit, as the light house and island do close in high winds as well as having seasonal opening hours.
Once you've purchased your tickets to visit the lighthouse at the little kiosk on the RSPB carpark, you take a walk down the lane where you can quite often spot seabirds lining the cliffs, everything from Peregrine Falcons to Puffins, or porpoises, dolphins and seals, then it's down the steps to the island. Due to the steps down to the island and up to the top of the lighthouse, this is understandably not suitable for very young children or dogs. We'd also recommend keeping an eye out for the Ghost of John Jack Jones, the assistant lighthouse keeper on duty during the Great Storm of 1859.
Dog Friendly Cafés & Restaurants
Below are some of our top dog friendly restaurants and cafés on the island, obviously there are many more, but these are some of our tried and tested! The below three restaurant images are all taken from TripAdvisor.
The Oyster Catcher
The Sea Shanty
Mojo's Rhosneigr
Found in Rhosneigr, The Oyster Catcher has to be one of our favourites. Made up of the main restaurant (which has a designated dog area), Pat's Shack, Dune Bar, and Will's Bar, it caters for everyone!
Nuka's tried a few things off the specific dog menu and loves it too!
The Sea Shanty in Trearddur Bay is another lovely local place for food. While the larger dishes are super tasty, we recommend their Welsh Rarebit for a lighter lunch, yum!
They are dog friendly but only before 6pm, dogs must have vacated before then. If you've got a big dog, it's worth booking and mentioning this.
Mojo's does everything from breakfasts and crêpes to restaurant dinners. There's outside seating as well as indoor and again it's dog friendly.
We've frequented Mojo's for lunches a few times, with dogs in tow, after a nice walk on one of the beaches at Rhosneigr but are looking forward to eating in their restaurant soon!
Handy Welsh for your trip
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Su’mae! - Sut means how and mae means are (things). This is used as a relaxed greeting, it literally translates as how's things? Try and pronounce it like 'su my' or 's'my'. You might also hear helô or hiya as informal greetings.
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Diolch yn fawr - This is a simple way of saying thank you very much. On it's own, diolch is thanks. Pronounced dee-yol-ck.
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Croeso - This means welcome and is used in both welcoming you to a place or as you're welcome.
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Nos Dda - Good night, pronounced 'noss-tha', it's good to remember that dd in Welsh makes more of a th sound.
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Prynhawn Da - Good afternoon. Pronounced 'prin-hown-da'.
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Bore Da - This translates to good morning, pronounced 'bo-ree-da'.
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Hwyl - A nice simple way of saying bye. Think more of 'hoy-el' when trying to pronounce this.
The Welsh language is a tricky one to learn, but it's normally appreciated if 'you use the Welsh you know', don't worry if it's not perfect, people are pleased you made the effort. There are a few basic rules to help with pronunciation that are quite different to the English language. Fundamentally, Welsh is phonetic, so understanding the 28 letter Welsh alphabet is a good place to start.
Below are some of the Welsh constanants and vowels which will help when trying to pronounce Welsh words, including places!
c – pronounced k, as in cat. For example Cymru (Wales) is Kum-ree.
ch – pronounced the same as in a Scottish 'loch'.
dd – pronounced th.
ll – pronounced along the lines of thl. To make this noise, put your tongue up onto the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth and then blow the air out.
f – pronounced like v.
ff – the double ff gives us the softer f sound from the English language, pronounced as an f as in off.
w (used as a vowel) – pronounced as an oo, as in zoom.
rh – pronounced more like the h comes before the r, said whilst blowing the air out as you speak again.
y (used as a vowel) – this one’s a little complicated! Most of the time y is pronounced as a u, as in sun. But when it’s the last syllable of a word it becomes an i, as in if.