Barry Island!

This weekend was my mum's birthday and we wanted to do something special. We're both complete obsessives when it comes to the TV show Gavin & Stacey, we've been wanting to visit the place since it was made - Barry Island - for about two years so we thought this was the perfect excuse.

I'm going to say sorry in advance, again this is going to contain an obscene amount of photos so I'm just going to put them on in mass, a lot of if you probably won't get it if you don't know the show but they're still lovely photos! We love all of the typical English seaside tourist towns so this hit the spot perfectly, not to be mention how beautiful the whole place was.

We arrived on friday night and went straight down to Barry Island for a look around and for dinner at a local pub, scoping out the shops we wanted to check out the next day. A lot of the show was filmed along the beach front so we were stupidly excited walking around all the bits we recognised. Bless the hotel, first they didn't have our booking, then our internet was messed up so got another lot for free and then out TV wasn't working and got the whole of the hotel that were sitting in the bar to watch Benidorm as that's what we were trying to see and a free drink - cringe.

 

Saturday was my mum's birthday, I woke her with her present and card like a 5 year old jumping on her bed. After stuffing ourselves with croissants for breakfast we went back to Barry Island to stock up on tacky aprons/tea towels/keyrings from the show. I may be 24 but I still love wasting some money on the penny falls at amusement arcades, especially by the seaside! I feel bad for not having time to make my mum a proper birthday cake so I bought her a giant cupcake at the ice cream parlour (such a cute place). We then headed to the train station to get on the tour - yes there is a tour with the original Dave's Coaches, we had on shame and loved every obsessive tourist moment. We went everywhere, the caravan park, the church of Nessa and Dave's near-wedding, their pubs, bingo hall, Stacey's house (which was like a live-in museum of the show with so many photos and memorabilia you couldn't even imagine) which looked across to Uncle Bryn's, then the pleasure park, Marco's Cafe and of course the amusement arcade that Nessa worked in. I have to say going on the actual bus that featured so much on the show was the best bit, we did actually wonder if we were going to make it up the insanely steep hills after a hand-break start at one point! But it all added to the experience so it was great.

In the evening we went into Cardiff Bay for mum's birthday dinner. After a recommendation from Susie @ Fold in the Flour I booked a table at Woods Brasserie, I will be doing a special blog review for this evening which I don't normally do. But it was so AMAZING that I can't not - so I won't spoil it too much now, tune in tomorrow! I absolutely fell in love with Cardiff, the bay was gorgeous and wish we had more time there. We did want to check out the Norwegian Church too that was on the other side but we just didn't have enough time, next time!!

Today we spent the morning/afternoon shopping in Cardiff (by the way be careful where you park....£18!!!), the city is gorgeous and was very restrained in my purchases. The one shop I really wanted to go to 'Kitchens' is shut on sundays, but it's just as well, I would have spent a fortune! I have to say it's the best weekend we've had away in a long time and we completely fell in love with Wales, I've never been before and would go back in a heartbeat. The scenery driving in was stunning particularly around Monmouth, Wales now holds a special place in my heart and hope it won't be too long before I visit again...lush!

Pin It Now!