We are on a break in North Wales for a few days and have been back out hitting the tourist sites. Yesterday we went to the National Trust site, Plas Newydd, which is on the isle of Anglesey near Llanfair PG (the Welsh town that has the longest name in the UK - Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch).
Plas Newydd (pronounced plas new-ithv) means New Mansion in Welsh (very imaginative !). It was the seat of the Marquess of Anglesey. There was an older building on the site from the 13th century, but the building here today dates from the late 1700s.
Although we have visited a lot of tourist sites in North Wales (because my wife is Welsh), it was our first time to Plas Newydd. There are large park grounds which can be explored along with the house itself.
The house is known for a number of things including the intriguing painting above, which fills the length of one room. It was painted by Rex Whistler in the 1930s and is actually the longest canvass painting in the UK.
I have always wanted to see this painting. Its an imaginary scene, with a considerable level of detail. It was so long that it was impossible for me to take a single pic of it !
The house was nice inside, with lots of tour guides on hand to answer questions and provide info.
Thats the lady of the houses' bedroom above.
And the Lord's separate adjoining room is above - thats quite a four poster bed !
They each had separate bathrooms too - thats the Lord's bathroom above - I like the old toilet !
There was quite a lot to explore in the park lands around the house including some lovely ornamental gardens.
We actually only explored about 10% of the gardens and park land, so will have to go back some other time to go around the rest.
The House sits right by the Menai Straits (the sea passage that separates the Isle of Anglesey from the Welsh mainland). There were lovely views from the back of the house, up and down the Straits.
We were glad we finally went. They also had a nice ice cream shop in the grounds just by the house, so we made good use of that too.
While there the weather was pretty changeable, and we nearly got caught in quite a heavy downpour.
The stable block above was under renovation while we were there. Its about the biggest stable block I've ever seen, and goes someway to give an idea of the wealth the family had back in the day. We sheltered under the scaffolding during the rain !
We really enjoyed the visit, and were happy that we finally got to see the place, considering we've driven past it many times before. I would definitely recommend it. We were there for around 1 to 2 hours and didnt get to see it all. Its a great place to take kids, and you could easily spend half a day there - well worth the visit !
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