This month's caravanners
Adrian and Celia Reynolds and their daughters
Outfit used
2006 Ford Galaxy 1.8 TDCi Zetec with 2000 Elddis Crown 505
How do you get to Wales in a caravan? One in the front; one in the back (assuming it's a double dinette). We're on our way and the old jokes start flowing in the Reynolds' car, but, once we're over the Severn Bridge, the journey to our destination is much shorter than we think, so the opportunity for the collective wit to be exercised is thankfully curtailed.
It costs the same to cross the Severn whether you're driving solo or hitched up, so why would you leave your van behind? And once we've paid to get into Wales (it's free to get back to England, by the way), we head for the little-known .
Every Welshman we've met has heard of this family paradise, but it remains undiscovered by the heathen English – in fact many of our neighbours are not just Welsh, but local Welsh – we were surprised to meet people who live within an hour's drive spending their annual holiday here – that must count for something?
A quick exploration once we've arrived confirms what we suspect. Our site is situated at the entrance to the Country Park, so we bike in to investigate. Biking is definitely the preferred option; parking is £5.50 daily, although cheaper with a season ticket available from the warden.
The park comprises 202 acres of parkland, woodland, wetland, dunes and an award-winning beach (Cefn Sidan Sands) – it has won a European Blue Flag 14 times, and at seven miles long is Wales' largest. What is most amazing is that it is all reclaimed land. The site was once entirely occupied by the Royal Ordnance, but since 1977 Llanelli Borough Council has steadily and expertly restored it back to its original glory – so much so that the dunes themselves are now granted the designation SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).
There are a few clues to the original use: occasional concrete areas in the woodlands, or a set of 12 sand dunes that, on closer examination, appear on the map to be in a perfect line – they turn out to be cleverly disguised bunkers. These rare features add to the intrigue of the place. There are no Reynolds' sons, but I can imagine playing some great James Bond games in this landscape. Not quite the same with Polly Pocket, sadly.
Cycling in the park is great fun. Celia and I are competent rather than expert cyclists, and the two elder girls are eager rather than dedicated bikers. We love the traffic-free cycling, flat routes, woodland glades and short ride to the beach (under one mile).
And what a beach. provides stunning views across to the Gower Peninsular one way and the Pembrokeshire headland the other. We discover that the beach is well staffed in terms of lifeguards, who insist that swimming is limited to an area that they keep under surveillance. Other parts of the beach are dedicated to land surfing, fishing and dog walking; so the family area does just what it says on the tin.
The beach is all golden sand, and the gentle slope means it is ideal for Isabel, though she decides she doesn't like waves quite as much as she thought. Alice and Bethan, meanwhile, are in their element in the water. As they are among the dunes. All of us love exploring the sand hills, which offer shelter from the offshore wind on breezy days and make you feel like you're a million miles from anywhere.
Also in the park is one of the largest playgrounds we have ever seen, with a sandy floor for added safety. Isabel took to the zip wire with aplomb (who needs boys for the James Bond stuff anyway?) and would have been quite happy to zip all day every day.
We came back to the park pretty regularly during our stay – devising ever more circuitous routes back to the site using our trusty OS Explorer Map loaded onto the PDA (personal digital assistant – handheld computer to the non-techies among us).
Just next to the play area is a miniature railway snaking into the woods, with steam days on bank holidays. For the more adventurous, the park also has a ski slope and toboggan run.
We're not skiers, so we decided to skip that particular treat, but we could have learnt to ski or snowboard here. However, the toboggan run ("Wales' longest!") provided us with the adrenalin rush we needed. We quickly learnt that "araf" is Welsh for slow rather than the noise a dog makes. The car park at the top of the ski run provides an alternative viewpoint looking north into Llanelli and across the Loughor Estuary – equally spectacular.
Among the park's other attractions is a horse trial course; our equine skills are a little limited, so we plumped for the instead. Alice and Bethan enjoyed a short trek through the woods (sadly, Isabel was too small). More competent riders could take a ride along the beach through the shallow surf – the stuff of holiday dreams.
Less welcome was the fact the RAF uses the coastline here for low-level training. The regular sound of Hawks (of the non-feathered variety) and Tornados (the aircraft rather than the weather system) occasionally disturbed the otherwise peaceful ambience.
More positively, there are also pitch-and-putt, crazy golf, orienteering courses, beach kiosk, diner, nature trails, visitor centre, parent and baby room and disabled facilities. What a find.
And all of this was within a few hundred yards of our site, which made it the perfect venue. To be honest, when we've motored miles to get to our holiday destination, we don't particularly want to be jumping in the car every time we want to go somewhere, and the children certainly don't. The joy of a caravan holiday is not only leaving behind the phone, television and computer, but parking up the car, putting the keys on a shelf and leaving them there.
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