Holiday Cottage Review: Didfa in Llangoed

For our family holiday in Anglesey this year we found a cottage next to the little village of Llangoed, near to Beaumaris in the bottom right corner of Anglesey. Pets go free and access to a 1/2 acre paddock… it sounded lovely.

We found it fine with the directions and everything seemed lovely as we arrived. Large, spacious and pleasant rooms with a lovely sized garden plus the 1/2 acre paddock. A welcome bottle of red wine and block of chocolate was greatly appreciated.

But then as we were just getting settled in, had chosen our rooms and dragged our suitcases in, we opened the front page of the welcome pack and there at the bottom it stated that dogs were to be kept to the kitchen/diner & utility room only! What?! How can you not allow a dog in the living room? A pet dog that is used to being in the living room in an evening sat in front of the fire with you… you then need to keep it confined to a separate room?! No chance.

There was no information about this on the website and nothing mentioned to us throughout the whole booking process. If I had known it beforehand we wouldn’t have booked this property, Guinness is a pet that is used to being with us in a house. I understand not wanting dogs upstairs or on the furniture, and fair enough I know people who don’t allow their dogs upstairs and I know people who don’t allow their dogs in the living room. But when you have a dog that is used to being with you throughout a house it’s near impossible to suddenly arrive somewhere and shut them out of the room. I’d be very surprised if any dog didn’t whine or bark or fret at suddenly being shut in a room alone when they’re normally used to being in a living room with you, or even sleeping upstairs in a bedroom with you. Especially when they can hear that you’re in the next room.

In regards to everything else, the house was lovely! There was plenty of space, it was comfy and clean and modern. The kitchen was well equipped, which sounds like a given, but unfortunately I’ve been in quite a few holiday cottages that haven’t had enough crockery, let alone cooking utensils, for the amount of people who the house is able to hold.

The bedrooms were cosy and warm, although the en-suit had just a bath with a hand shower in so it was a bit of a trek down the stairs, through the living room and through the kitchen to go for a decent shower every morning. A family bathroom with a shower upstairs would have been more practical.

My favourite part of the house were the views to Snowdonia from the kitchen window. I’d like to think that I’d never get bored with eating an evening meal looking out to a mountain range. It was stunning.

Plus the cottage is in a lovely rural location, with easy access to the nearby village and local towns, it’s in a quiet lane surrounded by a handful of properties and some farms. We had bullfinches in the hedges and bats flying around at dusk while a song thrush sang merrily (and very loudly) well into the evening.

The cottage is a short walk from the Anglesey coastal path and a 20 minute stroll takes you to a lovely quiet bay with views of Puffin Islamd. A short drive away is Red Wharf Bay and Benllech beach which were stunning and Beaumaris is a lovely, busy town.

Sadly the whole dog situation was very disappointing, especially as the cottage is so well geared for dogs, with the secure garden and paddock and great local walks and beaches. At the back of the welcome pack another poster only requests that dogs not go upstairs, and there is a gate across the stairs that suggests it is for keeping dogs from going up as it’s not a very child friendly gate. Still if this was the case some prior warning would be useful, as the first few nights of the dog being shut downstairs were not quite the usual lazy lie-ins that I get when he is contently asleep on the bedroom floor.