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From Times Online

May 1, 2008

Green Spaces: Llyn Peninsula, North Wales

One of the judges in our 2008 Green Spaces Travel Awards explains why the Welsh peninsula is his favourite nomination for April

Richard Hammond

I picked this nomination for its originality. The relatively remote Llyn Peninsula in North Wales is not nearly as popular as the seaside resorts in the south and west of Wales, yet it has some beautiful stretches of coastline. The downside is the long drive up there, but your reward is a wild and rugged north coast, with steep cliffs and rocky coves, and a more sheltered south coast where there are some lovely unspoilt beaches and coastal paths.

The seaside town of Abersoch, on the far west, attracts crowds of yachties and dingy sailors in the summer, but my favourite section along the coast is the National Trust path from Morfa Nefyn to the sweeping sandy beach at Porth Dinllaen, where you can have a pint at the Ty Coch Inn looking out over the sea and beyond to Snowdonia.

Farther around the peninsula at Porth Meudwy there are dolphin-watching ferry trips out to Bardsey Island — the popular pilgrimage site of an old monastery, where there is just a handful of houses, a beach, harbour and bird observatory. The Llyn Peninsula is also home to Plas Bodegroes, a gourmet restaurant-with-rooms a few miles inland from Pwllheli. Dine on local produce, such as Welsh black beef and Carmarthen ham, as you look down a magnificent beech tree avenue.

Boat trips to Bardsey Island: www.enllicharter.co.uk. A room at Plas Bodegroes costs from £77.50, dinner from £42.50 per person (www.bodegroes.co.uk, 01758 612363). More information: www.llyn.info.

Nominated by Sue Longden, Bolton

The boat trips are too expensive. I am a German living in Wales but I do not "holiday" much here. There is no good food near the Lleyn Peninsula. The landscape is stunning, the rest ...

Netty, Machynlleth, Wales