PLAS COCH HELPS GWYNEDD AND ANGLESEY – HOSPICE AT HOME

On behalf of Hospice at Home Gwynedd and Anglesey I would like to thank you very much for your support at this event that took place at Bulkeley Hotel.  Over £5,000 was raised on the evening.

Donations received enable the Charity to provide financial support to our “home nursing service” for patients with a life threatening illness and to meet the operation costs of our Day Hospice and Complementary Therapy Clinics.  We are indebted to you for your support, thank you again

Lynn Parry  -  General Manager

Christmas Extravaganza

Join us for a fun packed day full of wonderful activities for the Children and parents alike.

• Christmas Arts and Crafts
• Interactive Aladdin Pantomime
• Santa’s Grotto
• Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with magic show and games
• Achievement card presentation
• Mulled Wine and Mince Pies – small donation in association with “Teenager Cancer Trust”
• Carol singing by our roaring fire
• X Factor Semi-Final on the big screen

All this on Saturday 10th December at Plas Coch.

Booking is essential, please call 01248 711950 to reserve your place(s)

Christmas Extravaganza

Summers End at Plas Coch

Jonathan Needham - Estate Manager

As Mother Nature prepares to get her Winter Wardrobe out for another year, it’s a sure sign she’s already flaunting her beautiful autumn coat of many colours.

This is by far my favourite season, still hoping for warm hazy days to emerge from the crisp morning mist, as we await the fall of millions of leaves that will cover the ground in a rustling russet carpet.

The grounds team and I are busy cutting hedges, wind rock pruning and tidying, ensuring easier days ahead as we daily battle the trees last show of the year before they lock up and shut down, knowing the icy fingers of the first frost will soon creep along their bows.

Planting initiatives over the growth period of the park have been done with this time of year in mind. Rowan trees are heavy with shiny red berries as are pyracantha and laurel enabling our feathered friends to indulge in a seasonal feast gaining valuable fat stores to see them into the harsh winter ahead. Elaeagnus hedge rows and Portuguese laurel offer great evergreen protection from even the most determined of North Westerly Winds, providing much needed shelter for smaller birds.

I’ve been very encouraged to see bird feeders appearing on park, this is a trend I would love to see continue and it would be great if people who visit the park regularly can keep their feeding stations topped up, so as natures dining table diminishes we hang on to our wide variety of birds, this will mean we have our very own feathered pest control expanding year on year.

We hope to be building many bird boxes over the next few months to encourage a greater breeding programme on the park. We hope to number all the boxes so we can do our own “Springwatch” I would be interested to know what species we have visiting park so if you see anything unusual please let me know so we can get an insight to what’s around.

Please don’t forget we are more than likely due to get high winds this season so please secure your outdoor furniture, if you need a hand to turn tables over or tie furniture down please let reception know and we will gladly help.

Jonathan Needham

Estate Manager

Best “Fish & Chip Shop in Wales” Enochs of Llandudno

Enochs Fish & Chips

Welcome to Enochs Fish & Chips

Are you sitting comfortably…then we shall begin…

Our locals will tell you some fine old tale of Arthur Enoch Hughes, a local fish merchant who transformed what was once the Electra Fish Bar into the landmark ‘Enochs Fish & Chips’ here in Junction in North Wales.
Customers from all over the country who travelled along the old coast road longed to stop and experience the taste and quality of the finest fish and chips around.

Enochs has changed ownership over the years, not only has it been cherished by Enoch himself but also by the Charmichel family who carried on the tradition in the early eighties, later passing the responsibility to John and Linda Norcliffe who continued to provide high standards, not even the opening of the A55 tunnel under the Conwy estuary would deter travellers diverting from their journey to enjoy quality fish and chips at Enochs.

In June 2006 Danny took over the business and with his team hope Enochs will still be your destination fish and chips cafe, continuing to provide you, our valued customer, the quality and tradition you have longed enjoyed.

Plas Coch would highly recommend “Enochs”  for a call on your way to the park or certainly on your way home.  Enoch’s won “Top 10 Restaurants” with The Times in August 2011. 

Please visit their website for directions and a glimpse of their delicious menu http://www.enochs.co.uk/food/

MASTERCHEF FINALIST VISITS PLAS COCH

MasterChef Finalist - Jackie Kearney

Plas Coch Dining Event – An Asian Odyssey with a Masterchef Finalist  – Jackie Kearney

Top 4 semi-finalist in BBC One’s MasterChef 2011.

Jackie is a top 4 semi-finalist in BBC One’s MasterChef 2011 and is now developing her experience and reputation with pop-up dining events, as a private dining chef and working with a number of highly regarded chefs in the UK.  Her food passion lies with regional Asian dishes, street food and vegetarian dining.  Jacki’s ambition is to raise the bar in Asian inspired and vegetarian dining, with a menu inspired by a variety of regional dishes and street food, and seasonal local produce, to create something exciting and delicious.

On 22nd October Jackie will be visiting Plas Coch and with the help of our very own Head Chef – Martyn, they will tantalise our owners with a 5 course tasting menu.  An example of some of the dishes:-

Anglesey Seafood Laksa – Singaporean yellow noodles with local lobster & mussels, served in a spicy coconut & lemongrass broth.

Shashlik Lamb Chops – Shashlik marinated rack of lam with broad bean and pea pilaf rice served with spicy coriander chutney & pomegranate raita.

The event will be amazing and we will post here on our blog the reviews of the evening.

We want Piers Bramhall – Visit Wales

Visit Wales: kicks off digital outdoor campaign

In August Bramhall was doorstopped by a Welsh choir and ‘Gavin & Stacey’ star Joanna Page who invited him to take a free holiday with his girlfriend to Wales as part of an ad campaign by Wieden+Kennedy.

Foley was chosen from 300 women who entered a Facebook competition. The winning couple will visit destinations that were suggested by Welsh tweeters who replied to @wewantpiers.

 Piers and Emma, experienced an exciting Rib Ride along the Menai Strait in Anglesey- with our very own Tom Ashwell from Plas Coch’s exclusive Marine Club  http://www.themarineclub.co.uk/  on their day two of their adventures across Wales.  After their ride they visited here Plas Coch, and experienced what our owners experience everyday for 11months of the year – pure bliss in our exclusive Spa and Hydropool,  which refreshed their body and mind before heading to their next destination.

Please click on the YouTube link to see their exciting boat trip along the Menai Strait in Anglesey http://youtu.be/vSujo7TKbj8

The Celtic Court at Plas Coch

By Jonathan Needham – Estate Manager

It isn’t everyday that you get asked to design a croquet lawn to the side of an Elizabethan Manor House but amazingly a few months ago this is precisely what happened to me! Having been out to look over the area trying to get inspiration for a plan to suit such surroundings, it was captivating to see the views over Snowdonia from the gardens position.  It was obvious that on a clear day Plas Coch offers one of the best views in the whole of the British Isles. I realised this would be a major advantage if I could bring this borrowed landscape into the proposed garden.

Having worked on a medieval garden within the grounds of a beautiful manor house in Ipswich many years ago, I was able to recount how layouts from this period were always symmetrical using paths and beds to form areas of organised lines and squares in a way of emphasizing human control over nature.

Islamic gardens built by Moorish invaders over Spain developed the quartered style from the Hebrew belief that four rivers from Eden split the whole world into quarters with a pool of life in the middle. I was able to use the Celtic cross with its ties to Anglesey and provide ideas with both medieval and Islamic themes to create the area on view today.

The Celtic Court has hundreds of regimental box plants to form hedges which give the desired quartered effect, with lavender “Hidcote” on their inside to frame the blood red Rosa “Ingrid Bergman” and the standard Rosa “Metro”. To form a backdrop of silver to compliment the roses,  I have added four weeping pears which won’t grow too big, enabling great views from the Elizabethan terrace, over the garden under the majestic purple beech and right over to Llanberis Pass thus welcoming the borrowed landscape of Snowdonia right to our door!

All the grounds staff worked incredibly hard in helping to realise the final result, showing great skill in the planting of nearly eight hundred individual plants which have come together exactly as I visualised it.

I’ve really enjoyed the project and hope you enjoy the garden.  Oh yes I almost forgot in the middle is a croquet lawn if memory serves me right!   That’s what I was asked to design mmm….!!.  Well we can all be guilty of getting carried away can’t we?!

News of the launch of the new Celtic Court, Croquet Lawn will follow in the next week, please do come and join us for this special event.

Customer Review

“I decided to stay for 6 weeks with the kids over the summer school holidays.  We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, plenty of activities, entertainment and professional friendly staff.  Kathryn on reception is always friendly and helpful, we loved the coffee mornings.  We also ate in the Country Club once or twice a week and the food was consistently good, compliments to the Chef!!  Louise has been excellent arranging the entertainment; we thoroughly enjoyed the talent show.  Sophie has progressed rapidly during her Sunday swim lessons, thanks to Sarah.  All the leisure staff work really hard looking after the children.  I know my kids, Ben Sophie have loved the kids club.  The grouds are superbly maintained.  We are now looking forward to next year’s summer holiday.

Andy, Gail, Ben (12yrs) & Sophie (5yrs) from Southport

GEO GROUP PUTS ANGLESEY AT TOP OF ROCKS CHART

Plas Coch Holiday Homes Sponsored the course for Geo Mon

Meet a very unusual rock group with fans all over the world.

This is a “Time Team” of rock experts who are helping to put the Isle of Anglesey on the world geo map.

All these Indiana Jones style “rock groupies” love rocks including 700 million year old fossils with such as passion they have all become the first “geo-guides” of their kind.

They will show holidaymakers and visitors from as far away as Japan, the USA and Europe all that is best about Anglesey – now recognised as one of only a handful of Geo-Parks on the planet and a growing eco attraction for the 1.4 million people who visit the popular holiday island off the coast of North Wales each year.

The team including experts from all walks of life and originally from Cheshire, Merseyside, the Midlands, Lancashire and Essex will now be official geo ambassadors and guides for the island which is proving hugely popular with fossil, mineral and rock enthusiasts.

It includes Terry Beggs,a master mariner originally from Timperley Cheshire, Jonathan Walsh, Lancashire born business project manager, Paul Gasson design director and surveyor, Andy Short from Essex who heads up Outdoor Alternative and runs his own kayaking business on Anglesey, Jon Pinnington, business development manager for the Isle of Anglesey County Council economic development unit, Angela Honey from the Menai Bridge Ocean Science Unit, geologist Dr Jacqui Malpas,civil service manager Jackie Farrall, and outdoor instructor Mary Tansell.

Cheshire born geo expert Dr Margaret Wood – who has just been awarded a top honour by the British Geological Society-, brought them all together and then all the new recruits attended a special 8-week training course at Coleg Llandrillo.

Plas Coch, the luxury holiday home park destination on the Menai Strait, sponsored the unique course.

During the presentation of training awards Dr Wood said:

“I am so very proud. The Isle of Anglesey has always been of great interest to geologists and naturalists for the age and sheer variety of its rocks and for its wonderful coastal environment. Our new geo team are all looking forward to welcoming even more visitors this year and making a trip to Anglesey very special and very memorable. It is vitally important that we teach our children and our grandchildren how the earth works. Relating the story of our planet in a fun and educational way will help youngsters get a deeper understanding of today’s global events and how we can all help to shape the future.”

Chairman of Anglesey Tourism Association, Jane Blakey, said today:

“Dr Wood and her team are giving a fantastic boost to the status of Anglesey as a natural history wonderland renowned through the world for its unique rock formations and amazing geo landscapes.

“We are delighted to be recognised as a Geo Park because this is a diverse and very special place and to have such a dedicated and passionate team of geo ambassadors is just fabulous. They are bringing the story of Mon Mam Cymru- Anglesey,the Mother of Wales, to life.

“Tourism is our lifeblood and the growth of green cultural-based tourism is helping to make Anglesey a real geo paradise.”

Geo tourists come from as far away as Japan to see volcanic rock formations including ancient pillow lava so unique they only exist only on Anglesey and in Japan.

The island has over 100 different rock types, which have led to a very diverse and unique flora and fauna and Dr Wood was the first eminent geologist to find Pre-Cambrian rock fossils near Cemaes Bay dating back almost 700 million years.

Important geo sites on Anglesey include South Stack, Newborough, Cemaes, Parys Mountains and Llanddwyn Island all part of the UNESCO recognised GeoMon Anglesey Geopark.

Dr Wood and her colleagues also have plans to set up a geo attraction close to Cemaes where she first unearthed Pre-Cambrian fossils and which was once a refuge for St Patrick the patron saint of Ireland. This would give a huge worldwide boost to the tourism industry of the island, which has already created over 3000 jobs and is worth over £214 million a year to the Anglesey economy.

The new Anglesey GeoPark is backed by Anglesey County Council, the Countryside Council for Wales and Mentor Mon.

For full details see www.geomon.co.uk or www.visitanglesey.co.uk

GeoMon – Geological Heritage Tours

All tours £5 per head. Please book places via our website below and get more information.

http://www.geomon.co.uk/#/guided-tours/4534215202

GeoMôn tours lead by Nationally Accredited guides from our Plas Coch Guide training course.

April 25th – Parys Mountain

The first tour will be of Parys Mountain which takes place on April 25th, meeting in the car park on Parys Mountain at 10.30am. Grid Ref: SH 437 909

A late lunch can be purchased at – The Loft Heritage Centre in Amlwch Port or packed lunches can be brought. This will be a truly memorable excursion lasting around 2 – 2 and a half hours by a professional guide.

May 16th – Newborough Forest to Llanddwyn Island

Paul Gasson will be following a geotrail from Newborough Forest to the far end of Llanddwyn Island. Meet 10.30am in the Beach car park at Newborough. Grid Ref: SH 408635
(Please note that there is a parking fee payable near the entrance to the forest). Packed lunches are advisable unless you wish to go to the cafe at Llys Llewelyn in Aberffraw after the trip. here can be seen the famous pillow lavas and the colourful melange in Pilots Cove. The island was the home to St Dwynwen Welsh patron saint of lovers and you will be able to hear about her and see the well and site of her church as
well as see the displays in the Pilot’s Cottages.

June 30th – Rhoscolyn

Andy Short will be leading an excursion over the spectacular coast with its amazing folded rocks with spectacular views from the headlands. Either bring a packed lunch or visit the
White Eagle for lunch after the trip.
Meet at Rhoscolyn Church at 10.30am. Grid Ref: SH 268757

18th July – Penmon

Angela Honey will be taking you on a two site trip that includes not only the fossiliferous Carboniferous Limestone of Penmon and the Ice Age deposits at Lleiniog but also the Norman Castle at the latter and the Priory, Dovecote and St Seiriol’s cell in Penmon.
Meet in the car park at Lleiniog at 10.30am and either bring a packed lunch or you can visit the cafe at penmon Point. Grid Ref: SH 620794

August 15th – Lligwy to Moelfre

Terry Beggs will take an excursion from Lligwy to Moelfre, walking the coastal path after Lligwy Beach, looking at the Carboniferous Limestone and explaining why the Royal Charter and Hindlea foundered on the rocks there. Terry is an expert on the wrecks of Anglesey and is a Master Mariner and an excellent raconteur. For sustenance, packed
lunches can be taken or a trip to Anne’s Pantry in Moelfre at the end of the walk is possible On previous trips, dolphins and seals have accompanied the walk from the sea alongside the walk.
Meet Lligwy South Car park at 10.30am. Grid Ref: SH 496873

September 19th – Red Wharf Bay to Benllech

Jon Pinnington will lead the walk from Red Wharf Bay to Benllech to see Carboniferous rocks, lots of coral and brachiopod fossils and the very rare strange sandstone pipes around St Davids. Red Wharf was once an important fishing village and on the route of the Bangor to Amlwch railway. Either take a packed lunch or enjoy a meal or snack in the
Ship Inn or Boathouse cafe/restaurant.
Meet Red Wharf Bay Car Park at 10.30am. Grid Ref: SH 530812