Ask the Locals: Family days out in Monmouthshire

Laura Spuffard Davies from Rogiet (near Caldicot) is a mum of three young children, who loves exploring Monmouthshire’s castles, woodlands, coastal paths and nature reserves. She also founded the Rogiet Wildlife Friendly Village Group, helping to enhance her local area for both wildlife and the wider community to enjoy. 

Visit Monmouthshire asked her to share her top tips on things to do with her young children this holiday.

What are your favourite walks with children?

When we want to meet up with friends and go for a walk we go to Whitestone, up near Tintern in the Wye Valley. It is a lovely spot.  It is a woodland, but it also has a natural play park there. You can do a 2K circular walk, which is perfect for little legs on a gravel pathway. And then at the top there is Cleddon Falls and Cleddon Shoots waterfall. You look down at the waterfall from that viewpoint which is really fascinating.

We visit Whitestone in every season, walking in the rain and jumping in puddles, or going on a hot sunny day and meeting up with friends and having a picnic. It's really well shaded in the park. And I love they've got these big totem poles that they had carved out of wood with all different insects and animals that you'd find in the woodland. So that's intreasting talking point with the children.

Some of my children's favourite memories are visiting in autumn and winter when the weather is wet. They can play in puddles and look for mushrooms, and I teach them about plants to forage.

Where is your best place to spot wildlife in Monmouthshire?

Magor Marsh is one of the Gwent Wildlife Trust reserves. It’s a perfect spot, has a small little circular route around the reserve with a boardwalk and is great for little legs with lots to stop and see along the way. There’s a pond with a bird hide, with educational information, so you can identify the birds and ducks you spot. The kids love going there and trying to find the family of swans.

There’re some cool little spots in amongst the trees just off the boardwalks, with little circle sections of logs where you can sit down and have a tasty picnic in the shade.

Tell us about your favourite castles in Monmouthshire?

We love to visit castles and there's loads in Monmouthshire. Our favourites are Chepstow Castle & Caldicot Castle, but there are plenty still on our list to visit like White Castle and Skenfrith.

Caldicot Castle is free and is lovely because it's got a big outside play area for children and a café.  There's always something to explore and they have started putting on lots of different events. They’ve recently opened up a bike trail from Caldicot Castle that leads down along the old railway line into the nearby village of Portskwett take the kids on scooters and bikes as it is a nice flat path without cars, so it’s safe when the children are learning to ride bikes.

For Chepstow Castle, I use my Cadw Pass, they've always got lots of different events on and it's a surprisingly big castle. Whilst in Chepstow we also love going around Chepstow Museum because it's free and there's lots of children's activities in the holidays.  

What places do your children ask to visit?

My children always ask to go exploring. One of my favourite places to take them is the Severn Estuary along the Wales Coast Path. We go down there, sit for a couple of hours, potter about, or go down Black Rock and go on Sudbrook Beach to try and find fossils. The Severn Estuary all along the coastal path is such a wide space, there's so much to see and do there.

At Black Rock picnic site there are also different sculptures for the kids to see with heritage information about the Black Rock Lave Fishermen.

Best place for sweet treats this summer?

My family, we're all vegan, so ice cream is a difficult one. However, in Chepstow, there is a place called Colin's Cafe, and they do all dairy-free ice cream with about 10 different flavours to choose from. For the kids it's an absolute treat; they can have any flavour!

Near our home in Rogiet we have Rogiet Community Junction café, right by the play park as well and they have lots of vegan option.

Best family meals out in Monmouthshire?

We always go out as a family, so we make sure we find somewhere with a play park to keep the kids occupied and entertained whilst they're waiting for their food.

One of our favourites (which is worth the drive) is The Boat Inn in Penallt. Their beer garden has a wonderful little waterfall and is right next to the Redbrook Railway Bridge that goes over the River Wye; you can cross the bridge to the community play park in Redbrook.  

Also the Anchor Inn Tintern, they have got a little play park and then you've got the community play park as well just across the cricket field. The pub garden has views of Tintern Abbey, and they always serve lovely food.

One of our favourite things is to get some chips and go down to the sea wall. The chip shop is on the road to Black Rock and we buy a big bag to share. Parenting is a tough gig, especially nowadays and simply letting your kids just be themselves and have fun out in nature with a bag of chips, that is where some of the best memories are made.

Thank you to Laura Spuffard Davies for sharing with us her local knowledge of Monmouthshire. Her instagram account is: earthling.mama 

Keep scrolling down the page for links to her top places to visit!