I didn't see Alice

We had a wonderful view of Llandudno's North Bay from our hotel bedroom window.

On the promenade is The Mad Hatter with the dormouse;  one of the Alice in Wonderland statues that can be seen in the town.  

Llandudno has a link with the author, Lewis Carroll, because the real Alice who inspired the Wonderland tales, Alice Liddell, spent vacations with her family at their holiday home, Penmorfa, on the West Shore. 

                                                                           
Not far away is the White Rabbit

There's a statue of Alice in Wonderland outside the train station and the Cheshire Cat is in an area of landscaped gardens with an open air theatre in the Happy Valley on the Great Orme.  A visitor can reach the summit of this headland on foot, tramway or cable car and perhaps we will return some day and explore this popular area of the town?

In the meantime, anyone for tea and a biscuit?   And since I didn't see Alice I bought a souvenir of lovely Llandudno from the Wonderland collection with a retail outlet at the information centre - a teabag or tea spoon rest to remind me of a happy time there.

We were blessed with good weather that week, but the storms have returned to parts of Britain, including Wales, and many areas have been hit with flooding once more.  People have been evacuated from homes and businesses so those of us who live on higher and drier ground remember them and hope that their situation will improve and there will be a respite in the bad weather and that the waters will subside.

Where's Alice?

This is a view from the window of our hotel where we stayed in Llandudno, North Wales...

and this one was taken during one of my walks around this seaside resort looking at the old buildings and structures. This structure looks like a bandstand.  In fact, it's a public convenience which is accessed down some steps. It seems to be in use although I didn't explore further!

  

The carved wooden statues are part of a literary trail.  I'm sure you can guess which book.

I only managed to visit the areas in the town near our hotel and take photos of some of the statues and sadly, not the main character, but the Victorian and Edwardian architecture is also interesting. 

The shopping areas with ironwork arcades is an aspect of the town I remember from when I was a child.  My aunt and uncle used to bring me here when I spent the Summer holidays with them when they lived in the county of Cheshire just across the Welsh border.  They retired to a village near Llandudno and last week my husband and I went to visit them on our free day travelling there by bus. As you can imagine, the visit to see my mother's sisters was a special one and an opportunity not to be missed. 

Have you guessed the book that has inspired the literary trail?  The author has a connection with Llandudno.  More about that next time - with some photos, of course! 

A week in North Wales, UK

We've just returned from a week's holiday in North Wales based in the largest coastal resort of Llandudno.  Our hotel was situated on the North Shore seafront overlooking the bay with views of the headlands to left and right known as The Great Orme and the Little Orme.

Llandudno's north bay curves around in a  wide sweep of sand, shingle and rock with a promenade that stretches along most of its length. Walking along the shore was an enjoyable experience especially as the weather was good and mostly dry.

Our holiday included coach trips to places of interest in North Wales, including the Snowdonia National Park so more about Llandudno and the rest of our time away next week.