Ty Hyll – Ugly House, Capel Curig

Last week whilst away in Snowdonia, my parents gave us the recommendation to visit ‘The Ugly House’ in Capel Curig. On our final day we headed across there and found this to be a gem of a place and I thought it was worth sharing on the blog.

The Ugly House is located in the heart of Snowdonia, a short drive from the well-known town of Betws-y-Coed. When we visited it was a rather wet day but it only enhanced the beauty of the area.

We arrived at the Ugly House and parked in the small car park. When we got inside the children instantly spotted the freshly baked cakes and so we chose a table and waited for them to take our order. The children chose to share a slice of Victoria Sponge and a milkshake each and the cake was superb. I think Damian and I were pleased that the slice was too big for them to manage without some help from us….

It would have been very tempting, pre children, to stay downstairs next to the lit fire and get cosy with a book and a pot of tea for an hour or so but the children were keen to look around. We venture upstairs and found a really lovely and informative display about the honeybee.

The Ugly House, as well as being a most impressive little tea room, is also home to an impressive honeybee project and the children really enjoyed looking at the displays and learning more about the bees. The opportunity to dress up as a beekeeper was popular with Mr D!

After we had finished looking around the honeybee room we went for a walk around the grounds. The grounds are lovely and even though it was rainy we didn’t get too wet as the trees provided protection from the rain.

Mr D is really into climbing at the moment and so he was clambering away off and up the paths – enjoying being able to see the trees and flowers. We found the bug hotel, the bee hives and the pond.

Much to our delight we also spotted a frog on the pathway – it was the first time the children have seen a frog and they have since told the story about how it hopped away a number of times! There really is something very special about seeing nature in its natural habitat – it was a lovely moment and one I am sure they will remember.

After our walk we picked up a bee friendly plant and some seeds which we plan to plant in the garden over the weekend as a reminder of our trip.

If you’re in the area I can really recommend a visit to The Ugly House. We were there for around 2.5 hours and it was a really lovely little visit. Afterwards we went into Betws-y-Coed for a stroll which the children enjoyed too.

You can read more about the Ugly House here.