Anglesey Lakeside Lodges - Fun Days Out

Beaumaris Castle on Anglesey was the last of Edward I's royal strongholds in Wales, designed by James of St George beside the Menai Strait. Four concentric rings of defences, a water-filled moat with its own dock and a near-perfect symmetrical plan make it a striking sight. Money ran out and building petered out in the 1320s, so the gatehouse and inner towers never reached their intended height.

Walk past the wet moat and over a short wooden bridge to explore the grounds, the wall walks and the inner ward. There is an on-site exhibition, a gift shop and a guidebook, plus picnic tables if you want to eat there. It is part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site, so it will appeal to castle and history lovers. Dogs on short leads are welcome on the ground floor levels.

Tip: Use the main town car park opposite for the most direct route in, and watch for two-way traffic there.

Anglesey Sea Zoo is an independent aquarium and marine conservation centre on the south coast of Anglesey, near Brynsiencyn. Over 40 tanks show native British sea life, including octopus, lobsters, seahorses, conger eels and jellyfish. Highlights include the No Bone Zone for invertebrates, a wolf fish lair, a real crashing wave, a shipwreck and a kelp forest full of big fish. You can chat with the marine biologists too.

Much of the profit goes into conservation work, such as the seahorse breeding programme and the Lobster Hatchery of Wales. Outside there's a free adventure playground, crazy golf, picnic spots and a walk along the Menai Strait with Snowdonia in the distance. It works in any weather, suits all ages, and the site is fully accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs. Parking is free, and dog pens with fresh water are provided outside.

Tip: No need to book ahead, as tickets are bought on the door. Standard and family tickets stay valid for 6 days after the day of purchase, so you can return for free in that time.

Plas Newydd is a country house on the north bank of the Menai Strait, with views across the water to Snowdonia. The house has origins in 1470 and was long the seat of the Marquesses of Anglesey. Inside, the story mixes military history, theatre and art, including the colourful life of the 5th Marquess, known as the Dancing Marquess, who turned the family chapel into a theatre.

Outside, the Grade I listed landscape takes in 40 acres of garden and 129 acres of woodland and parkland. Follow the path to the Rhododendron Garden, look out for red squirrels in the woods, or let children loose in the Dairy Wood play area and on the frisbee golf course. The Old Dairy Café has indoor and outdoor seating, and there is a picnic area. Gardens, history fans and families all suit it well.

Tip: Dogs on short leads are welcome in the gardens, but not on the Terraces. Autumn is a busy season for the red squirrels, so stay quiet in the woods.

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval fortress in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. Edward I began replacing an earlier motte-and-bailey castle with the current stone structure in 1283, and it was built on a grand scale as the administrative centre of north Wales. Its walls are reminiscent of the Walls of Constantinople, and it is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd". Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service, manages it.

From the outside the castle looks mostly complete, though the interior buildings no longer survive and many parts were never finished. Its story takes in the sack of 1294, the Glyndŵr Rising, and three Civil War sieges. It also hosted the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911 and 1969. The Roman fort of Segontium is nearby, so you can look into the town's much older past too.

The Welsh Mountain Zoo is a zoological garden near Colwyn Bay in Conwy County Borough. It covers 37 acres and has been open since 1963, so it has built up a good range of animal areas over the years.

Features named in the sources include Chimpanzee World, a Lemur Walkthrough, Red Pandas and Otters on the Prytherch Himalayan Terraces, Gibbon Heights, Condor Haven and a Children's Farm. There is also a Jungle Adventureland and a wallaby enclosure. The zoo has also bred the first Bactrian camel born in Wales. With a farm and walkthrough areas alongside the bigger enclosures, it suits families and anyone who likes seeing animals up close.

Tip: Check the zoo's website before you go, as the sources note that animal exhibits such as the sea lions have changed over time.

Bryn Celli Ddu means "the mound in the dark grove". It is one of the best-known prehistoric monuments on Anglesey and is cared for by Cadw. The site began as a henge, a ritual enclosure with a ditch and a circle of upright stones, around 5,000 years ago. A passage tomb was built over it later in the Neolithic.

You can go inside the mound, along a stone passage to the burial chamber, where a smooth pillar of blueschist stands. Behind the chamber is a replica of the carved Pattern Stone, with its winding serpentine designs. Outside, a ring of kerbstones shows the original size of the mound and follows the line of the older henge ditch. The passage is roughly aligned with the summer solstice sunrise, so sunlight can reach the back wall of the chamber for some weeks around then. It will appeal to anyone interested in ancient history.

Tip: Head along the passage into the burial chamber, then look for the replica Pattern Stone behind it.

Penrhyn Castle is a country house at Llandygai, near Bangor in Gwynedd, built in the style of a Norman castle. Thomas Hopper rebuilt it in this Romanesque Revival form between 1822 and 1837, and it is Grade I listed. It is regarded as Hopper's finest work and as one of the most important country houses in Wales.

Inside, the art collection is of international importance and includes works by Palma Vecchio and Canaletto. The castle was a summer holiday home for the Douglas-Pennant family, and guests included Queen Victoria.

The story behind the castle also covers the slate industry of North Wales and the slave-plantation wealth that helped pay for it. The National Trust has explored these links to colonialism and historic slavery, so there is plenty of history to take in alongside the architecture and paintings.

Conwy Castle was built by Edward I between 1283 and 1287 and is part of a World Heritage Site. Eight large towers and a high curtain wall still stand, and it has the best preserved set of medieval royal apartments in Wales. The ruins are split into an inner and an outer ward, with a Great Hall undercroft and chapels to explore.

The main draw is the walk around the battlements, reached by restored spiral staircases in the great towers. From the top you look out to the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) and down over the harbour and narrow streets of Conwy. The town is still ringed by 1.3km of medieval walls, so it is worth a look round after the castle. The path up from the visitor centre is steep with several steps, and the towers involve a climb, so it suits those happy with stairs.

Tip: Climb the spiral staircases and walk the full battlement circuit if you can. Cadw highly recommends it.