Outdoor adventures in the Wye Valley with your teenagers
Guest Expert
5 min read
Parents with tweens and teens are often a little bit despairing when it comes to ‘screen time’, even though most of us adults don’t have a leg to stand on! So, when it comes to planning holidays with your older children, an adventure – an activity-packed itinerary is a pretty good way to limit the constant scrolling. Brushing up against the side of Wales, Herefordshire’s rippling landscape and pastoral perfection is a dream destination for outdoor experiences. We’ve rounded up a host of fun activities from cruising down the river Wye, to walks alongside it (don’t worry there is food at the end to act as a carrot), off-road biking and hit-show location spotting.
Canoeing or paddle boarding down the river Wye
You can’t visit Herefordshire without getting in, or at least on, the Wye. Weather dependent, you can canoe, kayak or paddle board from early February through to the autumn. From wide, glistening flat stretches, to the occasional challenging rapid, you’ll cruise past dense woodland, open pastures and small, stoney beaches which make great stopping off points for picnics and paddling. The entire length is rich in birdlife: spot swans, geese and herons, a kingfisher if you’re lucky, perhaps a bird of prey circling above and small woodland birds darting in the air. And, best of all, phones and rivers do not mix so they’ll need to be left at your self-catering cottage!
Stay at Net House, a lovely big house with huge riverside gardens and an easy-going charm, only a 15-minute walk from bookish Hay-on-Wye.
Visiting hit Netflix show, Sex Education’s, filming locations
Teenagers tend not to be huge fans of walking but if they avidly watch the hit Netflix show, Sex Education, then this walk up from Symonds Yat to Otis’s striking red house should be a winner. Starting from Symonds Yat East, you take the public footpath up into the leafy valley, and from here it’s only a short walk to Yat Rock viewing point, where glorious vistas fan out across the Wye valley and river below you. If you’re lucky you may spot a peregrine falcon. Other locations to visit include: Whitestone Woods, the one that Otis and Eric cycle through to school, the Wireworks Bridge at Tintern, just along the river from the Abbey, and over the border in Wales, in the tiny village of Llandogo, you can find the shop where Adam and Ola work. Countryside walks for you, filming locations for them. Sorted!
Stay at Old Lands, warm, cosy and stylish retreats on a 200-acre estate – a superb introduction to the delights of rural life.
Cycling around the Wye Valley
The Wye Valley has endless possibilities for exploring on two wheels, and cycling tends to be a failsafe way to keep the whole family entertained for a few hours. Pootle down hundreds of miles of quiet country lanes and bridleways, zip down woodland tracks and traffic-free greenways; and for the thrill-seekers there are hair-raising off-road routes to hurtle down. Bring your own wheels, otherwise there are plenty of companies that offer bike hire, and if you don’t fancy getting out of puff then you can always hire an e-bike and glide smugly up and down the hills. The old railway line between Chepstow and Hereford is a gentle car-free route; the area around the village of Staunton, between Redbrook and Symonds Yat, has bumpy forest tracks; and the Brockweir to Bigsweir bridleway is ideal for muddy fun. If you want a riverside cycleway, try the Peregrine Path between Monmouth and Symonds Yat East.
Stay at Chestnut at Cynefin Retreats, a beautifully-designed wooden lodge with a hot tub on the deck, roaring woodburner, plenty of space and complete immersion in nature.
An easy walk and a spot of lunch
The Herefordshire Trail is a glorious 154-mile scenic loop around the county that ribbons through parts of the Wye Valley. Split up into sections, it’s possible to hop on and off depending on your location. Expect lyrical landscapes and charming market towns, steep hills and wooded river valleys, as well as various historic landmarks. We find that a walk with tweens and teens is best bookended by food, and so, after a hearty breakfast we recommend rambling part of the trail from Ross-on-Wye towards Little Dewchurch and winding up at the welcoming New Inn. This part of the route keeps company with the river and takes in three historic bridges – the lovely six-arch red sandstone Wilton Bridge, the elegant Sellack Boat Suspension footbridge, and the Hoarwithy Toll Bridge. On arrival at the inn there’s top-notch food to tuck into, plus real ales on tap and a sunny lawned garden for alfresco lunches.
Stay at Carthouse Cottage, a lovely cottage on an organic farm with happy animals, good food, wonderful walks and views, and chirpy birdsong. Come to reconnect with nature.
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Carmen McCormack
Guest Expert
Carmen is a freelance writer specialising in travel. She once lived in a bus in north Wales, skipped off to study in Barcelona, and now calls Bristol home. When she’s not tapping away on her laptop, she can be found reading (a lot), lake swimming (a little), and pottering on the allotment with husband and two kiddos. She’s currently dreaming about cold cerveza and torta in Mexico.
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