Silver Bay Blog

A fond farewell to summer

As the last bank holiday of the summer has come and gone we’ve decided to take a fond look back at the weekend’s activities before embracing the fast approaching autumn.

We were all mightily relieved to see August’s showers put on hold for all three days of the long weekend, which was nothing but blazing sunshine, red hot afternoons and warm evenings.

As you all know, we’re huge fans of sand and sea here at Silver Bay and the weather over the weekend was perfect for making the most of our coastal location.

Beach lovers had the chance to catch some rays and build up a tan to match our golden sands, while seafarers were up to their usual water activities on boats, jet skies and dinghies.

When the sun is out meal times mean only one thing here, beach barbeques! There were plenty in evidence over the bank holiday with lodge owners sociably gathering round to enjoy each other’s food and company.

All in all it’s been a fabulous summer and the bank holiday weekend was a perfect end to the season. We’re hoping for a few more days of sunshine this month but we’re also looking forward the brightly coloured leaves and crisp mornings of autumn.
Date Posted: 6th September 2010

The glass is always half full at the Silver Bay bar

Holidays in Silver Bay can be whatever you make them. Whether you decide to chill out on the beautiful sandy beaches, making the most of the breathtaking coastline or whether you prefer an action packed holiday full of surfing, hiking and kayaking, here in Anglesey there is a little something for everyone.

But whatever you decide to do on your holiday at Silver Bay, there’s nothing better after a long day of activities than relaxing in the bar with a refreshing glass of wine.

This summer, rosé wine has been a particular favourite at the bar. Over the last decade, rosé has become increasingly more popular with wine drinkers in the UK. While the taste may be similar to that of white wine, the unique ‘pink’ colour is created in the same way as a red wine, except the red grape skins only remain in the juice for a few days.

This season we’ve been serving the 2009 Mirabello Pinot Grigio Rosé from Chile. The fruity aroma of strawberries and cherries and the off-dry finish make this a very light, easy drinking wine.

If rosé is not really to your liking, we also have five other tempting wines to offer. For red lovers the 2009 Caliterra Reserve Merlot from Chile and the 2007 Navaja Crianza Rioja from Spain are our favourites.

White wine drinkers can enjoy the 2009 Caliterra Reserve Sauvignon Blanc from Chile and the 2009 Vidal Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand.

And for that little extra special something, the Lunetta Prosecco NV from Italy, is a fabulously fruity fizz for any evening at Silver Bay.
Date Posted: 25th August 2010

Head back to Silver Bay before it’s time to go back to school

There are just three weeks remaining for families to enjoy a break from it all before it’s time to wave the little darlings off to school again.

Admittedly, the weather in July was a tad disappointing but we’ve had some gloriously sunny days so far in August to make up for it and we’re hoping for more of the same before the new school term begins.

We’re hoping to see an influx of families with kids in tow over the bank holiday weekend, which could be one of the last chances to soak up some rays on the beach, paddle in the sea or hop in a dinghy before the summer comes to an end.

We’d love to see some pictures of your summer hols to keep us smiling through the autumn so don’t forget to get your camera out and post some snaps on our Facebook page.

There’s always the chance of a warm September (fingers crossed) but even in winter there’s plenty to see and do at Silver Bay and on Anglesey in general, and come rain or shine, it is without doubt one of the prettiest spots on the coast.
Date Posted: 19th August 2010

Anglesey puts on a great show

This week Anglesey has hosted one of its biggest events of the year – The Anglesey Show.

Every year, thousands of people (and animals) flock to this vast agricultural show, held at The Showground in Holyhead.

The show first took place 123 years ago and it has evolved over the years to become an entertaining and enjoyable day out for locals and visitors alike.

With everything from a giant vegetable competition, to craft tents, to a fun fair, to pony and falcon displays, it’s a perfect day out for families with children, who will no doubt also delight in tents displaying bunnies, goats and other friendly farm animals.

There is also usually an array of impressive farming equipment on show from across the ages, including modern tractors and harvesters, as well as more unusual implements and machinery from years gone by.

If you missed it this year, it’s well worth planning a trip to Anglesey to coincide with the show next summer. Just make sure you come prepared for sun or rain, wellington boots are a must in wet weather.

For information about the next Anglesey Show and to book tickets visit: www.angleseyshow.org.uk
Date Posted: 13th August 2010

Football’s coming to the Silver Bay bar

Football fans everywhere are eagerly anticipating the kick off of the new season and we’re no exception here at Silver Bay.

We’re sorry if football is not your bag, but we are unashamedly excited to see what the new season will bring and we’ll be showing every Premier League game in the Silver Bay bar.

We’re particularly looking forward to the usual top of the table clashes with what should be a gripping first game between Tottenham and Manchester City to start the season. It will also be interesting to see whether Blackpool, Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion live up to their newly earned Premier League status. Other games to watch will be Chelsea and Manchester United, and we’re looking forward to seeing whether Liverpool bounce back from their below par season last year.

If you’re as enthusiastic as we are why not join us in the bar to watch a game or several and enjoy some of our new range of wines. And if you’re not as enthusiastic as we are, at least you can still enjoy the wine or retire to the comfort of your luxurious timber lodge.
Date Posted: 6th August 2010

Life’s a beach

We’ve been thinking about how lucky we are here in Anglesey to have some of the best beaches in the UK. We often receive comments via Twitter about how stunning the pictures of Silver Bay look on our website and our response is that it’s even better to be here in the flesh.

Silver Bay is surrounded by rocky headlands on either side and sheltered from civilisation by a conifer plantation to the rear, so the wide sandy beach offers idyllic seclusion.

If you want to get away from it all, our totally isolated stretch of sand could be the picturesque escape you’ve been looking for. But we’re not alone in having a fabulous sandy beach and temptingly clear waters. No less than 14 beaches on Anglesey have received Green Coast Awards this year for their natural beauty and clean environment. The awards are presented annually by Keep Britain Tidy and represent outstanding quality.

We’re lucky not only to have our own wonderful beach to enjoy, but to be a stone’s throw away Rhoscolyn, which takes just 15 minutes to walk to, and we have a great view of the nearby Rhosneigr beaches too.
Date Posted: 30th July 2010

Toast to the summer with the Silver Bay Six

With the summer holidays well underway the Silver Bay beach has been packed with families. We’re looking forward to some sunshine and soaring temperatures – bikinis and speedos weather!

We’ll be holding our annual season opening party at the club on Saturday and more than 600 people have booked to attend. There’ll be good food, a disco with dancing and frivolity until the early hours of Sunday morning.

We’ll also be using the opening party as an opportunity to launch our fantastic new range of wines at the prices on offer – they truly are stonkers!

The wine connoisseurs amongst our lodge owners are in for a treat this summer thanks to the arrival of The Silver Bay Six at the bar. These summer stonkers are six different wines that have been specially selected to reflect the tastes of the season.

For the sauvignon blanc fans we have two new wines to choose from, the 2009 Caliterra Reserve Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, which is a tropical style of sauvignon with hints of guava and grapefruit and a refreshing finish, and the 2009 Vidal Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand, which is bursting with tangy gooseberry and sweet passion fruit flavours.

Rose lovers can enjoy the 2009 Mirabello Pinot Grigio Rose from Chile, which is a delicious, easy to drink rose, with strawberry and cherry fruit tastes and a pleasant off-dry finish.

The serious wine drinkers will appreciate our two red selections, the Caliterre Reserve Merlot 2009 from Chile, which has a silky consistency with lively plum and rich berry fruit flavours, and the Navaja Crianza Rioja 2007, from Spain, which is a smooth wine with a wonderfully mellow, sweet-spiced finish.

And if the holiday season puts you in the mood to celebrate with some bubbles we have the uplifting Lunetta Prosecco NV form Italy, this elegant fizz is summer in a glass with fresh peach and pear flavours.

We hope you’ll be raising a glass with us this summer and we’d love to know what you think of our new wine selection. You can leave a comment on our Facebook page or send us a message on Twitter.

And don’t forget you can share your Silver Bay holiday snaps on our Facebook page too.
Date Posted: 23rd July 2010

School’s out for summer

The summer holidays are nigh, which means only one thing here at Silver Bay, it’s almost time for the annual influx of children.

We’re all set to start the kiddies summer off and we have plenty of fun activities planned to keep them occupied while mum and dad enjoy some quiet time.

The bay itself provides hours of children’s entertainment, from paddling to building sandcastles, to bobbing along the waves in dinghies - generations of kids have enjoyed playing by this sandy spot.

Anglesey as a whole is a fantastic place for families with children to holiday, offering all kinds of in and outdoor activities. For those with a historical interest nearby Beaumaris Castle is well worth a trip, while Penrhyn Castle in Bangor offers impressive grounds, a dolls’ museum, Victorian kitchens, an adventure playground and railway museum. On wet days Anglesey Sea Zoo is a great option. It houses an extensive range of weird and wonderful creatures from the deep as well as a pirate themed crazy golf course.

We’re very much looking forward to seeing all our lodge owners with young families again this summer.
Date Posted: 12th July 2010

Silver Bay dips into social media for the first time

You may or may not have noticed that we at Silver Bay plunged ourselves into the great social media pool last month and have been bathing in the delightful waters of general tittle-tattle, local news, promotions and humour ever since.

We were pleasantly surprised to discover lots of other businesses from the surrounding area and further afield were already very active on Facebook and particularly on Twitter. We’ve found a great community spirit on social networks and it’s fascinating to see what people get up to on a day-to-day basis.

We have virtually befriended a fantastic local photographer as well as fellow accommodation specialists, restaurateurs and hoteliers. Not to mention plenty of people who just love Wales, especially Anglesey.

We’re really enjoying having the opportunity for the first time to talk to individuals about our shared interests, from country walks to boating, from football to the weather. There’s always somebody with something to say and there’s always somebody to listen to you.

If you would like to follow our tweets just go to www.twitter.com/Silver_Bay or if you prefer Facebook you can ‘like’ our page here.
Date Posted: 1st July 2010

It’s a sailor’s life for me

There was even more fabulous weather to be enjoyed at Silver Bay last weekend, which lured our lodge owners out onto the water for some boating activities. The bay was awash with everything from dinghies to speedboats, there were even some rather impressive yachts to be seen out on the water.

Some were sailing pros while others were just out for a refreshing splash around as temperatures soared on the beach. Bystanders on the shore watched as water skiers skimmed across the waves and happy kids climbed aboard floating doughnuts hitched to the back of boats.

Despite living on an island with glorious coastlines we UK residents often overlook the fun to be had sailing and boating in our own backyard. Of course, during autumn and winter the weather doesn’t help but the joy of seafaring activities is one of the best things about summers at Silver Bay. Year after year a spirit of adventure and discovery prevails as families set off to explore the bay.

As June comes to an end we’re hoping to see even more boats out on the water in July and August.
Date Posted: 24th June 2010

It’s all kicking off in the Silver Bay bar

We’re anticipating a full house at the Silver Bay bar this evening where we’ll be screening the England v Algeria game for all our lodge owners to enjoy.

If the last England game we screened is anything to go by it should be a fun family evening with plenty of good spirited cheering, ‘arm chair’ commentary and hopefully not too many moans and groans.

It may have been a disappointing start for England last week but we’re taking heart in the fact that lots of the big teams, even the likes of Spain and Brazil, played underwhelming first games. And lets not forget the impact first game nerves could have had on the players.

We could certainly do with Rooney getting off the mark and scoring tonight but whatever the outcome, we’ll make sure there’s a party atmosphere for everyone here in the bar.

For all the football widows who don’t enjoy the beautiful game and want to escape World Cup mania for an hour or two, we highly recommend a serene sunset stroll along the beach.

Come on England!
Date Posted: 18th June 2010

Hot days and fiery nights at Silver Bay

Here at Silver Bay we decided to make the most of last week’s warm weather and mild nights by lighting what we hope will be the first of many campfires on the beach.

After throngs of lodge owners had enjoyed another sweltering day on the beach a number of impromptu barbeques sprang up across the sand. The scent of outdoor cooking from more than a dozen different barbeques drifted away on the warm evening breeze as everyone made the most of al fresco dining.

It wasn’t long before the different groups joined forces to dig a pit for a campfire to keep the evening’s sociable atmosphere going as the sun set and the stars began to come out. The children collected driftwood to burn and soon everybody was seated comfortably around the blazing fire.

Our new Chilean house wine, Caliterra, was going down well in all its forms (white, red and rosé) and some old fashioned singing around the campfire kept everybody entertained as night crept across the bay.

It was a perfect summer evening complete with good company, conversation and song. It’s amazing how much fun a simple campfire can be!
Date Posted: 11th June 2010

The sun has come out for Silver Bay

We’ve been enjoying a mini heat wave here at Silver Bay this week with blazing sunshine and soaring temperatures.

The summer may have only just begun but there are plenty of families already enjoying the beach and everything that goes with it, from picnics to wading, to launching boats, to searching for sea creatures!

The glorious weather has also given everyone the opportunity to walk along the headland by Rhoscolyn Bay and admire the boats out on the water.

Pleasantly cool evenings have proved a welcome contrast to the scorching afternoons and have become a popular time to relax and enjoy a drink and some company at the Silver Bay bistro.

All in all it’s shaping up to be one of the best half-term holidays for some time and it’s all thanks to the British weather. With not long to go until the start of the school summer holidays we’re hoping that this is a sign of things to come.

There will be lots of fun outdoor activities going on in the local Anglesey area over the coming months, including hiking, sailing, canoeing and horse riding, so fingers crossed the sun will stick with us for the duration of the holiday season.
Date Posted: 4th June 2010