Car-free MonmouthMonmouthshire
Award-winning vineyards, traditional bakeries, canoeing on the River Wye and wandering into the hills: there’s plenty to enjoy car-free around Monmouth. Birthplace of Henry V, the little market town on two rivers has a host of historical sites including a ruined castle and a unique thirteenth-century bridge over the river Monnow. Buses to Monmouth leave from Chepstow every hour on weekdays, along the beautiful Wye Valley, passing famous Tintern Abbey. Monmouth is an ideal base for staycations, surrounded by great countryside. We've added a few tips at the end for holidays in the area.
-
-
1. Walking, canoeing and food
From Monmouth’s tiny bus station, turn left up Monmow Street to historic Agincourt Square with a tourist office in the Shire Hall and a Saturday market outside.
- Try a handmade ice cream from Green and Jenks, across the road from Shire Hall, where flavours include things like raspberry pavlova and strawberry cream tea.
- What’s left of Monmouth Castle, along with a volunteer-run regimental museum, is up Castle Hill on the left.
- Beyond Shire Hall, you can wander up pretty, flag-hung Church Street, with its cafés, greengrocer, butchers and sweetshop. Turn right at the church onto St Mary’s Street, past Wigmore’s traditional bakery, still using their original bread oven to make favourites like Swansea bloomer and bara brith (Welsh fruit loaf).
- Turn left at the end of St Mary’s and right before the Queen’s Head pub. Take the underpass under the main road and turn L along the River Wye, with the water on your right. You can rent kayaks and canoes from the Monmouth Canoe Hire, left under the next tunnel.
- A half-mile walk further along the Wye brings you to St Peter’s church (don’t miss the flood markers on the wall inside).
- For longer hikes, try more of the Wye Valley Walk or follow Offa’s Dyke Path up into the woods on either side of the town.
-
-
2. Lunch at a vineyard
A short but rewarding local walk (about a mile each way) leads to the biodynamic Ancre Hill Vineyard, where you can sample Welsh cheeses and a glass of wine on Friday and Saturday lunchtimes. Ring 01600 714152 in advance to get special walkers’ access via back gate.
- How to get to Ancre Hill Vineyard: From the lane to Monmouth Castle, take the track heading right over footbridge. Keep straight and then right on permissive paths.
- Turn left through gate on path beside River Monmow and follow footpath to reach tarmac track. Turn right through a gate, left onto Ancre Hill Lane and continue for half a mile to visit the vineyard.
- For a different route back to Monmouth, return on the same lane, but turn right at a signpost, up steps and over stile. Follow the path over three fields and two stiles. Go through three gates before turning left and then along a riverside path. Cross a stile and footbridge and turn right around pond. Turn left through a gate, onto Rochfield Road and keep straight into Drybridge Street. Turn left over the ancient Monmow Bridge and walk past the shops back to the bus station.
-
3. Bus from Newport
Bus 69 from Chepstow runs to Monmouth every hour on weekdays (less on Saturdays), passing lovely Tintern Abbey- see Good Journey’s directions, or number 6 in this autumnal round-up for more info. Alternatively, every couple of hours, bus 60 winds its way from Newport bus station through the Monmouthshire hills past castles, churches and fabulous rolling countryside to reach the little market town.
- Crossing a stone bridge across the River Usk, the bus from Newport enters Caerleon, passing the ancient priory and the Roman legion museum; flower-decked Usk, with its whitewashed square comes soon after.
- Approaching Monmouth, look out for the remains of Raglan Castle, the site of another at Dingestow, a grassy mound beyond the winding River Trothy and the hilltop church at Wonastow, all on the left hand side of the bus, followed by the riverside church at Mitchel Troy.
-
Buses and places to stay and eat.
Here are a couple more suggestions if you’re going on holiday in the area.
- If you’re planning a lot of travel by trains and buses, there is a rover ticket for South Wales, which gives you unlimited travel on four out of eight days.
- There’s a modern Premier Inn in the middle of Monmouth.
- You could also stay in Chepstow, for instance at Greenman, a characterful Chepstow hostel with private rooms and a big lounge. It’s an easy walk from the bus and train stations and a spear’s-throw from Chepstow’s huge, impressively ancient castle.
- The village of Redbrook, on the 69 bus route, makes a good base with Offa’s Dyke climbing straight from the bus stop by the Bell Inn, through a bracken and bluebell hillside into clifftop woods. Eat Pan Haggerty (cheese-topped onion, potato and garlic) by the roaring log fire of the Boat Inn in Penallt just over the impressive footbridge from Redbrook. Then stop off on the way back to Chepstow at the Parva Farm vineyard for a self-guided tour and wine-tasting.
