Today’s Treasures – Barmouth

In summer, Barmouth is alive with holiday-makers – families heading for the beach, buckets and spades in tow, making sandcastles, paddling in the waves and enjoying the sunshine. Children queue up for donkey rides, the cafes are full of families enjoying pasties and ice creams and seagulls hop along the pavements hopefully.

There are boat trips across the Mawddach estuary where you can enjoy a train ride along the coast to Fairbourne, passing stunning views of the Barmouth viaduct, a Grade II listed building, which is currently being restored – Network rail are replacing the timber elements that have decayed and the coroded metal.

At Fairbourne, you can visit the café and enjoy an excellent cup of tea with bara brith (Welsh fruit cake) and visit the miniature railway, then hop back on the train for a ride back to Barmouth via the ferry boat.

In autumn, the crowds have disappeared, the children are back at school and the funfair is silent – Barmouth is once again serenaded only by seagulls and the waves cascading onto the sand – or sometimes, on windy high tide days, crashing against the sea wall with impressive displays of spray.

Barmouth witnesses some amazing sunsets, the sunlight reflected on the water and glistening on the waves – as the sun slowly sinks below the horizon and the reds and golds darken and disappear.