• Former England midfielder Lee Bowyer played his last game in 2012
• The 38-year-old represented clubs including Leeds, West Ham and Newcastle
• Bowyer now runs a carp fishing lake named ‘Etang de Bows’ in France
• Bowyer was involved in several controversial incidents during his career including being cleared of GBH and an on-pitch fight with Kieron Dyer

By

Joe Bernstein for the Daily Mail Published: 17:43 EST, 28 July 2015

Posing serenely in front of a fishing lake in France’s Champagne region, Lee Bowyer can reflect that he hasn’t done badly for a boy from Canning Town once rejected by Arsenal for being too small.

The one-time Leeds United and England midfielder is a gentleman fisherman these days. The water packed with 200 carp and its tree-lined banks are his, all 12 acres.

Bowyer last kicked a ball three years ago and didn’t want to rush into coaching or the media. So he turned to the pastime that kept him sane throughout a tumultuous 18-year career, and turned it into a business.

Former England midfielder has opened a carp fishing lake in France following his retirement from football

The 38-year-old has named his fishing lake ‘Etang de Bows’, which translates as Bow’s Lake

Bowyer decided on a life away from football after he hung up his boots in 2012

The former box-to-box midfielder is best remembered for his time at Leeds between 1996-2003

‘When I was playing, I used to go on fishing holidays in France for a week every June with my mates,’ says Bowyer. ‘There was this place I loved near a village called Orconte. In November, I called the owner and he was looking to sell because of health issues. So I bought it.’

The lake’s old name was La Fritterie, but Bowyer has renamed it Etang de Bows, which translates as Bows’ Lake —his nickname.

Anglers pay to pitch their tents lakeside and spend the week catching mirror carp, common carp and the occasional catfish. There is a two-year waiting list so Bowyer can only use his own lake in winter when the resort is closed.

‘You either love or hate fishing. I love it — I used it as my getaway as a player. It allowed me to switch off because I was a nightmare otherwise,’ he says. ‘I was one of those who couldn’t unwind or sleep after games. I’d be up until three in the morning watching replays of the game, seeing what I’d done wrong. The fishing helped me unwind.’

 

The former Leeds midfielder believes people have a preconception of him from how he acts on the pitch

Bowyer’s time at Elland Road came to an end shortly after he was cleared of GBH charges following an incident outside a Leeds nightclub in 2006 – pictured here outside of court after being found not guilty

He used to bump into David Seaman on the riverbank and still fishes when he’s back home in England with Mark Noble of West Ham and Bobby Zamora, who was at QPR last season. His record catch is a 74lb carp.

‘I got the bug as a kid, catching roach in my local canal. Now I could be a professional I think,’ he says.

Bowyer divides his time between his new venture and his family home in Essex where he’s a proud dad to six-year-old twins. He cuts an affable figure, content with his new life, a long way from the midfielder who helped Leeds reach the Champions League semi-final and played for England, but also collected a record number of bookings and was involved in a high-profile court case.

‘Everyone has got this pre-conception of me, that the way I played is the person I am. I suppose it’s understandable, but I am the complete opposite,’ he says.

‘I didn’t get into my county side as a kid and Arsenal rejected me after three years because I was too small. Being the type of person I am, it drove me to where I was. I probably over-achieved.

‘Every team that signed me knew I’d work hard and chip in with goals. And I got on with everyone I played with.’

 

Bowyer started his professional career at Charlton before ending it with Ipswich Town in 2012

Bowyer’s best spell came at Leeds in a team featuring the likes of Alan Smith and Harry Kewell (right)

Bowyer twice joined West Ham – in 2003 and 2006 – the club he supported as a boy

The best spell came between 1996 and 2003 at Leeds as part of a vibrant side that included Harry Kewell and Alan Smith.

‘We were a proper team. We weren’t scared of anyone and would attack like you couldn’t imagine. People said we were dirty but we were competitive,’ he recalls.

‘We played a mad formation, three men in the middle, two strikers and Harry Kewell who could do what he wanted. David O’Leary got the best out of Mark Viduka, who was a complex character. When Peter Reid got there, Viduka downed tools.’

With neat symmetry, Bowyer scored 99 goals from midfield in his career and was booked 99 times in the Premier League — a record until Gareth Barry passed it last season.

Bowyer regrets the lack of modern-day box-to-box midfielders, saying players are either pigeon-holed as Claude Makeleles or as creative No 10s.

‘There are only a few around now but it’s not the players’ fault,’ he says. ‘Jordan Henderson at Liverpool could do it if he had licence but when I see him he’s sitting, which isn’t his game.

‘Tom Cleverley should get more goals, he is that type of player. But it’s difficult with formations today.

‘I’d always have a box-to-box player. A No 10 is easy to mark. But coming from deep against someone who doesn’t like to track back, you can run off them. You’re harder to pick up.

‘George Graham taught me at Leeds. I turned up from Charlton and he dropped me because I’d leave it to other people to defend.

‘With George, you had to do the dirty side of the game. He only picked me when he thought I was ready to do what he wanted. I was 19 and it was a tough lesson, not to leave your team-mates in the lurch. I owe him a lot.’

Bowyer scored 99 times from midfield during his Premier League career… and was also booked 99 times

Ex-Leeds manager George Graham, who ‘liked the dirty side of the game’, was influential to Bowyer’s career

 

The tough tackling midfielder only earned a single England cap, although insists he should have had more

The glory days at Leeds didn’t last for ever. In 2001, Bowyer was found not guilty of grievous bodily harm and affray after a fight between two groups in the city centre left a man with serious injuries. He left the club two years later.

One side-effect of the court case was that he couldn’t play for England while it was ongoing. A captain of the Under 21s, he ended up with just one senior cap, against Portugal in 2002.

‘I should have had more,’ he says. ‘While the court case was happening, I was playing my best football.’

He had two spells at West Ham and three years at Newcastle before finishing at Birmingham and Ipswich.

He never publicly said he was hanging up his boots after his final game against Leicester in April 2012.

‘We can announce it now, I am officially retired,’ he smiles. ‘I just didn’t think it was a big deal. I loved the game but my body was telling me it was time to stop.

‘The Championship was too many games. We had a match on the Saturday and (Ipswich manager) Paul Jewell said he needed me to play again on the Monday. I was still stiff as a board and I snapped my groin after 20 minutes.

‘That was it. I had offers the following season but I wasn’t enjoying it any more.’

Bowyer found himself in hot water after getting involved in an on-pitch fight with team-mate Kieron Dyer (C)

Bowyer thought that Alan Shearer’s goals between player’s legs were luck before witnessing them first-hand.

Besides his lake, Bowyer rents out a couple of properties. He doesn’t need football but it’s unlikely he will be lost to the game for ever.

He has his UEFA B licence and may yet move into youth coaching.

‘As a player, you’d get used to arriving at 9am and leaving by 1pm. As a coach, you’re there from 9am and might not get home till 11pm if you do a match. So be sure about it.

‘At the same time, it would be a shame not to pass on the knowledge I’ve picked up through the years.

‘I remember training with Alan Shearer when I first went to Newcastle, he kept shooting through the defender’s legs, and it kept scuffing into the bottom corner. I thought it was luck but after a month I realised it happened every day.

‘He would pause for that split-second, see the defender stretch his legs out to block, then pull it back into the other corner. I’d love to teach things like that to kids. Coach kids first, then see if I want to be a manager.’

 

Bowyer reveals he caught the fishing bug as a kid, but now believes he is good enough to turn professional

Bowyer, who won 12 Under 21 caps, was disappointed by England’s performance at the Euros this year

Bowyer won 13 Under 21 caps and watched the Under 21 Euros this summer with a degree of sadness as England went out at the group stages.

‘I was surprised Harry Kane went. He’d had a long season and is Tottenham’s main striker. Nine times out of 10, it is the clubs calling the shots. And not just the Under 21s, the full national side too. How many times do you see people pull out having just played on the Saturday?

‘It is a fine line because you want the strongest England team at all levels but I understand why that doesn’t happen sometimes.’

Not wanting to get too despondent about the national game, Bowyer focuses again on the glorious view in front of him. Football has given him a lifestyle he couldn’t have dreamed of. But for the time being he is the one who got away.

Lee Bowyer is a supporter of the Sir Bobby Robson Celebrity Golf Classic. For more details go to: www.sirbobbyrobsoncelebritygolf.com 

Cardiff, Brighton and Hove, Plymouth and the London borough of Lambeth are the first cities to be recognised as leaders of the UK’s Sustainable Food Cities network – with Cardiff having been acclaimed for signing a sustainable fish cities pledge that impacts on the whole of Wales.

Cardiff’s achievements follow hard on the heels of the towns of Bournemouth and Poole, which recently became the first to receive the five-star “sustainable fish city” award.

“Cardiff is setting a new, much higher standard for sustainable fish policies,” said Ruth Westcott, coordinator of Sustainable Fish Cities, a campaign run by an alliance of not-for-profit organisations that hopes to reverse destructive methods of fishing which threaten the future of some species. “It’s worked hard to get major institutions to sign up to these policies. Other cities should take note, and see how one city can successfully push for change not only within its own boundaries but across a whole country.”

One of Cardiff’s biggest breakthroughs was getting the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership to sign the sustainable fish pledge recently, meaning that all hospital fish meals in the city – and right across Wales – will only be made using sustainable fish.

Jessica Bearman, lead dietician for NHS Wales Shared Services, said: “As an organisation, we buy 120 tonnes of fish a year so when it comes to sustainability, we can make a difference in terms of scale. Hospitals can still serve fantastic fish dishes and we can continue to enjoy traditional favourites like battered cod, but it’ll be sustainably sourced.”

A similar sustainable fish pledge has already been made by Cardiff’s primary and secondary schools, Cardiff University and the University of South Wales, so in all, some five million fish meals a year in the city will now be sourced using sustainable methods.

“England and Scotland are way behind on this,” Westcott said. “Cities need to look to Cardiff to see how making big deals happen – such as getting hospital trusts and schools to opt for sustainable food – has a real impact on many people’s diets and the environment.”

So far, only two private hospital food providers and four hospital or health trusts in England have signed the sustainable fish pledge, despite new requirements which come into force on 1 April 2015, which will make sustainable fish compulsory for all food served in hospitals or health trusts in England.

Cardiff’s work on sustainable fish is part of the reason it is among the first cities to receive an award from the Sustainable Food Cities network, established in 2013 by the Soil Association, in partnership with Food Matters and Sustain. Funded by the Esme Fairbairn Foundation, all member cities of the network receive funding to develop their sustainable food policies.

Brighton and Hove is the only city to receive a silver award during a two-day international Sustainable Food conference hosted by Bristol, the 2015 European Green Capital, and featuring representatives from 70 towns and cities across the UK and Europe. Cardiff, Plymouth and the London borough of Lambeth all receive bronze awards.

Part of the conference focuses on how the campaign can be taken to cities worldwide: attendees from countries such as Greece, Slovenia, France, Romania and Denmark will be able to learn from case studies on how to improve food, health and sustainability at city level.

Cardiff’s approach has included appointing a sustainable food cities coordinator and setting up a network called Food Cardiff, which meets regularly to pool resources and efforts, working on everything from growing projects to encouraging catering and food suppliers within the private and public sector to be more sustainable. Projects across the city, including the Riverside Farmers’ Market and the Adamsdown Community Garden, are about helping people gain access to cheap, high-welfare, fresh food.

In Plymouth, the award has come about as a result of its cooperative of 30 local producers, which now deliver affordable, sustainable food to collection points in deprived parts of the city. Lambeth is being recognised for its edible bus stops and its social supermarket, which sells subsidised products to those on low incomes. A silver award goes to Brighton and Hove for food growing space – successful development applications incorporating food space have increased in the area from one per cent to 38 per cent, which is a major boost towards locals and community groups growing their own food.

Tom Andrews, Soil Association national programme manager of Sustainable Food Cities says: “In the absence of national government action, cities are taking on the incredibly serious food challenges that face us all. It will be interesting to see, in the weeks running up to the Westminster election, whether the main political parties recognise the urgency of these challenges and commit to doing what is needed to help tackle them.”

• This article was updated on 18 March 2015 to reflect the fact that the towns of Bournemouth and Poole, rather than the city of Cardiff, were first to receive a five-star “sustainable fish city” award.

• Barbel fish Big Lady was killed by otters on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire 
• One marauding otter was seen tearing its throat and partially eating it 
• The fish, weighing over 20lbs, was the largest barbel living in UK waters 
• Anglers are calling for crackdown on otters, whose numbers are booming 

Anglers are calling for a clampdown on otters after they killed Britain’s biggest and best-known freshwater fish.

The fish, nicknamed Big Lady, was seen being dragged from the River Ivel in Bedfordshire by a marauding otter, which tore out its throat and partially ate it.

The record specimen weighed more than 20lbs and was believed to be the largest living barbel fish in UK waters.

Big Lady, Britain’s largest barbel fish being held by angler Dave Currell.

The fish has now been killed by an otter, who tore out its throat and partially ate it

Six other large coarse fish have also fallen victim to the otters, which are carnivourous and ferocious hunters, in the same stretch of river in the past three months.

Otters were only re-introduced back on to Britsh waterways in the 1980s after they were on the brink of extinction.

But as they have no natural predator, they are said to be booming in numbers and are picking off expensive, cumbersome fish like carp and barbel, putting fisheries and businesses in jeopardy.

Now, Graham Palmer, the secretary of the Ivel Protection Agency, is calling for fishery bailiffs to be allowed to humanely trap offending otters so they can be moved away from waters stocked with expensive fish.

Mr Palmer said: ‘We have lost our huge barbel, the Big Lady. One of our bailiffs saw it happen. The fish was dragged up the bank with its throat missing and eaten alive.

Anglers are now calling for a crackdown on ‘marauding otters’, who they say are picking off expensive barbel and carp, putting some fisheries out of business

‘Barbel are the most revered sporting fish. They are known as the Prince of the River and are sleek and have a reputation for being fighting machine.

‘In the last three months we have probably lost barbel over 14lbs. It is definitely down to otters.

‘We know they have been here before but we have coped with it but there is one that is almost a resident here and has acquired a taste for barbel.

‘They might have this image of being a nice, fluffy creature but they are also a sleek killing machine, a bit like mink.

‘There is a place for otters in our countryside but there is also no danger of them becoming extinct, they are everywhere in southern England.’

Several fisheries have gone out of business in recent years saying their fish stocks have been decimated by otter predation.

Mr Palmer added: ‘Organisations like Natural England can’t just wash their hands of this.

‘We don’t want people taking the law into their own hands and go around killing otters like a gamekeeper.

‘We need to be permitted to humanely catch otters in traps and be able to move them to different areas.’

In 2013, fishery owner Brian Dodson unsuccessfully tried to sue the Environment Agency after he lost £250,000 worth of fish to the furry mammals after an otter haven was set up nearby.

In recent years a prized 50lbs-plus carp worth about £8,000 was killed in an otter attack along with the country’s previous biggest barbel, known as The Traveller, which weighed a huge 21lbs.

Martin Salter, the campaigns officer for the Angling Trust, said the British waterways were now out-of-balance due to the booming population of otters.

He explained: ‘Otter predation is a serious issue, especially in small rivers where there are large but vulnerable fish like barbel.

‘The natural balance is out of kilter in some areas and the situation hasn’t been helped by ill-advised otter releases by well meaning but naive people.’

However, a spokeman for the Environment Agency defended otters, saying they help maintain a healthy eco-system.

 

The River Ivel in Bedfordshire, where Big Lady was killed by an otter. Anglers want ishery bailiffs to be allowed to humanely trap offending otters so they can be moved away from waters stocked with expensive fish

He said: ‘The Environment Agency does not see the return of the otter as a cause for alarm or a major threat to fish numbers.

‘If you look at rivers that never lost otters like in Scotland, they have healthy fish populations containing a good age range of fish. It has not resulted in fish being ‘wiped out.’

‘Large specimen fish tend to dominate rivers, which is not a healthy state for a river. You need diversity in age, not just big fish. This wouldn’t have occurred in the past when otters were more numerous and would have eaten some of the larger fish.

‘Specimen fish aren’t immortal. As much as anglers love to fish for large barbel, and even given them names, sooner or later they will die from disease, in a flood event or be eaten by an otter or other predator.

‘Otters also eat ‘pest’ species such as the signal crayfish, an invasive species that has caused a crash in numbers of our native white-clawed crayfish.’

Otters are one of the most protected animals in Europe. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is an offence to kill one or interfere with their habitat and is punishable by a £5,000 fine or six months in prison.

The first was caught just three days earlier, weighing 18lbs lighter on another of Phatcat’s 11-hour trips.

On Sunday, the group of six took it in turns to reel the shark in as it did its best to escape, 17 miles from shore.

Mr Thomas said: “I couldn’t believe it when I was told the shark was the biggest caught in Welsh waters.

“It certainly didn’t make it easy for me, taking over five hours to reel it in. I was really tired by the end but it was all worth it.

Thresher sharks are usually solitary creatures who keep themselves to themselves, and can be seen jumping out of the water like a dolphin.

Craig Deans, Phatcat Charters skipper, used a trusted formula of measuring the length and girth of the fish to calculate its weight to record the mammoth catch.

“It was a very unusual catch,” he said.

“Normally when you get a shark, it takes about two hours to reel it in. Its so rare. Its a big thing for a fisherman to catch one.

“It was definitely the best catch and the best day for me. We were all buzzing on the boat. We were like schoolkids. ”

Mr Deans said Mr Thomas had to let someone else take the reins on the catch after three and a half hours when he became too tired to carry on.

It was he, however, who managed to get the shark onboard in the end.

“It was very unusual to get one and we’ve had two in the same week,” Mr Deans said.

“You see one jumping out of the water now and then but in the angling world, to catch a shark, is a big thing. ”

The skipper, who has been fishing around England and Wales for 25 years, is expecting to see a lot more thresher sharks off the coast of Milford Haven, as commercial fishing of porbeagle sharks has been stopped.

“I just think these fish were getting culled as a by-product as well and it has made a lot of difference where they’ve stopped it,” he said.

“It’s been really good this season already.

“I’ve been shark fishing out there for two or three years now the fishing off Milford Haven is the best in Europe.

Phatcat has a strict catch and release policy when shark fishing to conserve stocks and to treat the animals with respect, so let the shark swim off after recording the find.

• How to survive a shark attack

Barb-free hooks and a special hook extraction tool ensure the release of the shark is as pain-free as possible.

“He was still full of beans when we got him on the boat,” Mr Deans added.

“There was no damage to the fish and as soon as we put it back in the water, he had plenty of life in him after that.

“It’s been a good week for Welsh anglers, with the record being broken and topped again in the space of three days.

“Wales really is becoming the hotspot for shark fishing, standing up to tough competition from other parts of Europe and this latest catch proves just that.”

If you want some advice on swim bait set up then there is a good thread on this forum

Swimbait setup

There is an extract below, it is based in the states but quite useful !

A swimbait is just another lure, the difference is it’s size and weight, few other fresh water bass lures weigh over 2 oz up to 10 oz. you can’t cast these heavy lures with small diameter line or short rods not designed to load up and launch a heavy lure with ease……

 

The IPT is the deal. You spool up with 20-25# mono diameter line, and at the start of your retrieve you’re pulling in say 14 inches per handle turn instead of the 24″ that your reel manufacturer stated. You get longer casts with a bigger spool too, if you like 40-50 yard casts. That said, apparently in Japan, they use 200 size reels but they also use lighter line. Much lighter, in fact. Shimano 300 size (or equivalent) for 15-20# diameter line, Shimano 400 size (or equivalent) for 25-30# diameter line should work well.

P.S. A Dobyns 867 and a Cardiff 401 spooled with 30# PF threw an 8″ weedless hudd pretty far today, definitely much farther than I think I can set that d**n thick gauge hook at.

Second Place for Cardiff Nomads

The long established match fishing team of Cardiff Nomads went to Oxford and came back having done themselves proud!

 

JOHN Taylor came out on top when the final round of the Oxford Summer League was fished on the Thames at Medley and Folly.

Taylor (Tubertini Ap-ollo) topped the pile with 20lb 6oz, having drawn the Perch bay on Medley.

He had around 8lb of roach, perch and hybrids on the pole and caster with the rest of his weight on the waggler with tares on the hook over hemp feed.

Alex Graham (ISIS) was second with 18.1.0 after two chub plus a net of roach on the pole and caster over groundbait and caster loose feed.

Chris Telling (16.10.0) came third ahead of Drennan Banbury Gunsmiths pair Tony Hobbs (14.10.0) and Geoff Lewendon (11.7.0).

TEAM RESULT 1 Drennan Banbury Gunsmiths Blue 33pts, 2= Drennan Banbury Gunsmiths Red Isis 32.

FINAL STANDINGS Team: 1 Drennan Red 170pts, 2 Drennan Blue 168, 3 Turners 146.

Individual: 1 T Hobbs (Drennan) 35pts.

Andy Wiffen triumphed in the tenth round of the FTB Oxford Carp League with 128lb at a very wet Boddingon Reservoir.

He caught plenty of carp to 10lb using a pellet feeder with a 11mm pellet hookbait.

Andy Benwell (FTB) was runner-up, catching 15 carp, including one which weighed 17lb using a pellet feeder at long range.

Result: 1 A Wiffen 128.0.0, 2 A Benwell (FTB) 121.0.0, 3 M Robinson 92.12.0.

Mark Ward bagged seven carp to win Marston AC’s match at Clattercote Reservoir, using method feeder and boilie to land 34.8.0.

Result: 1 M Ward 34.8.0, 2 G Bradshaw 21.8.0, 3 A Tomkins 20.8.0. Stuart Harrop (Turners) made the most of a end peg draw near Donkey Bridge to win the Abingdon Mayor’s Cup in very wet conditions on the Thames at Abingdon.

He caught 15.4.0 of roach and skimmers on caster over groundbait on the pole.

Result: 1 S Harrop 15.4.0, 2 M Martin (Cardiff Nomads 14.11.0, 3 P Glenfield (Drennan) 14.8.0.

Steve Malone won Tackley Sports Club’s match on the River Cherwell at Northbrook with 5lbs 15½oz, mainly of roach, on maggots and worm alternating pole and feeder.

Result: 1 S Malone 5.15.8, 2 J Fisher (Predator) 3.2.0, 3 I McCormack 2.1.0.

OTHER RESULTS
Oakfield (Wednesday, Red Kite and Swallow Lakes, 21 fished): 1 S Nicholls (Banbury Gunsmiths) 127.00.0, 2 A Phipps (Dynamite Oakfield) 97.14.8, 3 B Eddy (Dynamite Oakfield) 91.06.0.
Oakfield (Saturday, Red Kite and Swallow Lakes, 24 fished): 1 I Graham (JK Tackle) 176.01.8, 2 J Rogers (Frenzee GOT Baits) 170.01.8, 3 G Thorpe (GOT Baits) 115.05.0.
Oakfield (Sunday, Red Kite Lake, 15 fished): 1 G Thorpe (GOT Baits) 123.10.0, 2 N Bryan (The Bull) 93.14.8, 3 B Eddy (Dynamite Oakfield) 82.01.8.
Kidlington AS (Wayne Hagar Memorial Trophy, Cherwell at Branson’s Meadows, 12 fished): 1 A Middleton 3.05.0, 2 T Lester 2.07.8, 3 M Winstone 2.06.0.

FIXTURES
SUNDAY
Littlemore AS: Tony Perks Roach Cup, Sandford, draw 6am, fishing 7.45-12.45.
Beehive AC: Freight Shepherd Cup, Frobury, fishing 10-4.
Masons AC: Pimlico Farm, fishing 9-3.
Dorchester AS: BO Billy Biggs memorial, Wallingford Chalmore reach, fishing 8-1.
Oxford Waltonian: Holton Mill, draw 8, fishing, 9.30-2.30.
Marston AC: Club match v Sutton Courtenay, Culham, draw 8am, fishing 9-2.
Kidlington AS: Gaybourne Tankard, Oxford Canal, Highwayman, draw 6.30am at Kidlington Green Social Club.
Tackley Estate: Lower Court Farm. Draw pegs 7am. Fish 8am-1pm.

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Wales is the perfect location for an active short break, with an abundance of great golf courses, beautiful hills for cycling, coastal paths for walking and plenty of rivers and lakes for the keen angler.

Here are just a few examples of activity breaks from members of the Welsh Rarebits collection of hotels.

On Two Wheels

Many of the UK’s best cyclists are from Wales; Dave Brailsford, the mastermind behind the all-conquering British Cycling Team and Team Sky, was brought up near Caernarfon, Olympic track champion Geraint Thomas is from Cardiff and world champion Nicole Cooke is from the Vale of Glamorgan. Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa at Llanwddyn in mid Wales has a 12-mile cycle route around the large lake right on the doorstep – perfect for building up an appetite for a hearty meal in the restaurant, following a muscle relieving massage in the spa. Doubles from £144.

Walking Break to Llandrillo, Snowdonia, North Wales – from £250 pp

Michelin-starred ‘Restaurant with Rooms’ Tyddyn Llan near the village of Llandrillo in North Wales is located on the edge of Snowdonia National Park and is overlooked by the Berwyn Mountains. The hotel’s two-night walking break package costs from £250 per person (two sharing) which includes two nights’ dinner, bed and breakfast, one packed lunch, one afternoon tea and six walking guides with easy, moderate and strenuous walks to choose from, including a local favourite to the ‘Stone Circle’.

Gone Fishing

Hammet House is located on the banks of the world renowned river Teifi and has direct (and free) access to 300 yards of the river which is the longest that is wholly in Wales. The hotel is happy to store fishing gear and also has a very experienced local guide available, with equipment to hire too (you can expect to catch Salmon and Sea Trout). A two-night ‘Escape Lux’ break costs from £240 pp (two sharing) and includes a three-course fine-dining dinner on one night, a two course dinner on the second night from the house menu, chilled bottle of Prosecco on arrival, pre-dinner cocktails each night and breakfast on both mornings.

Fore!

Wales has almost 200 golf courses from challenging seaside links to scenic parkland courses and many are close to Welsh Rarebits hotels – some of which offer special packages. For example guests at Ty Mawr, a five bedroomed country house hotel near Carmarthen in west Wales, receive a £10 reduction on rounds at nearby Carmarthen Golf Club, reducing the price of a midweek round to £24.50 on weekdays and £29.50 at the weekend. Doubles from £115, BB.

For more ideas on active breaks in Wales and to find the perfect place to stay, visit rarebits.co.uk.