Wales in the rain - a playground in a church and the longest place name

What is the longest place name in Britain? Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It has 58 letters, and the village is on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. We went to see it in August 2019, on a rainy day that started at a playground inside an old church and ended in a very different place than we had planned.

The day before, we visited the magical Puzzlewood forest (Puzzlewood with kids). The plan of the whole trip is in our post UK road trip with kids.

Barcdy campsite in Snowdonia

We reached Wales in the evening, after 216 km of winding local roads from the Forest of Dean. We stayed at Barcdy Touring Caravan and Camping Park in Talsarnau near Harlech, on the edge of Snowdonia National Park.

As soon as you enter Wales, you can see it is a different country. Place names on the signs are in two languages, Welsh and English, a bit like in the Kashubia region in Poland. The words painted in white on the road are in both languages too, for example ARAF, which means SLOW, before bends.

The campsite is on a green hillside, among old trees and Welsh stone walls. One tree had grown its roots into such a wall, and it quickly became the kids' favourite climbing spot. We took some lovely photos there.

A playground in a church in Caernarfon

In the morning it was raining, and the weather changed our plans for Snowdonia. So we looked for something indoors and found The Fun Centre (Yr Hwylfan) in Caernarfon. It is hard to believe, but it is an indoor playground inside an old church.

From the outside it looks like an ordinary stone Gothic-style church with a tower. Inside there are tall slides, tubes, ball pools, ropes and a dark maze. The kids took turns on the slides, and the parents joined in too.

Why is there a playground in a church?

Christ Church opened in 1864. It was designed by the London architect Anthony Salvin, and services there were held in English. The church closed in 1982, and in 1999 the playground opened inside. Some of the old features are still there, for example the cast iron screen in front of the altar area.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll: the longest place name in Britain

From Caernarfon it is only 13 km over the bridge across the Menai Strait to the island of Anglesey. Llanfairpwllgwyngyll turned out to be one of the most interesting places on the whole trip. It is an ordinary Welsh village, but tourists come here just to see its name.

Why is the name so long?

The full name has 58 letters and means roughly "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel, near the fierce whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio by the red cave". For centuries the village was simply called Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll. The long version was made up in the 1860s, when the railway came to Anglesey. Local stories say a tailor or a shoemaker from nearby Menai Bridge invented it, and the idea was simple: the station would have the longest name in Britain and bring in tourists. It was an early marketing trick, and it still works today. Local people usually just say Llanfairpwll or Llanfair PG.

It is the longest place name in Britain and the longest official one-word place name in Europe. Elsewhere in the world there are longer ones, for example the Taumata hill in New Zealand, whose name has 85 letters.

A photo on the platform

First we went to the railway station. On the platform there is a long sign with the full name, and under it a tip on how to say it in English. We took a family photo next to it, and the kids tried to read the name out loud. The hardest part is the Welsh "ll", which sounds like a soft hiss from the side of your tongue.

It is still a working station on the line from Crewe to Holyhead, and trains still stop here. The platforms are very short, though, only about 37 metres long.

The shop with the name on the front

The most famous sign is right next door, on the big James Pringle Weavers shop. The full name runs across the whole front of the building and only just fits. We took another photo here. Inside there are clothes, wool jumpers and souvenirs, and there is free parking by the shop and the station. You can also buy a souvenir platform ticket with the full station name in the shop.

What else is there in Llanfair PG?

In 1915 the first Women's Institute in Britain met in this village. Above the village stands the 27-metre Marquess of Anglesey's Column, with 115 steps up to a viewing platform over the Menai Strait. It was closed in 2019, but it reopened after repairs in 2024. A few kilometres away, right on the strait, is Plas Newydd, a house with a garden and a playground. It belongs to the National Trust.

Adventure Basecamp Wales: the campsite that was not there

We had booked the next night on pitchup.com at Adventure Basecamp Wales in Cerrig-y-Drudion, about 60 km away. When we arrived, it turned out to be a go-kart track, and the campsite was a piece of grass outside the fence, right next to the road.

There were no showers, no drinking water and no electricity. The toilet was going to be open for only 15 more minutes, because the place was closing. With a campervan you could probably stay there, but with a tent and kids who love to run around, we needed a real campsite. We decided not to stay and asked for our money back.

We got the refund a few days later, but only after we made a complaint through pitchup.com.

Henstent Park: a last-minute campsite

We quickly looked for another place and found one: beautiful Henstent Park in Llangynog, 40 km away, in the Tanat valley at the foot of the Berwyn Mountains. The road went through fields full of sheep.

The campsite is by a river, surrounded by green. The kids found a snail in the grass and spent a long time wondering what kind of animal it was. The only minus: no phone signal at all. But that is not always a bad thing.

The next day we drove to England, to the Lake District (Ullswater and Aira Force with kids).

Practical info

We checked prices and opening times in November 2026.

The Fun Centre in Caernarfon

• Address: the former Christ Church on Bangor Street in Caernarfon, North Wales.
• Inside there are slides, ball pools, ropes, a maze, a separate area for under-5s and a restaurant.
• A good idea for a rainy day in Snowdonia. Check opening hours and prices on the centre's website before you go.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

• The village is on Anglesey, on the Menai Strait, not far from Caernarfon.
• The sign with the full name is on the station platform, and the most famous one is on the James Pringle Weavers shop next door. There is free parking by the shop and the station.
• Trains on the Crewe - Holyhead line still stop here, but not often, so it is easier to come by car.
• Marquess of Anglesey's Column: £6.50 adults, £4 children, £18 family ticket (2+3), under-5s free. Open on Tuesdays 10:00-12:00 and on Saturdays and Sundays 10:00-15:00. In 2019 the column was closed, but today you can climb it again.
• Plas Newydd (National Trust): £14 adults, £7 children aged 5-17, £35 family ticket, free parking.

Booking a campsite online

• If you have a tent, check in the description that there are toilets, showers, water and electricity, and read reviews to make sure it is a real campsite.
• If the place does not match the description, complain straight away through the website you paid on. Pitchup.com gave us our money back after a few days.
• Phone signal can be weak in the Welsh mountains, so check your next place to stay while you still have internet.