North Wales on a plate: The best local produce and the boltholes made for cooking it

One of the great pleasures of a North Wales escape is how easily the landscape ends up on your plate.

The waters around Anglesey supply exceptional seafood, small farms grow fruit and vegetables full of flavour, and local producers create everything from craft beer to golden toffee spirits. Spend a morning exploring farm shops and fishmongers, and you’ll quickly find yourself carrying bags of ingredients that deserve more than a quick supper.

Luckily, many of our boltholes are made exactly for that moment: kitchens built for cooking properly, terraces that turn dinner into an occasion, and views that make lingering at the table irresistible.

Here are a few of our favourite places to gather the best local produce, and the boltholes we’d head back to with it.

Sustainable seafood from the Menai Strait, and supper overlooking the water

The Menai Strait is one of the most fascinating stretches of water in Britain. Fast tidal currents surge between Anglesey and the mainland, creating a rich marine environment that produces exceptional seafood.

That’s exactly what you’ll find at Menai Seafood Company, specialists in responsibly sourced fish and shellfish, much of it landed along the Welsh coast. Founded by marine biologists and passionate seafood lovers, their approach is refreshingly thoughtful, working closely with fishermen they know personally and encouraging customers to embrace whatever the day’s catch happens to bring.

It means you might leave with plump mussels, freshly landed fish or scallops ready for the pan. The sort of ingredients that don’t need much doing to them, just good company and a kitchen with a view.

Which is precisely why we’d head straight back to Glan y Môr Menai.

Perched on the waterside along Beach Road in Menai Bridge, the house is designed to make the most of its position on the strait. The open-plan kitchen and living space stretches along the length of the house, with bi-fold doors opening onto a raised deck so the water is never out of sight. It’s the kind of kitchen where cooking becomes a shared affair – someone prepping fish, someone pouring wine, someone else leaning on the island watching the boats go by.

And the view is endlessly entertaining with yachts, kayakers and powerboats all navigating the famously strong tides of the strait, while the water is constantly shifting colour with the light. Throw open the doors, cook something simple and fresh, and settle in for a long evening watching the tide roll through.

A family fishmonger and a cottage within castle walls

If you find yourself along the north coast, Mermaid Seafoods in Llandudno is well worth a stop. The business has been part of the local seafood scene since 1970, when Malcolm and Mary Wright moved from their village shop to Conwy before later opening Mermaid Seafoods itself.

Today the third generation runs the business, and their fish counter has grown into one of the largest in North Wales. The selection is broad. Fresh, frozen, smoked and prepared seafood alongside meat and other local produce, which makes it dangerously easy to plan a very good supper.

With something fresh tucked under your arm, we’d head just down the road to Cockleshell Cottage in Conwy.

Tucked just inside the famous 800-year-old town walls, this cottage feels like a hidden pocket of calm within one of North Wales’ most atmospheric towns. Inside, the space is light and thoughtfully put together, traditional touches like the stone inglenook fireplace and wooden dining table balanced by a modern kitchen that’s perfectly set up for cooking.

After a wander through Conwy’s narrow streets or along the harbour, it’s easy to imagine returning here with fresh fish ready for the pan. Open a bottle, cook something simple, and if the evening is warm step outside to the tiny courtyard for a pre-dinner G&T. Later, the balcony off the bunk room offers a completely different perspective: views across the castle walls and out towards Conwy Bay. Not a bad place to sit with a glass of wine while the town settles down for the night.

Anglesey farm produce and a cottage steeped in artistic history

For something grown a little closer to the soil, Hooton’s Homegrown is one of Anglesey’s best-loved farm shops.

Still family-run, the farm has evolved over decades from growing potatoes and cereals into a thriving farm shop and pick-your-own operation producing fruit, vegetables and meat directly from the land around it. Their ethos is simple: food metres, not miles. Much of what you’ll find has been grown or raised on the farm itself, which makes the flavours that bit fresher and more satisfying.

In summer the pick-your-own fields add to the experience: strawberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants ready to harvest straight from the plants.

The perfect place to take that produce back to is Min y Môr Menai. Set right on the water where the Afon Braint meets the Menai Strait, this Grade II listed cottage has one of the most evocative histories of any bolthole. It once served ferry passengers crossing the strait before the bridges were built and later became the long-time home and studio of Sir Kyffin Williams, one of Wales’ most celebrated artists.

Inside, the house remains warm and welcoming rather than grand. The dining kitchen is ideal for cooking something simple from the farm shop, fresh vegetables roasted in the oven, local meat on the stove, while outside the terrace looks straight over the strait. On sunny days it’s hard to resist carrying dinner outdoors. The view stretches across the water towards the mountains of Snowdonia, the same scene that inspired Kyffin Williams’ paintings for decades. Sit there long enough and you may well feel tempted to pick up a sketchbook yourself.

Local spirits, craft beer and a garden made for long evenings

The Llŷn Peninsula has become a hub for small, passionate producers, and two local favourites make a good excuse to stock up before heading back to your bolthole.

Toffoc, a golden toffee-flavoured spirit, was created after years of experimentation to find the perfect balance: not too sweet, not too heavy, and just strong enough to sip slowly. You’ll often find it stocked at Gwin Llŷn Wines, alongside an excellent selection of bottles from Wales and beyond.

Not far away in Nefyn, Cwrw Llŷn produces small-batch beers inspired by the landscapes around them. Founded by a group of friends over a conversation and a pint, the brewery still works on a relatively small scale, crafting characterful ales that reflect the peninsula’s relaxed, sociable spirit.

With bottles gathered from both, we’d make our way back to Tyddyn Llwydyn.

This beautifully restored farmhouse sits in fifteen acres of gardens, meadows and woodland, giving everyone space to spread out while the evening unfolds. The kitchen is the heart of the house: a dramatic double-height room with exposed beams and, of course, an Aga at its centre. There’s room for serious cooking here, but also plenty of space for friends and family to gather around the island with drinks while supper takes shape.

And once the food is done, the house really comes into its own. Carry glasses out into the gardens, wander through the orchard or settle into the outdoor kitchen and entertaining space as the light fades.

It’s the sort of place where an evening begins with good local ingredients, and ends with everyone still around the table long after the plates have been cleared.