Usk Valley, Abergavenny - travel review

Our final glimpse of the Celtic Manor was looking over the luxurious green of the 18th hole of the Twenty Ten Course from the clubhouse.

The beautifully manicured course was the legacy of when Celtic Manor, just outside Newport in the Usk Valley, was home to the Ryder Cup in 2010 – this was also the first time the event was held in Wales.

The weekend had been action-packed with plenty of fun and adventure and we couldn't have timed our visit any better – it was the weekend of the 2016 Ryder Cup.

Surrounded by the heavenly green courses we were more or less on our own little island at the resort.

We were staying at a suite at the five-star resort hotel which has 330 rooms.

Classy and luxurious, the suite had a separate living room, dining room and balcony overlooking the beautiful countryside.

The Celtic Manor Resort caters for every type of golfer. It has three championship courses, The Twenty Ten, Roman Road and The Montgomerie, plus a state of the art Golf Academy and two luxury clubhouses.

For the less serious golfer there are the adventure golf courses – Kingdom of Legends, where we experienced some of the most famous holes in golf in miniature including St Andrews, Augusta and our very own Belfry and also Celtic Challenge, where you could even float on a raft to the next hole!

About 15 minutes from the resort, there is Caerleon Golf Club, more suited to beginners like ourselves. Here you can try your hand at the nine-hole short golf course.

Our visit to Caerleon gave us the opportunity to try out the skills we had learned during a lesson at the academy.

Let's just say that all three of us have a long way to go to be anywhere near Ryder Cup standard. But, we were in the capable hands of our coach PGA professional Anthony Chalenor for a lesson at the golf academy.

We are pretty new to the game, but Anthony quickly focused on how we could improve during a one-hour lesson on the two-tier driving range.

Yes, Celtic Manor is all about golf but there is so much more to explore.

We climbed and leapt across a number of obstacles on the Low Ropes Adventure at Forest Jump.

For the braver visitors there's the high ropes adventure, which has 29 testing elements.

There weren't enough hours in the day for us to try the shooting activities – Laser Clays, Archery and Crossbow and Laser Combat.

But, when the weather wasn't too bright we whiled away the hours in The Forum swimming pool. There is also another pool at Dylans Health Club.

I even managed to break away from the family fun and enjoy some 'me' time – I had a sensational 50-minute Forum Signature Massage, which eased away the stresses with the massage using classic Swedish techniques.

I left the boys watching the Ryder Cup and exploring while I was being pampered – I don't think they even noticed that I had gone.

For our whole weekend we didn't venture off the resort, either wandering along to our next adventure or catching a shuttle bus to our next stop.

Lunch was at Merlin's Bar, where we sat on the comfy cosy sofas to watch the Ryder Cup and tucked into quesadillas, smoked salmon sandwiches and a burger and breakfast in the Olive Tree.

The evening was something else – we were taken to the Newbridge on Usk through windy lanes and past Hunter's Lodges, which is luxurious self-catering accommodation.

This 200-year-old inn has a wonderful cosy atmosphere and the food was the best I have had in a very long time.

Star of the show was the Newbridge Local Fish Market Platter, which we shared between the three of us as a starter.

Brixham scallops baked in the shell with garlic butter, mussels cooked in Taffy apple cider, jar of potted salmon and more.

The platter was absolutely delicious. Main courses were slow cooked Celtic pride pork belly, roasted Anjou Squab pigeon and 10oz British sirloin steak. Desserts were Lemon and my husband had Raspberry, Vanilla, Almond and Violet.

The meal at this AA rosette restaurant was spot-on from beginning to end. Our son had a mocktail Red Dragon, mixed from pineapple, apple juice and grenadine – it was gorgeous.

The whole weekend was packed with fun. I had thought Celtic Manor was just about golf, but there is so much more to the adventure. Perhaps one day we will get to the Twenty Ten course!

By Lisa Bailey