There’s a stylish addition to the market town of Aberteifi, or Cardigan, in west Wales from the Tucker family who own nearby Fforest Farm — upmarket glamping for hipster families. The Albion, which is set over two listed former warehouses by the water, has a Japanese-Scandinavian style and a focus on recycled materials. Pretty much everything has been reclaimed — seats and cupboards are from local schools and churches, wooden floor from French railways. In order to protect and expose the original brickwork, an iron skeleton has been erected inside the historic building and its maritime history is written on the lime-washed walls. Look close enough and you’ll spot original sketches and calculations of shipwrights in the 1800s.
Overall score 8/10
Main photo: preparing drinks at the Albion (Heather Birnie)
Rooms and suites
Score 8/10
Cosy and low-ceilinged, the 12 bedrooms feel like ship cabins. Bedrooms are adorned with Welsh woollen blankets, chandeliers, brass light fittings and Aesop smellies in the bathroom. Glass doors open to en suite bathrooms that aren’t as private as they might first appear. Blissfully there is no TV to distract from the sounds of the river, which is just outside the hotel and which every bedroom overlooks. Through windows, you can spy kayakers and geese flying low over the water.
Food and drink
Score 8/10
A bar on the ground floor is where you can order an Albion Collins — featuring local gin and heather mead — and ales from the Mantle brewery. Breakfast, served in the dining room on the first floor, is full Scandi with artisan bread, cheese and pickled herring. For dinner, head opposite to the family’s restaurant, Pizzatipi, a pizza joint that is a magnet for families and young people. Expect cocktails, arancini starters and wood-fired pizzas including the Maritime, which comes with anchovies, capers, onions, olives and no cheese.
What else is there?
Score 3/10
A former lobster fisherman, Dai Crabs, runs boat trips from opposite the hotel to the mouth of the estuary and shares tales of the river along the way (£15 for adults and £5 for kids over the age of five).
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Where is it?
Score 9/10
Central Cardigan in the west of Wales, overlooking the River Teifi. The 200-acre Fforest Farm is half an hour walk away and a funky beach bar serving amazing fried chicken burgers and oysters, the Boy Ashore, is in the nearby village of Aberporth. Ceredigion is the county along from Pembrokeshire and shares the spectacular coastline, with even fewer people on its glorious beaches.
Price B&B doubles from £145
Restaurant Mains at Pizzatipi from £7
Family-friendly N
Dog-friendly N
Accessible N
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