The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, UK

If you are going to Wales, staying at the Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales is highly recommended.

If you have no plans on going to Wales — you should consider going to the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales — then you will be in Wales and at a terrific resort hotel.

The Celtic Manor Resort is a destination onto itself — and if you time it right, you can stay at relatively cheap prices (about $120 a day midweek). Once there, you can tour nearby castles, explore ancient Roman woods, have all kinds of fun on the resort’s massive grounds, and take in the current culture of Wales.

The Celtic Manor Resort includes the Manor House — the house and then hotel from which the resort germinated. The Manor House is a historical building, as are the grounds that the Celtic Manor Resort is on.

1. Getting There

Wales is of course a country that is part of the United Kingdom, along with England and Scotland — most people get confused on this to this day, and it is controversial. Wales is on the main island of Great Britain. If you are traveling to South Wales, you are probably going to be flying into the main international airport in Cardiff, the largest city in Wales and its capital. Cardiff happens to be in the southeastern part of Wales, aka South Wales.

From Cardiff you can take a 1-hour drive north to Newport, where the Celtic Manor Resort is.

If you are in Bristol, UK — like I was in 2007 — you can take the M4 West, and go over the Prince of Wales Bridge to enter Wales. You pass the Caldicot Castle in Caldicot, Wales, and continue West for just about 10 miles until you get to the Celtic Manor Resort — which is in the suburbs of Newport.

The Prince of Wales Bridge is a suspension design bridge that gets you over the River Severn.

2. Learn the Story of the Resort & Historic Manor House

There are several buildings on the grounds of the resort, and several magnificent golf courses. In fact, according to its literature, the resort consists of 4 hotels, a country inn, luxury lodges, 2 spas, 6 restaurants, 3 (three) championship golf courses, 2 golf-and-country clubhouses, high ropes courses, adventure golf, laser tag, archery and a big convention center.

History of the House

The resort has its own wikipedia page. In short:

• The resort germinated from The Manor House, a mansion built in 1860 by coal baron Thomas Powell. He gave the house as a wedding gift to his son, Thomas Powell Jr, and his bride Julia Jenkins. But they and their son were — get this — all murdered on a trip to Abyssinia, Italy in 1869!
• The house was rented for many years then sold to John Beynon, a coal and shipping businessman — who added a new wing.
• In 1930, Beynon donated the mansion to the local health authority, who made it into a hospital — named the Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital after Beynon’s mother.
• Over 60,000 babies were born there before the hospital was closed in 1975.
• Terry Matthews — who was born in the hospital — bought the mansion in 1980 and thus began its current run as a hotel and golf-based resort.
• The original Manor House was renamed to the Celtic Manor Hotel. It had 17 bedrooms. A 3-story, 70-bedroom extension was added in the 1990’s.

• Two 18-hole golf courses were built in the 1990’s — the Roman Road course (named after the nearby historical road connecting the former Roman fortress of Caerleon with the town of Caerwent) and the Coldra Woods golf course.
• A 400-bedroom Resort Hotel was also built in the 1990’s, and the original Manor Hotel was renamed the Manor House so as not to confuse people.

• In 2001, the resort won the bid to host the 2010 Ryder Cup, and so it built The Twenty Ten Course for the event, designed by Ross McMurray. As part of the course, The Twenty Ten Bridge was built to link the practice ground to the golf course across the River Usk.

3. Enjoy the Room

You can stay at the old Manor House, or you can stay at the Resort Hotel (built in the 1990’s). I stayed at the Manor House — and it was amazing. I had a Presidential Suite — paid for by the company as I was there to give a presentation at a software conference.

Here is a video of me showing you my room (and suite). I felt the need to be quiet as it was 7am:

Here are pictures of my room — which was actually a multi-room suite — room 820 — on the 8th floor.

This picture below is blurry but I post it to give you a feel for the magazines that are provided — more on them below.

Magazines provided:

• Presence
• The European Tour Yearbook 2007 — featuring the Ryder Cup
• Great Castles & Historic Attractions in Wales

That was just half of my suite in 2007 — see the video for the full suite. The decor of my suite looks similar to a Presidential Suite — here is a picture from the hotel:

There are other decors in the rooms, and the hotel has probably regularly renovated the rooms over the past 15 years since my stay:

Here’s another style:

4. Enjoy the Lobby & Have Fun on the Grounds

The lobby is beautiful and a fun place to hang out during the day or the evening over cocktails. Here is the hotel’s picture of it from their website:

Have Fun on the Panoramic, Rustic Grounds

The key to your room is provided in a little miniature pamphlet that is chock full of information. One of the pages tells you of the activities you can do on site:

According to the resort’s pamphlet, it “boasts 1,400 acres of panoramic parkland, adjoining 23,000 acres of unspoilt countryside. Outdoor activities include tennis, mountain biking on woodland trails for walks, a gentle jog or a five-mile run.

Archery, quad biking, 4-wheel drive, laser clays, and military vehicles are available for groups by prior arrangements. Clay pigeon shooting, fishing, horse riding, hang gliding, canoeing, white water rafting, caving, rock climbing and sailing are all within each reach.”

While I was there in 2007, the hotel had a Formula 1 car in its lobby:

The conference center housed the yearly NATO conference in 2014.

4. Explore Nearby Castles

While at the hotel, you can explore the nearby Caldicot Castle — less than 10 miles away to the East as mentioned at the top of this article. I mean this is a castle’s castle.

5. Golf

The resort is based on golf — with its 3 golf courses including the one that housed the Ryder Cup in 2010. Here is the view from my hotel room:

Again the 3 golf courses are:

• The Roman Road Golf Course.
• The Coldra Woods Golf Course.
• The Twenty Ten Course — where the 2010 Ryder Cup was played.

7. Stay for Cheap

The hotel can run between $120 a night to over $300 a night depending on when you stay. You should take a look at the extended forecast on a booking site like Expedia, or on the hotel’s own website — before planning your stay. Just look at the per-night variances as of this writing:

The resort has a twitter (x) account, here: https://x.com/TheCelticManor

Please Provide Your Feedback and Comments

If you have been to the Celtic Manor Resort, or to Wales, or have feedback on our article, please post below.