Meandering it’s way through the Herefordshire countryside is the River Wye.

Between the towns of Monmouth and Ross on Wye, the river turns almost back on itself and the scenery changes from one of open flood plains to a steep sided gorge.

The open fields are also replaced by heavily wooded areas.

It’s here that you will find the town of Symonds Yat.

The town is actually separated by the River into Symonds Yat West and Symonds Yat East. However, the river is easily crossed by a hand rope ferry (pictured above).

The town is a beauty spot, in the summer it’s filled with vibrantly coloured hanging baskets, in autumn the tree become yellow, orange and red in colour and in the winter the river that has shaped the area can become frozen and surrounded by snow capped trees.

There are two excellent ways of viewing Symonds Yat. The first is from Symonds Rock, a high limestone outcrop which rises to around 500 feet above sea level. As well as providing a great view, you may also be able to spot one of the Peregrine Falcons that live around the rock. 

The other way of seeing Symonds Yat is to take a cruise in one of the highly decorated barges.

The Kingfisher River Cruise company
http://www.fweb.org.uk/kingfisher provides trips up and down the river which last for approximately half an hour.

For those of you with a sense of adventure, then hire a canoe from the Wydean Canoe & Adventure Centre
http://www.wyedean.co.uk and take a trip down the River Wye under your own steam.

Of course, you can also take in the scenery using one of the many footpaths or cycle paths in the immediate area. 

Eating In Symonds Yat East

Symonds Yat East offers several eateries. We chose to eat at The Royal Hotel & Rapids Bar,
http://www.royalhotel-symondsyat.com. Ideally situated next to the River, the hotel provides not only food and beverages, but also a place to stay.

On a fine summer’s day, the mature garden is a picture of colour which we accompanied with a jug of ice cold sangria. All of the sandwiches and baguettes are accompanied by a side salad and beetroot and parsnip crisps – which we all enjoyed. One of our party had a feta cheese salad – it was enormous and delicious looking, and the recipient remarked that it tasted as good as it looked!!.

We were also tempted by the tapas menu on offer – tiger prawns, mussels, squid, garlic olive and tomato dishes were all on offer for £3.50 a dish, which seems excellent value.

We all remarked how if the day had been a cold wintery one, we would have loved to have spent a lazy lunch near the fireside tucking into Sunday lunch. 

Symonds Yat has a lot of activates located in a very small area, and its proximity to the M50 means that it’s an ideal weekend getaway destination.

Likes

* Good access by bike, foot or cannoe!
* Reasonable pay'n'display car park
* Good selection of places to eat, drink and stay
* Picturesque setting
* Rare wildlife

Dislikes

* Very narrow & steep roads! Don't bring your caravan :-)