Bryn Edwards left Kidwelly in Wales around a decade ago to start a new life in Sydney, Australia, and says there are two major reasons he would not consider moving back
Bryn Edwards in Sydney(Image: Bryn Edwards)
A Welsh man has revealed two key reasons why he has no plans to return to his former home in Kidwelly after moving to Australia a decade ago. Bryn Edwards was keen to experience life on the other side of the globe after the Global Financial Crisis left the UK feeling “quite depressing”.
He originally travelled on a working holiday visa, but ultimately chose not to return home after establishing his own company, Edwards Carpentry Renovations, and settling down with his young family in Sydney.
Speaking about what drew him to Australia specifically, Bryn explained: “Initially, when I left, it was only meant to be for a year. I found the UK quite depressing after the Global Financial Crisis and the weather was getting to me, so thought a year in sunny Australia would be great.”
Two advantages of Australia
Bryn was far from let down when he touched down in Oz and has since discovered two major benefits, the first being the climate.
He says the balmy weather enables him to embrace an “outdoor lifestyle” and indulge his love of sport throughout the year, even signing up to the Tech Waratah Rugby Club after playing frequently in Wales.
Australia is renowned for its year-round sunshine, with temperatures exceeding 20C during most months.
While he favours the sought-after sun-drenched Australian way of life, which draws thousands of British expats, his hectic schedule means he believes his work-life balance was marginally superior in Wales. He said: “I would say that I used to have a better work-life balance, but now I have my own business I probably work a little too much.”
And this is where the second advantage becomes apparent. Bryn notes “pay over here for trades is a lot better, with more disposable income compared to the UK, where I felt it was barely covering my bills”.
Never returning
When questioned whether he’d contemplate returning to Wales, the father-of-two confessed that the freezing winters and living costs in the UK would discourage him.
He disclosed: “I don’t think I would [move back]. I have a family over here, nice house, and a business. I also don’t think I could deal with the winters anymore.”
Nevertheless, he still “misses his family and friends from back home”, and occasionally experiences nostalgia for “the cold nights, but not very often”.
Bryn also wishes he’d seized the chance to travel more while residing in the UK, as Australia is isolated from other nations by vast stretches of ocean, rendering overseas holidays far more lengthy.
Describing the “distance” as the main drawback to living in Oz, Bryn remarked: “The [downside] is the distance to the UK, also the distance to everywhere else. I wish I had travelled around Europe more when I lived in the UK – it was very accessible.”
Wales’ skillset and depth of the player pool remain up for debate.
Interim attack coach Ashley Beck said: “If the skill level isn’t as good as it should be, it doesn’t matter what shapes you play.
“If we want to play an exciting brand of rugby and compete against the best, the skill development needs to be better.”
Beck’s view was echoed by former Wales fly-half James Hook who was among the Scrum V pundits on Sunday. He also questioned whether Wales’ players are putting in the extras to improve as individuals.
“Whether it’s working on your kicking for an hour a day, your throwing, your passing, your tackling – are these players doing that? I don’t know,” said Hook.
“From my experience, once the team session is finished, your individual job still needs to continue.”
Wales’ strength in depth was also discussed on the panel, with Wales clearly in need of some reinforcement at fly-half.
Lillicrap said: “People have been calling out Lleucu George saying it needs to change there, but ultimately who comes in? If you take her off the field what other tens have you got?”
“As a fly-half on an international stage, you’ve got to run this team, you can’t throw a youngster into that lion’s den.”
What next for Jordan James? The midfielder was the brightest spark in an awful year for Leicester City, where he cleaned up at the end-of-season awards.
Still only 21, James is due to return to French club Rennes following his year-long loan spell with the Foxes but there are suggestions that another move to English football is likely.
James’ contribution at Leicester suggests he would be an asset for any Championship club – while he may have earned a shot at the Premier League.
Ethan Ampadu is already shining at the highest level having enjoyed a fine season with Leeds, where he is under contract until the summer of 2027.
It has been reported that while the club have an option to extend the deal by 12 months, they are keen to tie Ampadu to a new longer-term deal to ward off any potential suitors.
There are other less prominent Wales players whose futures will also be on the agenda this summer, with Swansea City boss Vitor Matos revealing he will have a conversation with Ollie Cooper.
Kai Andrews, meanwhile, may not be expecting much of an opportunity at Coventry City next season following their promotion to the top division.
The teenager has spent the second half of 2025-26 on loan with Hibernian but has struggled for regular game-time with the Scottish Premiership club.
Fellow youngster Charlie Crew, of Leeds, is another player who could be looking for another move after his season-long loan spell at Doncaster Rovers was cut short.
Holiday park’s across the UK have been ranked by the best for child-friendliness and the top 10 showcases sites with incredible facilities from outdoor heated pools to highly rated kids’ club
15:47, 13 May 2026Updated 15:48, 13 May 2026
Many sites on the top 10 list have swimming pools for families(Image: pitchup)
Fresh rankings have unveiled the top family campsites across the UK, and their locations hidden in the most peaceful corners of the countryside make them a tempting treat.
As more families ditch overseas holidays in favour of budget-friendly breaks closer to home, outdoor getaways have surged in popularity. But with young children in mind, not just any campsite will do — parents often seek out sites with top-notch facilities and plenty of entertainment to make the trip that little bit smoother.
A standout site in Pembrokeshire has been crowned Britain’s finest, according to new data from Pitchup.com, which analysed nearly 200,000 verified customer reviews to compile its top ten list.
The rankings reveal that the highest-scoring site for ‘child-friendliness’ is Trefach Holiday Park in Mynachlog-ddu, Clunderwen, Pembrokeshire, which earned an impressive 9.3/10 from guest reviews.
One delighted visitor wrote: “I was recommended this site by a friend and we were not disappointed. It has a heated pool which we all thoroughly enjoyed on our stay. Fantastic food there. The whole site was so clean and tidy, and it was a very peaceful site. I would highly recommend it, and we will definitely be returning next year for a stay.”
What sets the park apart as a premier destination is its outdoor heated pool, where parents can unwind on the terrace with a cold drink while watching the kids splash about. For those looking to keep little ones occupied, there is also a highly regarded kids’ club alongside a wealth of entertainment facilities, including a play area and games room.
Also featuring on the list of the UK’s finest family-friendly campsites is Jubilee Camping in Hampshire at number two, and Panoramic Camping and Glamping in Swansea at number three. The Swansea site is a peaceful, rural retreat just a 10-minute stroll from a local pub, offering a back-to-basics camping experience. It also features its own bar and pizza oven on site.
Another standout, on the other end of the UK to the winners, is Riverside Holiday Village in Somerset at number 10, with a score of 8.7 for its child-friendliness.
The campsite is beloved for its tranquil setting along the river’s bend in Bleadon, and its convenient location, set a mere 10 minute drive from the bustling seaside town of Weston-super-Mare. Another being the huge amount of fun and entertainment for children with a games arcade and a heated indoor swimming pool on site.
It’s evident that the UK is brimming with outstanding camping destinations, with family-friendly sites spanning the length and breadth of the country — from Somerset and Devon to Swansea, Cheshire and Wiltshire.
Dan Yates, founder of Pitchup.com, said: “Camping and glamping holidays continue to be a popular choice for families looking to spend quality time together outdoors, particularly as more people seek flexible and affordable UK breaks. The sites featured in these rankings stood out for creating welcoming, family-friendly experiences that give children the freedom to explore while helping parents relax and unwind.
“We’re seeing families place increasing value on outdoor space, nature and simple shared experiences, whether that’s wildlife watching, campfires or easy access to beaches and walking routes. The variety of sites featured across the UK also shows there’s strong demand for family-friendly stays in every corner of Great Britain.”
Beer lovers prayers have been answered as this Coach firm has just launched a 250-mile-long pub crawl starting early at 9:15am from Dolgellau and taking in many famous Spoons along the way
The 12-hour ‘Spoons Pilgrimage’ will pull up at six pubs(Image: WALES NEWS SERVICE)
Nobody loves an organised pub crawl more than the Brits – but this one may have just topped them all.
While some make pilgrimages to a significant place or worship or set out on a journey to deepen their spirituality, this particular tour will have travellers doing less thinking and more drinking.
Lloyd’s Coaches has launched the ultimate ‘Spoons Pilgrimage’, a 250-mile round journey visiting a whole load of JD Wetherspoon pubs throughout North Wales, and venturing slightly beyond the border as well. The route begins and ends in Dolgellau.
It’s such a brilliant idea that other travel companies are likely kicking themselves, wondering why they didn’t come up with the scheme first. Yet the concept is pretty simple.
For the very reasonable price of just £20, not including any drinks bought along the way, passengers can embark on a day trip like no other.
Departing nice and early from Dolgellau, Wales at 9.15am, the coach will head towards the inaugural Spoons in Oswestry, known as the Wilfred Owen. It’s expected that the coach arrives at noon, with attendees given a 45-minute stop to knock back a pint or two.
Then it’s time to get back on board and head on towards The Castle Hotel in Ruthin, under an hour’s drive away. Here they’ll have another 45-minute stop, before carrying on to The Picture House in Colwyn Bay, a further 45-minute drive.
It’s shaping up to be a long day on the road already, but fortunately, it’s a shorter drive this time around to the Palladium in Llandudno: the most impressive of all the establishments on the route. At this point, six county boundaries have been crossed, but there’s still plenty more to go.
Perhaps feeling a little bit giddy from all of the drinking thus far, punters will head to Tafarn y Porth in Caernarfon, then Pen Cob in Pwllheli for 7.30pm, for the final drinking stop.
Lloyds Coaches announced in a statement: “Ready for a legendary day out without the ‘who’s driving?’ debate. Grab your mates and hop aboard for the Lloyds Coaches Wetherspoons Tour. We’re hitting some of the most iconic pubs across North Wales and the border. Whether you’re in it for the affordable ales, the legendary breakfasts, or just to check the carpet patterns, this is the trip for you!”
The never-before-seen Wetherspoons Tour is set to be held on Saturday, June 27, and with the initial Facebook post gaining so much traction, who knows, it could go on to be a regular event.
Full of excitement, the travel firm later added: “We’re filling up faster than a pint of Ruddles on a Tuesday. At this rate, we’re seriously asking ourselves: ‘Do we need to add another coach’.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Lloyds Coaches added a second coach on the same day, after the first sold out.
Before the docuseries’ new season debuts, it is already known the club has fallen short of getting promoted to the Premier League, but the show is about much more.
France and England will battle it out for the Six Nations title in the final match next weekend and, even though Ireland aren’t pushing those heavyweights, they now established themselves as a young, upcoming squad.
Their victory over Wales is their second of this campaign after an impressive 57-20 win over Italy, who occupy fourth spot.
“We’re starting to handle bigger occasions and bigger pressure more, and with that comes more expectation. But that’s the cool thing, that’s where we want to be,” he continued.
“Our next thing now is we’re going to start converting that belief, that confidence, that understanding and that we’re quite good into results.
“We’ll get there, the trajectory is still up and we’re still hungry to get better. So no doubt we’ll get there and as quick as we can get there, the quicker the better.
Despite their progress, Bemand also acknowledged they still have room to improve.
Ireland have never beaten France nor England with the head coach adding that this must be an aim of the side.
“We do want to be in games where we’re in a position to beat an England and a France.
“Are we getting there? Well, with this competition, we’ve proved that we haven’t as yet.
“So, we’ll take that, but unfortunately it means we have to sit on it for 12 months before we get another crack at them, a top four team.
“Our job now is to get as good as we can in the next year so that when we get them over here, we can condense that scoreline even further.”
Ireland finish their Six Nations campaign with a home match against Scotland on 17 May at the Aviva Stadium.
Despite losing their previous eight Six Nations matches, Wales came into the game with confidence after they registered a record four tries against world champions England in their last outing.
They started stronger in Belfast, but Wafer gave Ireland the lead against the run of play when the back row’s persistence paid off and she forced her way over the line before Dannah O’Brien added a challenging extra two.
Wales looked to respond quickly with a huge tackle from Parsons denying Hannah Dallavalle after Carys Cox had taken advantage of a mix-up and fed the ball through.
The visitors kept pushing and registered their first try when Georgia Evans dived over from close range and Keira Bevan was able to convert to level the match.
A double movement denied Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald after she had powered her way over as the home side, buoyed by a vocal crowd, began to settle.
Wafer then turned provider, shrugging off multiple white shirts before a superb offload to Parsons, who raced down the right wing to restore Ireland’s lead.
They then struck a hammer blow just before the break as, opting to play on with clock in the red, Ireland were rewarded for their persistence as they added their third try when Hogan crossed after sustained pressure from a ruck.
After the restart, a television match official [TMO] check confirmed Moloney-MacDonald’s kick out at Evans warranted a yellow card.
Wales were unable to take advantage of having an extra player and it was soon 14-players apiece for a period as Jasmine Joyce was shown a yellow card for placing her hands on the ground when bringing Eve Higgins down.
As the hour mark approached, Aoife Dalton and Linda Djougang linked up and fed the ball to Wafer to cross to secure the bonus point.
Bemand then turned to his bench and made a flurry of changes which added energy to their play.
Replacement Jones thought she had added Ireland’s fifth shortly after her introduction, only for her effort to be ruled out after a TMO review.
Joyce added Wales’ second try in the final five minutes as she held off Parsons and stretched to ground the ball.
Ireland did land a fifth try in the final seconds as Hogan bundled over from close range, with O’Brien able to convert for a fourth time.
Kath Cross and Stuart Hall have been living full-time in their campervan and have travelled over 25,000 miles on their epic adventures
Kath Cross and Stuart Hall in Meteora, Greece(Image: SWNS)
A couple sold all their possessions to buy a campervan and travel the world – for just £30 a day. Kath Cross, 49, and Stuart Hall, 48, have travelled over 25,000 miles on epic adventures through the Sahara desert, Europe and Scotland in their make-shift home.
The pair have been living in their 7.5m Mercedes Sprinter ever since Kath sold all her possessions and stopped paying rent four years ago. To date they have toured over 15 countries – and will have exceeded 20 by the time they get back from their current trip to Montenegro.
The couple work on the road full-time under the name Vanavigation – where they create, write and share travel content. Though their spending plan varies slightly depending on which country they are residing in, the pair say on average they spend around £900 to £1,200 a month – cheaper than Kath’s old house rental in Cardiff.
This means they budget around £30 to £40 a day for their lifestyle – with half spent on fuel. Kath, from Cardiff, said: “It was a choice we made between one life and another – and we don’t regret a second of it.
“When I sold my possessions, it made me realise that you are supposed to own things – not them own you. When you have a mortgage, a car payment, you are owned by society, fixed because you have to stay where you are and pay your bills.
“The more of my stuff I sold the more free I felt – the more I am realising those possessions owned me and pinned me in one place. Life owns you and you are supposed to own it.”
Kath and Stuart bonded over their shared love of nature and the outdoors after meeting in a South Wales walking group back in 2021. They hiked over 105 peaks in the UK during their first year of dating and Kath decided that Stuart was the person she wanted to travel the world with.
She soon after decided to pack up her four-bed rental house and sell all of her possessions back in 2022 when her daughters left home. Stuart and Kath have since travelled over 25,000 miles – including their first trip all the way to the Sahara desert, which Kath described as her “lifelong dream”.
Kath said: “I had an idea that when my kids left home I wanted to drive to the Sahara – it was a dream I’d had for years. Stu already owned the van, and we had been together a few months when we visited Scotland for a month in the campervan. We didn’t kill each other and got on very well.
“So that winter I decided that I was going to downsize my life, my kids had left home, the four-bed rental was too much for me and I just didn’t want it anymore. It was taking every penny that I earned just to keep the rental going – but we knew we could live cheaper on the road.
“A lot of people are scared of the big adventure, but Stu was up for the idea and so we drove to the edge of the Sahara desert and haven’t looked back.”
The mother-of-two is able to ensure a steady monthly income for the pair after she set up her own business online back in 2012. As a single parent, Kath wanted to ensure she could earn a living while being at home with her children – and her copywriting and freelance work saw her amass 1.6million followers on Facebook in 2014.
Stuart, who works for an agency as a truck driver, works when they visit the UK after trips to help top up their money before their next adventure. Her and Stuart are both work together to produce content for Vanavigation – releasing weekly Youtube episodes, travel guides and insightful blogs across social media on how to travel the world.
Kath said: “Life really is a lot cheaper in the van – you don’t need two wages. We were away for 101 days and our average spend was £1000 a month – this is less than my rent used to be in Cardiff and we lived like kings and queens.”
Despite more than half their budget being on fuel, the pair say they don’t live like they are on holiday – and mostly cook in the van and only pay for a few activities a month. Kath said: “As fuel prices have gone up we have just slowed down!
“We just drive a bit slower and make a few less stops – which means we extend the trip really. When you’re in North Macedonia and paying 130 a litre for diesel, there is no point rushing back to pay whatever horrifying price it is in the UK at the moment.”
The pair are able to live in their fully-equipped campervan which boasts a full working set up including: a shower, toilet, king-size bed, sink, and a fully working kitchen with an oven, gas burner. Stuart, who converted the inside of the van shortly after purchasing it, said: “We can even do a roast dinner.”
So far, the pair have driven 3,000 miles to Denmark and back, 7,000 miles around Spain and Portugal, 2,000 miles to Scotland and 8,000 miles to the Sahara. They are currently in Montenegro, and are just shy of 5,000 miles on their trip which has seen them drive through France, Italy, Albania, Greece, North Macedonia and Kosovo.
Their next stops are Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and France. Kath and Stu said their Sahara trip has been one of their many highlights – which also include their visit to the Atlas mountains, Kosovo and Denmark.
Stuart, from Southampton, said: “We drove to the edge of the sand dunes and were drinking coffee out of own mugs from home. Then we opened up the curtains and there were 40 camels outside – it was totally surreal. I had only ever been on package holidays before.”
Kath said they also loved their visit to the Atlas mountains because of the scenery and people they met during their trip and volunteering. She said: “There are communities there that have nothing, and they just want to help you.
“We helped a guy stuck in the snow and he wanted to take us to his village, which had 66 houses and a mosque. His family made us food and drinks and the kids in the village came to meet us and it was only a few months after the earthquake. It was so special connecting with the local communities.”
The pair are strong advocates for following your dreams and travelling the world in a mindful and sustainable way. Stuart said: “We choose to step lighter on this earth.
“My big diesel van has much less of a carbon footprint than a three-bed house where people leave the lights on. We don’t buy new stuff, we wear clothes until we can’t wear them anymore and we live light on plastics. We love this life and we learn so much about people.”
Kath said: “You can’t dream yourself into this life, you have to make intentional decisions to get here. You have to let go of other things to get here. We left the rat race – and we’re really glad about it.”
You can follow their adventures here: “https://www.facebook.com/vanavigationuk/
