Travelling from Ludlow on our recent family holiday we ventured into North Wales. We had booked a Travelodge in Ludlow for our first visit - and this was one of the same hotels, but in the small seaside town of Porthmadog.

Porthmadog is nothing to write home about really, but was a good place to stay if you wanted to visit the wonderful castles, mountains and villages that this area of the UK has to offer tourists. What with the new craze of 'stay-cationing' this seemed a perfect opportunity to check out what the UK had that pill-popping, drunken blood-drenched party towns like Ibiza doesn't have.

A box shaped building greeted us as we drove into the car park, and our hopes were not as high as the last place was pretty average at best.

Weirdly enough, there never seemed to be anyone on duty at reception which was a little weird, but then again I suppose they were probably made redundant recently and a robot has their job.

The rooms were a huge improvement, much more spacious and generally kept in a better order. Unlike our hotel in Ludlow, this room was inviting and unmarked, probably due to the age of the building itself.

The television was a flat screen one that was wall mounted and had quite a number of digital channels - including News 24 and Channel 5. There was also some clever useage of spotlight by the bed and some tasteful wooden veneer that surrounded said bedroom.

The view was magnificent, looking out into the Welsh valley - however - if you go the wrong side of the hotel, you may have only got a view of cheapo supermarkets 'Aldi' and 'Lidl'. The hotel also had a lift that seemed a little impatient, occasionally blurting out 'GOING DOWN!' in an Anne Robinson style before you even managed to get out of the damn thing.

The room was cleaned nicely once a day, and while not being the height of luxury, it seemed a much better bet than a dodgy guest house some where in Porthmadog. The hotel was booked online using the Travelodge website and was very cheap indeed - close to £30 per night per room (two of us stayed in this room).

If you want a base to trek up Snowdon, visit the lovely local town of Bedgellert or see The Prisoner 'village' of Portmerion, then the Porthmadog Travelodge is a good bet.