Holiday Cottages In Newport

Newport has a small set of self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, around a dozen at the moment, in and around the city on the River Usk. This is a Severn-estuary city base, handy for Roman Caerleon, the Transporter Bridge and the wetlands, with most of the dozen taking dogs and a few offering a hot tub.

Best areas and towns in Newport

Newport is a compact city and county borough on the River Usk, so its handful of self-catering places sit in the city itself and the villages on its green northern fringe rather than in separate towns.

• Christchurch: a hilltop village above the Usk in the Caerleon ward, with views over the city, the busiest base here
• Caerleon: a historic riverside town on the northern edge of Newport, built over a major Roman legionary fortress
• Parc Seymour: a small rural hamlet in the lanes east of the city towards Penhow
• Marshfield: a village on the low Wentlooge levels between Newport and Cardiff
• The city centre and waterfront, where a stay puts you within reach of the shops, the riverside and the landmark bridge; see what is on offer in Newport itself

Caerleon, with its Roman remains and riverside setting, is the most characterful base, while the city centre suits anyone after shops, stations and the Usk on the doorstep.

Newport, the Usk and the Severn estuary

Newport is an estuary city rather than a seaside one, set where the tidal River Usk swings south to meet the Severn estuary, which here has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world. The river is crossed in the city by the Newport Transporter Bridge, a rare and graceful gondola bridge of 1906 that carries traffic high above the water in a suspended cradle. South of the centre, the low coastal flats of the Wentlooge and Caldicot levels run out to the muddy shore, where the RSPB Newport Wetlands spreads reedbeds, lagoons and saltmarsh below the East Usk Lighthouse, a haven for wintering birds. There are no sandy beaches on this stretch, but the levels and the estuary wall make for big-sky, bird-rich walking.

Things to do in Newport

Top of the list is Roman Caerleon, where the Caerleon Roman Fortress Baths and the grassy Caerleon Amphitheatre survive from one of Britain's three permanent legionary bases. In the city, the National Trust's Tredegar House is a fine red-brick mansion in its own park, and the Fourteen Locks Canal Centre explains the steep flight of locks on the old Monmouthshire Canal. Belle Vue Park is a handsome Victorian park above the centre, and the Newport Museum and Art Gallery tells the city's story from Roman times to the Chartist rising of 1839. For wildlife, the reedbeds and lagoons of the Newport Wetlands round out an easy day out.

When to visit Newport

Newport works as a year-round city base. Late spring and summer are pleasantest for Caerleon, the parks and the riverside, and for walking the estuary levels in long daylight. Autumn and winter are the prime season for the Newport Wetlands, when wintering ducks and waders crowd the lagoons and starlings gather to roost. The city's indoor attractions, from Tredegar House to the museum, suit any weather. Being a working city rather than a resort, Newport keeps a steady pace through the year, and midweek stays are usually the best value.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Newport

Nine of the cottages in Newport take dogs, and four have a hot tub.

Getting to Newport

Newport sits on the South Wales main line and the M4, about twelve miles north-east of Cardiff and close to the Severn crossings into England. The M4 runs through the city, with the A48 and A449 linking it to Cardiff, the Wye Valley and the Midlands. Newport station has fast and frequent trains to Cardiff, Bristol and London Paddington, the London journey taking around an hour and three quarters. The nearest large airports are Cardiff to the west and Bristol across the estuary to the east.

Useful links

• Visit Wales
• Newport City Council
• RSPB Newport Wetlands

Newport is a city and county borough in the south-east of Wales, set on the tidal River Usk a short way above its mouth on the Severn estuary, about twelve miles north-east of Cardiff. The third-largest urban area in Wales, it grew where the lowland coast of the Severn meets the first rising ground of the South Wales valleys, and it has long been a river port and a gateway between Wales and England.

The Usk runs through the heart of the city, with one of the greatest tidal ranges in the world, and is crossed by the celebrated Transporter Bridge, a tall steel structure of 1906 that ferries traffic across the water in a hanging gondola. To the south spread the Wentlooge and Caldicot levels, a flat reclaimed landscape of fields, sea walls and reedbeds where the Newport Wetlands now form a national nature reserve on the estuary shore. Just upstream lies Caerleon, the site of the Roman legionary fortress of Isca, whose baths and amphitheatre are among the finest Roman remains in Britain.

Newport's history runs from that Roman base through a medieval castle and a market town to the coal and iron age, when its docks shipped the output of the valleys and the town became a centre of the Chartist movement, scene of the rising of 1839. Today, with its older industry much reduced, the city looks to commerce, services and its riverside regeneration, while its Roman heritage and estuary wildlife draw visitors from the motorway that passes its door.