Is it possible to go on holiday using £2 buses? We put it to the test

The journey started, as all good journeys do, with a bit of daydreaming on the Canopy & Stars website. From our base in Bristol, there’s 87 places within a 30-mile radius, which we then narrowed down to a treehouse just outside the city limits (too close, felt like cheating), a converted bus in Monmouthshire (too much time spent on four wheels) and a microbrewery in Tintern with a couple of cabins dotted around the garden (the obvious winner). The journey would cover just over 20 miles and two buses, not bad when you consider we’d be visiting a separate country. Now this is maybe where our planning fell down. If you head to the government’s website, you can find a list of all the services that offer a £2 journey and it turns out the offer doesn’t apply once you’ve crossed international borders (even if it is only the few miles into Wales).

The second curveball thrown our way arrived on the morning of our adventure, waking up to rain that could only be described as biblical. Extreme winds also meant the Severn Bridge was closed and a longer diversion was in place. Stood at our nearest bus stop, a solitary pole with no cover, I was already cursing the moment this bus travel idea was blurted out in a particularly fruitless content meeting. And yet, the journey itself wasn’t actually that bad.

Boarding the T7 bus to Chepstow felt like stepping into a parallel universe where time stretched, and the world outside zoomed by in a blur of greens and browns. All punctuated by the chatter of fellow passengers, and on the second journey, a motley crew of village locals. Traveling by bus transformed our perception of distance and time. The writer in me might say something like every mile was a story, every stop a chapter in a novel written by the landscape itself. The reality was more, grey dual carriageway than green patchwork fields – something which made the eventual arrival in Tintern all the sweeter. You burst out from under the canopy and are faced with the Abbey itself on your right, and open valley surrounded by wooded hillside. By the time we’d arrived, we’d already spent an hour and a half decompressing. The bus quite literally dropped us at the end of the drive of our space, and we wandered up it admiring the pure breed Herefordshire cows that stared at us blankly, on a backdrop of hillside poking into the low flying clouds.

You arrive into life at Kingstone, with the brewery churning out fresh beer, and its constituents arriving by the fresh sackful. The surprisingly welcome smell of cows and maturing hay melts into mash and malt. Master brewers and the local handywoman are non-ironically and deservingly wearing workwear. You’re struck with a little pang of jealousy at their rather cool, and at least seemingly calm jobs in this quasi-alpine enclave and begin wondering if it’s time to move where it’s a country mile to anything. We found our space, Golding’s Cabin, at the top of the site, overlooking the developing veg gardens and just in front of an apiary. It’s a small space and has limited cooking facilities – but exactly what you need for a few meals on the fly, particularly when there’s so many places to grab a bite nearby.

With an hour and a half(ish) journey, even in winter, you’ve still a lot of daytime left. We took a moment to relax and ate lunch, before heading back into Tintern’s centre – which took a quick and scenic 20 minutes. On the way, you pass the Parva Farm Vineyard, which is open on the weekends for visitors to drop in. You follow the curve of the valley, with the vast river on your left, and epic hillside cottages built into the rock, with woodland towering up above them. It’s unclear if it was the heavy rain, or if it’s an everyday feature, but small waterfalls toppled fast running water down between the cottages – it’s fairytale-esque. You’ll pass a couple of pubs, the Rose & Crown for starters, a classic venue, with the added amazing addition of seats right by the riverside. Ahead of you, when The Old Wireworks Tramway Bridge comes into focus, startling white and framed by hills, you know you’re almost in the village centre.

It’s sleepy this time of year, but most things are still open. There are a few cafés, a couple of pubs and restaurants – and the abbey is out the other side of the centre, but only just. Looking at the abbey from the outside, you’ll notice a few things immediately. Firstly, the bricks are in no way uniform – and this building is massive. It was made at the turn of the last millennium, and how they built up so high, the sheer size of the statues, and the intricacy of the original windows is striking. If you can, go inside for the history and the tour but don’t miss going to simply look at it.

After a quick gander, we decided to grab coffees and headed to Abbey Mill. We were immediately greeted by the restaurant dog and friendly owner. They gave equally welcoming invitations, and for a few quick minutes while our coffees were made, I felt like I’d stepped off the treadmill. The owners’ kids played by the pond, and ran around laughing in what sounded like the only audible thing for miles. Their dad watched from the covered deck under fairy lights, with quiet glee. And I patted the dog, whilst it looked round at me smiling. It’s the calmest I’ve felt in a very long while.

Afterwards, we explored a little part of the village, walking down tiny roads guided by the ancient stone walls, and ended up on The Old Wireworks Tramway Bridge, and stared out for quite some time. By the time we got back to Golding’s Cabin, darkness was falling, and we got to cooking dinner on the camping-style stove. The evening was as simple as star counting in the hot tub. The next morning was nothing but birdcall from friendly robins, woodpecker rattle and mist tumbling down the backdrop vistas – and the journey home – pleasantly quiet, easy, and relaxed.

So what did we learn? Check which country you’re travelling to… but in all seriousness, travelling to your Canopy & Stars holiday by bus is definitely doable for certain places. It might take a little longer and a bit more planning, but the feeling of reaching an amazing spot whilst travelling sustainably can’t be replicated. Particularly if you don’t have a car or you’re looking for a low-impact weekend away.

So take just one Friday off, ditch the car, leave the busy itineraries at home. Go simple, go easy, explore and wander. Finally feel yourself relax, and step off that treadmill. And most of all, go take a bus somewhere new.

Total cost: £44.60

Total buses: 2

No. of robins spotted: Five or one really fast one