Big Pool Wood

Gronant Dunes and Talacre Warren is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, along the north Wales coast. The Gronant Dunes form an area of sand dunes along the Denbighshire coast, between Prestatyn and Gronant. The dunes continue further eastwards from the Prestatyn Gutter (which cuts the dune system into two) towards the Point of Ayr in Flintshire, as the Talacre Dunes. Talacre Warren is formed of two dune ridges, with the area along the coast between Talacre and Gronant known as simply "the Warren". While Talacre Beach is the beach along the North Wales Coast. The Warren, and the adjacent Talacre Beach, were home to holiday chalets in the early 1930s. During World War II, the area housed evacuees that fled Merseyside docks and shipyards due to bombing raids, such as the Blitz during 1941. The influx led to a camp of makeshift huts and various other shelters being created, many lacking basic facilities such as running water and electricity. After the war, some chalets became permanent family homes for those sheltered, while the area received increasing tourism. However, by the late 1950s the camp's condition and lack of facilities, led to media and comedians labelling it a "shanty town", warning holidaymakers of a "slum by the sea" and the sanitary conditions of its beach. The labelling upset locals with a councillor of Llanasa Parish Council objecting to the term in 1964. The Morfa Holiday Camp, later Talacre Beach Resort opened in the 1960s. The SSSI is located between Prestatyn and Talacre. It has been designated because of its plant life, insects and birds, and its dune system a home for natterjack toads and Wales' only breeding little tern colony. The dunes in the SSSI are also part of the Dee Estuary Special Area of Conservation. The Gronant Dunes are the last remnants of a wider dune system that spanned across North East Wales, from Rhyl to the Point of Ayr. Most of the other former dunes were replaced with sea walls, as industry, tourism and human settlement increased along the coast, with these remaining sections utilising them for a natural sea defence. The dunes support plant life, such as the rare sea holly, dune fescue, sea spurge, and pyramidal orchid, as well as marram grass. While its rare animals include the brown hare, mining bee, sandhill rustic moth and the skylark. Natterjack toads, and later sand lizards between 2003 and 2006, have been reintroduced, with the sand lizards formerly indigenous to the coast but were driven out due to past human activity in the area.

Gronant is a village in Flintshire, Wales, about 2 miles east of Prestatyn. The population, as measured by the 2001 census, is 1,595, living in 697 households. The average age of the populace is 41.4 years, slightly higher than the national average. Following reorganisation all the population is now listed under the community of Llanasa; the electoral ward remains, its population at the 2011 census being 1,527.Gronant's most famous resident was probably Elis Gruffydd (c. 1490-c. 1552), a noted Welsh chronicler of the early modern period. A soldier who served in the English garrison at Calais, Gruffudd's chronicle is held at the National Library of Wales.Gronant dunes are part of an extensive network of dunes extending from Prestatyn in Denbighshire to the Point of Ayr in Flintshire which is at the entrance to the Dee Estuary. They are designated as a Local Nature Reserve and the dune system as a whole is recognized as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Gwespyr is a village in Flintshire on the north coast of Wales in the community of Llanasa. Gwespyr had a population of 289 people in the United Kingdom 2001 census. It overlooks Point of Ayr on the west side of the River Dee estuary and its sandy beaches with dunes. The hills of the Clwydian Range behind the village form the eastern boundary of the Vale of Clwyd. Gwespyr also looks respectively Welsh but is an alien name. It represents Old English for 'West-bury' which came to be interpreted as the 'west fort' meaning the westernmost fort in Mercia. Originally, it is thought to have been a strategic Mercian lookout which was reduced in importance with the development of a fortified Rhuddlan.Gwespyr stone has been quarried in quantity from Roman times and shipped to the rest of the UK and abroad. "Gwespyr Stone" was commercially successful for its grain, colour, and quality of cutting and shaping. It was used for many buildings around Gwespyr, and was also used to build the ancient Maen Achwyfan Cross at Whitford, the chapel at St Winefride's Well in Holywell, stone carvings in Rhuddlan Castle and Denbigh Castle, St Asaph Cathedral, The Talacre Arms Public house in Gwespyr and Basingwerk Abbey in Greenfield, Flintshire. Gwespyr stone was also found on sites such as Prestatyn Castle and the Roman bath house in Prestatyn. There is evidence of the stone industry in Gwespyr prevalent even today, though all but one quarry is disused. The quarry in use today is home to Delyn Metal.

Point of Air Lifeboat Station was located on the shore at Gronant, a village situated 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west of the Point of Ayr (or Point of Air, varying sources), the most northerly point of Flintshire and mainland Wales. A lifeboat was first stationed at Gronant by the Liverpool Dock Trustees in 1826. Management of the station was transferred to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) on 1 July 1894. The station closed at the end of September 1894, with the RNLI relocating the lifeboat 2 miles (3.2 km) east, to Talacre beach, and renaming the station Point of Ayr Lifeboat Station.

Talacre railway station served the village of Talacre, near Prestatyn on the North Wales Coast Line.

Henblas is an Renaissance house in the village of Llanasa, Flintshire, Wales. The mansion dates from 1645 and was built by the Morgan family of Golden Grove, a country estate to the west of Llanasa, as a home for two unmarried sisters. The house is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building.

Llanasa is a village and community in the county of Flintshire, north-east Wales. Llanasa is described as one of the ancient parishes of Flintshire. It originally comprised the townships of Gronant, Gwespyr, Kelston, Golden Grove, Picton, Trewaelod, Axtyn and Trelogan. The modern community also includes Ffynnongroyw and Glan yr afon.

Golden Grove (Welsh: Gwylgre) is an Elizabethan house to the west of the village of Llanasa, Flintshire, Wales. The mansion dates from 1578 and was built by Sir Edward Morgan, an official at the court of Elizabeth I. In the 19th century the estate was bought by Henry Pochin, owner of Bodnant Hall in neighboring Conwy, whose daughter, Laura, laid out the grounds at Golden Grove. The house is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building and the gardens and grounds are designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Gyrn Castle is a Grade II-listed castellated mansion in Llanasa in Flintshire.

The Point of Ayr Lighthouse, also known as the Talacre Lighthouse, is a Grade II listed building situated on the north coast of Wales, on the Point of Ayr, near the village of Talacre.It was built in 1776 by a Trust of the Major, Recorder and Aldermen of Chester to warn ships entering between the Dee and the Mersey Estuary. It was replaced by a pile light and was decommissioned in 1844. It is now a privately owned property.

There are two other similarly named points in the British Isles: Point of Ayre, Isle of Man and Point of Ayre, Orkney, Scotland.Point of Ayr (Welsh: Y Parlwr Du) is the northernmost point of mainland Wales. It is situated immediately to the north of Talacre in Flintshire, at the mouth of the Dee estuary. It is to the southwest of the Liverpool Bay area of the Irish Sea. It is the site of a RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) nature reserve RSPB Dee Estuary Point of Ayr, and is part of Gronant and Talacre Dunes Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Talacre is a village in Flintshire on the north coast of Wales in the community of Llanasa and the electoral ward of Ffynnongroyw, and is the northernmost mainland settlement in Wales. The village itself has a population of 347 as of the 2011 census.It is near Point of Ayr on the west side of the River Dee estuary and has a sandy beach with dunes and large holiday caravan parks adjacent. The hills of the Clwydian Range behind the village form the eastern boundary of the Vale of Clwyd. The name Talacre is a combination of the Welsh words tal [tal] "end" and acrau [ˈakraɨ̯] "acres", which in the dialect of north-east Wales is pronounced acre [ˈakrɛ]. This has led to the local English pronunciation . Some sources claim the English version is properly pronounced . The village is probably most popular for the lighthouse on the nearby beach, the Talacre Beach Resort a short walk away from the Presthaven Sands holiday park and its multiple arcades. The lighthouse has been noted for numerous ghostly sightings, people claiming to see a figure wearing old fashioned lighthouse keeper clothes and standing in front of the glass dome of the abandoned lighthouse. The lighthouse was featured in popular British television drama Skins, in the episode "Skins Pure". Talacre was used by the armed forces during the Second World War as an aircraft firing range. Fighters flew over the remote village every day, shooting at wooden targets in the dunes and at drogues towed by aircraft. It was also used for testing new devices such as 'window,' the anti-radar foil that, on occasion, covered the whole village with silver.