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This is Wales.
2016 | visitwales.com
02 Contents
This is Wales
Year of Adventure
2016
visitwales.com
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Matthew Rhys
The star of The Americans spends one
last day out with friends and family
before going back to work. Zip wires and
trampolines are involved. He does all his
own stunts, we can confirm.
No Limits
Nobody puts barriers in front of
Paralympic athlete Nathan Stephens.
They’d only get smashed to bits.
Welcome to a Wales where nothing
stands in your way.
Fforest Fruits
We went in search of Wales’s most
intimate family festival and found a
little world of great things, set on
the idyllic banks of the Teifi.
Eat the Street
Never mind what the guide books say.
We want to know where the geniuses
behind Street Food Cardiff go to eat and
drink in and around the Welsh capital.
Map of Wales
Partly to help you find your way around,
but also to illustrate what “an area the
size of Wales” actually looks like. Allow
four hours to drive the length of it.
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What’s On 2016
Keep your diary clear. It’s a big, busy
year ahead. Festivals of all flavours,
international sports fixtures, shows,
parades, parties. You may as well stay
for the whole year, frankly.
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The Urban Birder
David Lindo is the man behind that
Britain’s Favourite Bird poll. Now he
returns to one of his favourite birding
spots, the coastline of Anglesey.
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Wales and the Unexpected
The master storyteller Roald Dahl
was born in Cardiff 100 years ago,
and we’re celebrating with a year of
unexpected events throughout Wales.
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Bolton Wanderer
The DJ Sara Cox asked her Twitter
followers where she should go on
holiday. Wales, duh. And so begins an
adventure involving horses, giraffes,
dolphins and a small dog called Beano.
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Richard Parks
Rugby warrior, polar explorer, mountain
climber, endurance athlete, dog-lover,
and a very nice man. Meet our Year
of Adventure 2016 ambassador, the
inspirational Mr Parks.
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We want people to have amazing experiences in Wales,
but – most importantly – safe ones. So if you’re heading for
the hills, read up on local advice. If you’re hitting the beach,
check the tides. It’s common sense, really. So come and
enjoy, stay safe… and have a lot of fun.
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Find Your Epic
Everyone’s idea of epic is different.
Whatever yours is, here in Wales
we’ve got the perfect adventure
playground. Come and step outside
yourself for a while.
The Big Bike
This is what freedom feels like. A fiveday off-road mountain bike odyssey
from the peaks of Snowdonia to the
forests of South Wales.
Festival Nation
We’re hardly short of music festivals, but
we still asked Manics frontman James
Dean Bradfield to dream up his personal
fantasy festival. It’s radical. Someone
please make it happen.
Finn Beales
The Instagram superstar gets sent
to photograph the world’s most
beautiful places. But the place he
comes home to is an old longhouse,
halfway up a Welsh mountain.
Essential Information
Meet our holiday areas, and find out
everything you need to know about
getting here, getting around, how
to book, and where to stay.
This magazine is also available in Welsh.
Visit Wales cannot guarantee the accuracy or reliability of
the information in this publication and hereby disclaim any
responsibility for any error, omission or misrepresentation.
To the fullest extent permitted by law all liability for loss,
disappointment, negligence or other damage caused
by reliance on the information contained in this guide
is excluded. You are advised to check all details and
information with the business concerned before confirming
a reservation. All rights reserved. Material in this publication
must not be reproduced in any form without permission
from the copyright owners – please contact Visit Wales.
Opinions expressed in This is Wales are not necessarily
those of Visit Wales.
This is Wales is published by Visit Wales, the Tourism and
Marketing division of the Welsh Government ©2016.
Visit Wales, Welsh Government, QED Centre, Main Avenue,
Treforest Industrial Estate, Treforest, Pontypridd CF37 5YR
Print ISBN: 978-1-4734-5384-5
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4734-5383-8
Managing Editors: Iestyn George and Charles Williams
Designed by Smörgåsbord
Printed by Stephens & George Ltd
Photography: Crown copyright (2016) Visit Wales
Other photographic sources:
Rab outdoor clothing, BBC America, BBC Radio 1,
Getty Images, Welsh Wildlife Breaks
This publication is also available in Braille, large-format print,
and/or audio from Visit Wales. info@visitwales.com
26761 © Crown copyright 2016, Welsh Government
03
04 Adventure | Find Your Epic
This is Adventure.
It begins when we step outside our
normal lives and do something amazing.
Epic adventures come in all guises and
sizes. At the top of a mountain, at your
first festival, or dabbling in a rock pool.
Where will you find yours? Welcome
to our Year of Adventure 2016.
This is Crib Goch. It’s famous throughout the
mountaineering world as the most spectacular,
and difficult, route up Snowdon – and nobody but
experienced climbers, with all the right gear, and
in the right weather, should attempt it. This is the
birthplace of British rock climbing and Everest
training, and deserves the utmost respect.
visitwales.com
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6 Adventure | Richard Parks
visitwales.com
Find Your Epic.
Richard Parks played rugby for Wales,
until a shoulder injury ended his career.
So he set out on the 737 Challenge, a race
to climb the highest mountain on each of
the world’s continents and stand on the
North and South Poles. He did it all in
less than seven months: a world first.
I grew up with a spirit of adventure.
Both my parents were self-employed
engineers, and they had that can-do
attitude. I started racing motorbikes
when I was six, and my happiest
childhood memories are on the side
of a freezing mountain in Aberdare,
struggling to feel my fingers, dad
working on my bike and mum cooking
for everyone around. I loved it.
I’ve always been all-or-nothing.
When I lost my motorcycling
sponsorship, that’s when I focused my
attention on rugby. Every young boy
and girl grows up wanting to play for
Wales. There’s something magical about
wearing the red jersey. But for me it was
also about being the best I could be.
I spent a hugely important year in
South Africa. When I was 17 I was
awarded a scholarship to Michaelhouse
College in KwaZulu-Natal. It was just
after apartheid and I was the first and
only black student in the First XV. I grew
up years in that one year. It opened my
eyes to professionalism: it wasn’t about
money, it was about how you apply
yourself to your trade. We were a school
team training three times a day and
playing in front of 14,000 people.
Any step outside our comfort zone
is a vital step to self-knowledge
and, ultimately, happiness. I’ve had
some tough times and dark periods,
like everyone. Life is a journey with
good times and bad times. I feel really
passionately about using all lifeexperience to enrich us. I feel so
grateful to be here right now.
Mountains gave me peace.
My rugby career was taken away from
me by injury, and it’s only in the past few
years I’ve been able to work through the
emotions, both positive and negative,
and finally realise I was so lucky to play
for my country. That peace has been one
of the biggest gifts that mountains have
given to me: I’m able to love rugby again.
It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.
Fun can mean challenge, satisfaction
and achievement, as well as laughing and
joking and spending time with people.
Some of the happiest moments of my life
have come after some of the toughest
trials and tribulations. I’m happier if I’ve
earnt something.
There’s always a crossroads. Every
single mountain I’ve climbed or
endurance event I’ve done has had a
moment of doubt. That’s what I take
from what I do. In a society that is full of
instant gratification, I love the purity of
having a goal and getting to the top and
having to work around the challenges
to get there.
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08 Adventure | Richard Parks
I fell into a crevasse on Denali. That was
genuinely the scariest moment of my
life. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get
out of that alive.
Antarctica was the hardest. I pushed
my body physically and psychologically
further than I’d ever gone before. I
went into rooms in my soul that I wasn’t
aware were there. I had brutal days,
skiing in a whiteout for 12 hours. Then
there were moments when the sun was
in just the right place, and the snow
crystals refracted the sun so it looked
like you were skiing across a bed of
diamonds, and for that half-hour it could
be euphoric. If we can recognise those
moments, that’s what makes life rich.
Every time I come home I see Wales
through new eyes. For all the places I’m
privileged to perform in, it’s only ever
made me appreciate the wealth we have
on our doorstep even more. In some
ways I never leave home. I carry the
same Welsh flag everywhere with me,
and I’m really proud that when I’m not
on expeditions it lives in the Principality
Stadium’s Players’ Lounge.
I’m crazy about my dog Ben.
Going for a walk up a mountain or along
a beach with him is just about as good
as life gets.
I grew up on two wheels. I love cycling,
and one of the best sporting events
I’ve ever been to was the Abergavenny
Festival of Cycling. Every generation in
the community was out in the streets,
watching kids aged eight or nine, ripping
around on tiny bikes, all the way up to
the pros, all racing on the same circuit.
It was incredible – everything that sport
should be.
visitwales.com 09
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I love where I live in Cardiff Bay. Captain
Scott’s ship, the Terra Nova, set sail from
here and it captivates me that I live in
this hotbed of Welsh polar heritage. It
never stops giving, the layers of history
underneath, the men and women
who’ve gone before. And you can’t climb
in Snowdonia without being aware of
Mallory and Irvine, Hillary and Tenzing.
Valleys culture makes us special.
I’m from Pontypridd, and we take that
sense of community and friendliness all
over the world. For a small nation, we
embody the spirit of adventure. Look
at the settlement in Patagonia 150 years
ago – we’ve always been up for
a challenge.
2016 is a really exciting year for me.
I’m setting off on a new global challenge
that’ll push me further physically than
ever before. It’s powered by extreme
sports technology and scientific research
that’s all based in Wales. I’m also filming
a series for the BBC that’ll enable me to
showcase the wealth of riches that Wales
has as an adventure destination, for all
abilities. They’re not all as extreme as
the ones I enjoy!
richardparks.co.uk
Some of the happiest
moments of my life
have come after some
of the toughest trials
and tribulations.
Dunraven Bay, Southerndown
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10 Adventure | Find Your Epic
Looking
for your
epic?
We think
we’ve
found it...
01 Snowdon Horseshoe
02 Zip World Titan, Blaenau Ffestiniog
03 Coasteering, Pembrokeshire
04 Tryweryn, near Bala
05 Tryfan, Snowdonia
06 Surf Snowdonia, Dolgarrog
01—
→Very difficult
→Difficult
→Moderate
→Easy
02—
Everyone’s idea of epic is different.
And you don’t have to climb a
mountain to find yours. You might
find it on a castle’s ramparts or in a
ruined abbey; dabbling in a rockpool,
or sitting on a hill watching the sun
sink into the sea. It could be your first
festival, or a weekend away without
the kids … or without your parents.
Whatever it is, it’s here in Wales.
Tarw Du: The Black Bull
The Snowdon Horseshoe
This circular lap of Wales’s and England’s
highest mountain is on the to-do list of
any serious mountaineer - and really,
really shouldn’t be attempted by anyone
but experts. This is the birthplace
of British rock climbing and Everest
training, and deserves the utmost respect.
eryri-npa.gov.uk
visitsnowdonia.info
Zip World Velocity
A pair of mile-long zip wires strung above
a massive quarry and lake, with top
speeds of over 100mph (160kph) – which
makes it the longest in Europe, and the
fastest in the world. You’ve just got to,
haven’t you?
zipworld.co.uk
Okay, there are now steeper, gnarlier and
more technical trails in Wales. But this
big beast at Coed y Brenin was the first
purpose-built MTB trail in the UK, and
still fully deserves its Black rating. We’ve
now got eight MTB centres all over Wales,
making it arguably the world’s best
destination for mountain biking.
mbwales.com
Bear Grylls Survival Academy
The ex-SAS man runs all kinds of
hardcore bushcraft malarkey in Wales,
from the Snowdon 2 Day Challenge to
the 24 Hour Family Course in the Brecon
Beacons. They teach every conceivable
survival skill from river crossing to knife
work to shelter building.
beargryllssurvivalacademy.com
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visitwales.com
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Tryfan
Pen-y-fan
Trail magazine readers recently named
Tryfan (“a blade of serrated rock”) as
Britain’s favourite mountain. It’s short,
sharp and scrambly, and if you do the
jump across the twin monoliths at the
very summit, Adam and Eve, then you’re
truly epic.
eryri-npa.gov.uk
visitsnowdonia.info
The highest point in southern Britain is
easy enough to reach from the car park
at Storey Arms – 70 minutes should do
it. This makes it hugely popular with all
ages and abilities, but it’s no pussycat.
There’s a reason why the SAS train here
– and it’s not for the views.
breconbeacons.org
midwalesmyway.com
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White-water rafting
Bounce Below
There are white-water hotspots all over,
including the man-made rapids at Cardiff
International White Water. Up north,
the National White Water Centre lies
on the River Tryweryn, whose waters
are controlled by releases from a dam,
meaning its rapids can still thunder in
the hot summer months.
ciww.com
canoewales.com
So, we’ve got this massive underground
slate cavern. Let’s install four giant
trampoline-like cargo nets, one above
the other, in a space that’s like an alien
cathedral, all connected with slides and
ladders, and lit by psychedelic multicoloured lights. Inspired.
bouncebelow.net
Go gliding
Yes, you could do it in the sea. But then
Surf Snowdonia has created a dream
wave on a man-made lagoon in the
middle of the countryside, a powerful
two-metre wave that peels perfectly for
492 ft (150m) along the Conwy Valley.
surfsnowdonia.co.uk
Go surfing
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Fly with the birds, in the front seat of
a dual-control glider, on a trial flight
with the friendly experts at the North
Wales Gliding Club near Wrexham. The
instructor might even let you take control
if they think you’re up to it.
nwgc.org.uk
Zip World Titan
The world’s biggest zip zone has four
parallel wires so that family and friends
can bomb at up to 70mph (112kph) over a
series of ever-longer stretches over moor,
mountain and mine.
zipworld.co.uk
Jump off a cliff
Terms and conditions apply: go with a
coasteering company. This adventure
sport was invented in Wales, and it’s still
the most thrilling way to see the ravishing
coastline close-up. It’s a combination
of swimming, scrambling and – yes,
occasionally lobbing yourself into crystal
blue-green waters from some lofty ledge.
It’s suitable for confident swimmers from
around eight years up.
visitpembrokeshire.com
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12 Adventure | Find Your Epic
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Walk behind a waterfall
Britain’s greatest concentration of
cascades is in the Waterfall Country at
the eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons
National Park. Some are easily accessible;
others are at the end of a long, glorious
walk through deep wooded gorges.
breconbeacons.org
midwalesmyway.com
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Parks’ Places.
I absolutely love that
stretch of Glamorgan
Heritage Coast around
Ogmore, walking my
dog Ben, and going for
a swim in Dunraven Bay.
Anglesey is great, too. I’ve had a few
holidays up there and, because I’ve
got my motor–racing licence, I do love
the Angelsey Circuit. The backdrop
of mountains is amazing. There’s one
section where I consciously have to fight
not to look at the view and remember
I’m dropping down into a chicane.
Ride on a beach
When you ride a horse through the surf,
it’s pretty hard not to imagine you’re being
filmed for some romantic epic movie. Or
is that just us? Anyway, there are several
places to do it in Wales, including Gower,
Pembrokeshire, Llŷn Peninsula and the
northern coastline.
ridingwales.com
I also love my home, Cardiff Bay. I’ve
lived here over 10 years, and quite apart
from the rich history that it has in polar
exploration, it’s such a beautiful and
vibrant part of Cardiff.
01 Dunraven Bay, Southerndown
02 Snowdonia National Park
Go wild camping
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While the happy glampers are tucked
up in their yurts and tipis (we’ve got lots
of those), the purist will be pitching up
au naturel in some secluded glade. It’s a
lovely experience – just remember to ask
the landowner’s permission, and leave no
trace. For good advice, see
eryri-npa.gov.uk
visitsnowdonia.info
Catch your supper
Food tastes better if you’ve caught/
picked it yourself. Wales is a great place
to try foraging the hedgerows for edibles,
plucking mackerel from the depths, picking samphire from the saltmarshes and
fungi from the woods. There’s lots more
information on
visitwales.com
07 Nefyn & District golf course, Llŷn Peninsula
08 Nant Gwynant, Snowdonia
09 Rhossili beach, Gower Peninsula
10 Sgwd yr Eira, Brecon Beacons
11 Richard Parks in Snowdonia
It doesn’t have to be a beautiful sunny
summer’s day. I love it when it’s really
hostile and blowing a gale and the waves
are crashing. Then there’s the southern
part of Snowdonia, around Dolgellau.
If I had to pick one mountain it would be
Cadair Idris. I love going for a swim in the
lake half-way up, and the whole concept
of the legend behind Cadair, the throne
of the warrior poet. On Snowdon itself,
the route up Crib Goch isn’t the easiest,
but is a genuinely beautiful way to get
to the top.
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Here’s an interesting fact:
Wales has, for its size, the
highest diversity of lichen
species in the world. It’s
not very glamorous, but
it is very important.
Why? Because lichen is incredibly sensitive
to pollution. So the fact that we’ve got such
a wealth of it is a good thing – and there are
lots of environmentalists working to make sure
Wales stays that way.
There’s a strong sense of conservation here.
The red kite is the star example, but there
are others: the UK’s biggest resident pod of
dolphins, seabird colonies of global importance,
seals and porpoises, trees and plants that are
found nowhere else..
This is
Green—
A fifth of the country is covered by National
Parks – more than twice the proportion
of any other UK country. We’ve got five Areas
of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the
first ever to be designated as such, Gower. And while there’s no shortage of natural
beauty, the landscapers have been gently
tweaking bits of Wales for at least a thousand
years. Take the one pictured here, Bodnant
Garden, 80 exquisite acres set above the River
Conwy near Snowdonia. It’s one of dozens of
glorious gardens that are dotted all over the
place. Maybe you can’t improve on nature,
but sometimes it’s fun to try.
wtwales.org
nationalparkswales.gov.uk
visitswanseabay.com
nationaltrust.org.uk
16
Adventure | Matthew Rhys
Words by Charles Williams
visitwales.com
Super Fly Guy.
The actor Matthew Rhys is going back to
New York tomorrow. But there’s still time
for a last family weekend in Snowdonia,
and a shot at some real-life drama in the
Welsh mountains.
We’re standing on top of the mountain
overlooking Blaenau Ffestiniog. It’s one
of those perfect, cloudless days when
the views don’t know when to stop. The
pyramidal summit of Snowdon is one
of dozens of peaks that jab the horizon.
Below us lie the old quarries and spoil
heaps of Blaenau.
Today is his last in Wales for six months.
He’s catching up with family. A whole
tribe of them and their friends have
gathered in Snowdonia to eat, drink,
laugh, dandle babies, jump around
on subterranean trampolines, fly over
abandoned quarries. Muck around,
basically.
The actor Matthew Rhys surveys the
scene. He is wearing a red jump-suit and
a majestic beard, cultivated especially for
a role in a medieval drama, in which he
plays Gruffudd y Blaidd – The Wolf –
a 14th-century Welsh warlord. Grrr.
So this is why we’re standing, in red
jump-suits, on a Welsh mountain in
Blaenau Ffestiniog. The town is at the
geographical heart of the Snowdonia
National Park and yet, when you look
at the road map, it’s a little grey island
in a vast green ocean. When the Park’s
boundaries were drawn in 1951, Blaenau’s
still-booming slate quarries lacked the
requisite chocolate-box charm, and
so it was excluded.
He’s played other Welsh heroes – Dylan
Thomas, notably, in the 2008 film The
Edge of Love – and cracked Hollywood
in the drama Brothers & Sisters, from
which his career has never looked back.
But the beard has to go. Tomorrow.
Matthew’s off back to New York, where
he now lives, to start filming Season 4
of the excellent thriller The Americans,
in which he stars as a Russian spy,
alongside Keri Russell.
Inside the enclave, the slate mining has
mostly vanished, leaving behind an
otherworldly landscape of jagged edges
that is startlingly impressive, in its own
way. They’re talking about re-drawing
the National Park boundary to include
the town.
Not everyone is bothered. Some of
the locals didn’t wait around for others
to decide if industrial ruin could be
repackaged as industrial heritage.
They thought, “Nah. Let’s do it our way.”
(In Welsh, though – it’s the first language
of practically everyone here.)
A group called Antur Stiniog carved
mountain bike trails into the quarried
hills. Another local, a cheerful ex-Royal
Marine called Sean built the world’s
fastest zip wire – a mile-long, 100mph
(160kph) monster – over a quarry at
nearby Penrhyn. Back in Blaenau, his
team made the world’s biggest zipzone: four parallel wires, set over three
different bits of mountain and moor.
Then they added an underground
course of zip lines, rope bridges,
obstacles and tunnels. Zip World now
employs 220 locals, and is building zip
wires all over the world.
We’re doing the one called Zip World
Titan, whose starting point is at the
apex of this mountain.
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Adventure | Matthew Rhys
I feel like James
Bond and I’m
parachuting into
Blofeld’s lair.
We’re not alone. Groups of mountain
bikers arrive by the vanload to hurl
themselves down the black runs of
Antur Stiniog, whooping in a rich variety
of European accents. A few pause to
watch Matthew, his sister Rachel and her
children, Harri and Gwen, clipped on to
their zip wires. They launch into space,
all four in parallel, heading for a landing
zone that’s a kilometre away. Matthew
is humming the James Bond theme.
“Well, you have to, don’t you?” he
says later. “You do feel it’s like a few
experiences rolled into one. You get the
astonishing view, the ‘I’m flying like a
bird,’ and ‘I feel like James Bond and
I’m parachuting into Blofeld’s lair.’”
Didn’t you audition for the part once?
“Ah, yes. It was just before Daniel [Craig]
got it. It wasn’t just me, they auditioned
all my mates, including Ioan [Gruffudd].
You had to read a bit from Casino
Royale, and then the first question
they asked was, ‘What would you do
differently with Bond?’ It sounds daft,
but it was the last thing I expected. It’s a
winning formula, why change it? I didn’t
know what to say. Um… give him a limp?
An eye-patch? A pet parrot? I know,
let’s make him Welsh...” He didn’t get
the part.
The Zip World people, meanwhile, are
rather good at what film people call a
“reboot”. At Blaenau Ffestiniog, they
found themselves wondering what to do
with a huge underground slate cavern.
We know, they said. Let’s bung a giant
trampoline in it. No, let’s go for four
giant trampoline-like cargo nets, one
of top of the other, connected by nylon
snakes and ladders. With some trippy
coloured lighting. It’s called Bounce
Below, and Matthew and family spend
the best part of an hour moon-walking
around its oddly womb-like interior. The
kids pronounce it even better than the
zip wires. Matthew is enjoying himself
hugely, too. But then, he’s the sort of
chap who likes an adventure. “I try and
do an adventurous horse trip every
year,” he says. Excuse me? Horse trip?
It works the other way, too. When
he’s filming in Wales, Matthew always
gives the cast and crew the full Welsh
experience, with both barrels. Put it
like this, Keira Knightley and Sienna
Miller will never forget their night out
in Aberaeron. More recently, he’s been
showing the US team behind Sons of
Anarchy and The Bastard Executioner
around. “You talk to the Americans,
and they’re amazed at how you can get
anything within a couple of hours’ drive.
You want a huge beach, true mountains,
a great coast, castles. It really can offer
everything. Then you come here and
find the landscape is lending itself to…
this.” He holds a hand up to the blue
sky. On cue, four more zip wires scream
overhead. We laugh. It’s good to
be home.
“My dad’s from a big farming family
in Mid Wales. We were shipped off to
my uncle’s farm at holiday time, and
we used to knock around on ponies.
After I left drama school I started to get
into it again. I’m interested in the great
horsemen and women of the world. The
Mongolians, the Bedouin, the Gauchos.
When you’re travelling with them, it’s
a great insight into a country.”
zipworld.co.uk
bouncebelow.net
visitsnowdonia.info
See a short film of Matthew Rhys’s
day in Snowdonia at:
visitwales.com/matthew-rhyssnowdonia
19
20 Family | Sara Cox
visitwales.com
Bolton Wanderer.
The DJ and TV presenter Sara Cox asked
her 760,000 Twitter followers where
she should go on holiday. The answer:
a resounding “Go west!” And so began
a Welsh summer safari that involved a
giraffe, horses, some dolphins… and a
small dog called Beano.
The campaign began on the sofa.
I wanted to holiday in West Wales, but
my husband wasn’t convinced. Who
would win? I went on Twitter and put
it to a public vote.
I’ve always felt an affinity with Wales, and
it’s a place I’ve wanted to explore more.
After a Radio One event in Cardiff the
council declared me an “honorary Welsh
citizen” as I kept talking on the air about
what a great city it is. But other than
a handful of trips, I’d never holidayed
in Wales – just seen the lush greenery
whizz by the car windows.
So, the debate raged for … well, minutes,
to be honest. The Twitter votes were
overwhelming, and I convinced my
darling husband that a week in Wales
would be fabulous – and thankfully,
it was. Hurrah!
The newest member of our family is
Beano, a Maltese terrier. He is basically
my fourth child and so he has to be
included in holidays whenever possible.
We found to our delight that Wales is
extremely dog-friendly, from our doggie
welcome pack at our gorgeous cottage
in Boncath to all those pubs with boards
outside proclaiming “Dogs Welcome”.
On our first afternoon we popped to
Poppit Sands, a 10-minute drive away
from our Boncath base, and were
amazed by the huge gorgeous sandy
beach that was equally split – left for no
dogs, right for dogs. Four-legged friends
of every size and shape were allowed
off the lead (a miracle to me in peak
season) to gallop about the sand. All the
dog owners were very responsible, plus
the beach is so vast that the poodles had
oodles of space and the terriers couldn’t
have been merrier.
A visit to Folly Farm was another
highlight. We had the giraffe experience
and fed a beautiful male called Zulu. It’s
unforgettable. We also spent a brilliant
couple of hours at the undercover
vintage funfair, which we absolutely
loved. I introduced my eldest (who loves
rides so much we’ve nicknamed her
Lolacoaster) to my teen favourite, the
Waltzer, and the little ones loved the
merry-go-rounds. All in all, a fabulous
day out.
Each day we’d visit somewhere new
but always enjoyed returning to Fron
Fawr, a little cluster of pretty cottages
set in stunning countryside reached by
a private lane, meaning all three kids
loved the independence of being able
to wander freely around the grounds to
the swings and sandpit, or to kick a ball
about in the huge garden. Its sister site
is the award-winning Clydey Cottages
nearby where we could swim in the
gorgeous pool or pet the donkeys
and rabbits.
21
I’ll never forget the
feeling of space in
Wales and how, as you
drive through winding
country roads, you’re
always only minutes
away from the trees
dropping away to
reveal a stunning view
of rolling green hills.
Jacqui and Dewi are the owners and
were really helpful in suggesting places
to visit, including Dyfed Riding Centre.
I’ve ridden all my life, and Lola has
been having lessons for about eight
months, but Isaac, my seven-year-old,
had never ridden before. Yet Ninou
(who runs the school alongside husband
Terrance) took us on an unforgettable
hack that was equally enjoyable for us
all – no mean feat! Lola and I had a few
canters; looking back over my shoulder
at my daughter’s beaming smile as she
cantered along behind me was such a
proud moment, I’m filling up as I write!
There’s definitely an animal theme
running through our Welsh adventure
and that continued through to our final
day in Wales: a trip to New Quay to go
on a SeaMor boat trip to spot dolphins.
Our luck was in as a female dolphin and
her calf swam around the boat, just a
couple of metres away. The kids were
completely over the moon. It was so
special to see their eyes light up as they
clung to the boat, splashed by spray and
watching out for wildlife. It couldn’t be
further removed from gawping slackjawed at a glowing screen, something
every parent battles against. On board
we had a fascinating chat about the
Dog treats.
Around 35% of Welsh
households have a dog
– that’s well above the
UK national average.
So it’s no surprise (but
still very nice) when
visitors like Sara tell
us how notably dogfriendly Wales is.
01—
02—
history of the coastline from the captain
and two marine biologists who talked us
through the contents of the lobster pots
we pulled up.
We were sad to pack up and leave Wales
but vowed to return – I’ve promised my
mum we’ll take her to Boncath one day
soon. I’ll treat her to fish and chips from
the famous Bowen’s in St Dogmaels and
we’ll scoff them in the shadow of the
ruins of St Dogmaels Abbey.
03—
I’ll never forget the feeling of space in
Wales and how, as you drive through
winding country roads, you’re always
only minutes away from the trees
dropping away to reveal a stunning view
of rolling green hills. I’m glad I persuaded
my husband to try Wales and so is he.
To slightly misquote Arnie, we’ll be back.
fronfawr.co.uk
folly-farm.co.uk
facebook.com/dyfedridingcentre
seamor.org
visitpembrokeshire.com
discoverceredigion.co.uk
Many of our hotels, guest houses,
cottages, caravans, pubs and cafés
welcome dogs. And there’s plenty of
room for them to run off the leash,
both on the mountains and 870-mile
(1,400km) coastline.
01 Folly Farm
02 Poppit Sands
03 Dolphin, Cardigan Bay
Most beaches allow dogs, although
a few popular bathing areas have
no-dog rules in summer. Some nature
reserves may also be restricted, and
there are farm animals to consider,
too, which means taking a little extra
care during the lambing season, which
peaks in March. It’s all about common
sense, really. And dog owners are
clever people. It’s why we have dogs.
Animal attractions
Sara Cox’s family loved their day out
at Folly Farm. Here are three more
zoological places to enjoy:
Stable relationship
And three more riding centres for Sara
(and you) to try, from the dozens listed
here: visitwales.com/horse-riding
Welsh Mountain Zoo, Colwyn Bay
Parc-Le-Breos, Gower
The Chimp Encounter, Sea Lion Feeding
and Winged Wonders display are among
the twice-daily highlights at this zoo,
set high above Colwyn Bay. They’re also
helping in the fight to save endangered
species from around the world, including
the zoo’s own snow leopards, red pandas
and Sumatran tigers.
welshmountainzoo.orgwheelyboats.org
The Gower Peninsula’s trump card is the
diversity of riding terrain packed into a
small space: beaches, clifftops, marshes
and moorland all feature. Here’s a good
place for riders of all abilities, with halfdays to full weeks available.
parc-le-breos.co.uk
Manor Wildlife Park, Pembrokeshire
Based near Betws-y-Coed and
surrounded by National Trust and
Natural Resources Wales forestry, they’ve
got 30 horses and a big range of options
for distance and duration. We rather like
the sound of their “pub ride”.
horse-riding-wales.co.uk
Children love the walkthrough enclosures
of wallabies and lemurs at TV presenter
Anna Ryder Richardson’s zoo near Tenby.
The meerkats and rhinos are also a big
draw, while Anna herself is often around,
chatting with visitors about the Park’s
strong conservation message.
annaswelshzoo.co.uk
Anglesey Sea Zoo, Brynsiencyn
The zoo’s Lobster Hatchery and Seahorse
Nursery are committed to restocking the
seas, and they’ve got a big selection of
critters you’d find in Welsh waters, set out
imaginatively in the No Bone Zone, Shark
Pool and Kelp Forest.
angleseyseazoo.co.uk
Gwydyr Stables, Snowdonia
Freerein, Powys
Bespoke self-guided riding holidays
are the speciality here: they provide a
fit and friendly horse, route maps, and
accommodation. You just bring a sense
of adventure and up to a week of your
time to amble the hills of Mid Wales. They
also do guided tours and learn-to-ride
holidays.
free-rein.co.uk
23
Meet Mr Gareth Bale, the
world’s most expensive
footballer, and his
teammates. They’re off
to France this year. Wales
have qualified for the
2016 UEFA European
Championships, their
first major tournament
since 1958.
This is
Sport—
Mr Bale helped, of course. But it’s a remarkable
team effort – their #TogetherStronger ethos
says it all – that has seen them rise into the top
10 FIFA world rankings.
Our rugby team’s not bad, either. Okay, so
we didn’t win the Rugby World Cup. But we
did reach the quarter-finals, and won four Six
Nations titles between 2005 and 2013, and
supplied the bulk of the 2013 British Lions.
In the past couple of years we’ve produced
world champions and gold medallists in sports
as diverse as cycling, swimming, gymnastics,
boxing and taekwondo. We’re also rather good
at hosting major events, like the Ryder Cup
golf tournament, Ashes Test cricket, the Tour
of Britain cycling race, the Wales Rally GB,
Extreme Sailing in Cardiff Bay and Red Bull Cliff
Diving. Oh, and next year, we’ve got the UEFA
Champions League final. Pop that one in
your diary.
26 Adventure | The Big Bike
Words by Iestyn George
visitwales.com
This is what freedom feels like.
Three friends, five days, mountain biking
in Wales, from North to South, up the
hills and down the slopes. Hurtling
through river beds, stopping off at
ancient ruins and passing through the
historic towns of Mid Wales. Watching
red kites circling in the sky, grabbing the
odd nap in the sunshine, tasting misty
rain and learning big lessons in life.
Lesson 01—
Chucking yourself in at the deep end is
not such a bad idea.
Lesson 02—
The paths marked on an OS Map only
tell half the story.
Lesson 03—
There’s nothing quite like the buzz
of a trail centre car park.
We kick off our five-day off-road biking
odyssey in Snowdonia, starting at the
Bedol Inn in at Tal-y-Bont, with a cruel
mountain climb. If nothing else it’s a
quick way of ascertaining the fitness
levels of our party. There are three of
us on the ride. Peter is a machine and
Rob manages to keep up with him,
despite being weighed down by camera
equipment. Meanwhile, I settle in at the
back of the bunch, taking in the views
as I ride. Having reached the top of
the climb, our reward comes from the
views across Llyn Cowlyd. The deepest
lake in North Wales is mentioned in
the Mabinogion, the oldest storytelling
manuscripts in the history of Britain.
It’s a pretty dramatic introduction to
the adventures to come.
The boggy conditions underfoot make
it treacherous even to walk along Llyn
Cowlyd. It takes us the best part of four
hours to cover nine miles (14km). We
manage to push and carry our bikes
up and over the valley and retire to
the Bryn Tyrch Inn in Capel Curig for a
morale-boosting glass of Purple Moose
Snowdonia Ale from Porthmadog. We
retire to our lovely log cabin a short
drive away in Trawsfynydd to feast on
pasta and watch our shoes dry out in
front of the fire.
Coed y Brenin was the first trail centre
for mountain bikes in the UK and
recently became the first dedicated
centre for trail running. The car park
is buzzing with bikers and runners of
all ages and sizes. Everyone seems
high on adrenaline and small talk. It’s
brilliant. The visitor centre is a beautifully
designed circular space, made of wood
and elegantly rusting sheet metal. Coed
y Brenin has eight biking trails ranging
from gentle green trails along the
bottom of the valley to daunting black
runs. We spend the day picking our way
along the MinorTaur and Cyflym Coch
trails – the Gain Waterfall and remnants
of the Gwynfynydd gold mine among
the welcome distractions.
27
28
Adventure | The Big Bike
Lesson 06—
e-bikes are the future.
The rest of us head for Nant yr Arian
to meet Sam and Nathan, who run
an Aladdin’s cave of biking called
Cyclemart, near Pencader. Sam and
Nathan are e-bike evangelists. The latest
generation of assisted bikes are full-spec
machines which give you that extra bit
of oomph when you really need it. It’s
not a free ride by any means. They’re a
blast around Nant yr Arian, more than
halving those tedious climbs to the top
of the trails. All the more time to spend
marvelling at the breathtaking views
across the Melindwr Valley towards
Aberystwyth.
There’s nothing
quite like the
buzz of a trail
centre car park.
Lesson 04—
Don’t miss the venison burgers at
Coed y Brenin.
Lesson 05—
Sometimes, even the best-laid plans
have to be abandoned.
Aside from the communing with nature,
the adrenaline and the camaraderie, the
big plus of spending a day in the saddle is
that you get to eat. A lot. We lunched on
locally-sourced venison burgers at Coed
y Brenin. Later in the day we feasted on
Welsh lamb and beef at Y Sospan (The
Saucepan), a converted 17th-century
jailhouse in Dolgellau, a 12th-century
town nearby. Y Sospan doubles up as
one of the best-known tea rooms in
Wales and is a must for any cake lover
passing through Dolgellau during
the day.
The Dyfi Valley is renowned for its
mountain biking trails, so we head to
the historic town of Machynlleth, where
the last Welsh Prince of Wales held
parliament in the 15th century. The plan
is to ride the 20 miles (32km) or so to
the Bwlch Nant yr Arian trail centre. But
we’re running late and we have people
to meet. Peter, who is the fittest of the
pack, sticks to his guns and heads off on
the Mach 3 trail, equipped with GPS coordinates, a backpack full of flapjacks
and our very best wishes.
“You can see why these bikes are taking
off and why they’re perfect for biking
in Wales,” enthuses Nathan. “You can
explore across much greater distances
and still have all the fun you’d have on
a normal bike.”
He’s not wrong. Peter, who makes it
to Nant yr Arian on his trusty hardtail
(squeezing in a 20-minute snooze on
the way) bombs around the trails to his
heart’s content.
Lesson 07—
Give yourself time to commune
with nature.
In glorious weather, we see the sky fill
with dozens of red kites for the daily
3pm feed at Nant yr Arian. It’s hard to
believe these birds, with a wing span
in excess of six feet (2m), were ever an
endangered species. Their continued
existence is thanks in part to the
foresight of landowners in this area
setting up a protection programme.
From near extinction in the 1970s
there are now over 600 breeding
pairs in Wales.
Lesson 08—
Make sure your adventures are not all
on two wheels.
We stay in the Hafod Hotel overlooking
Devil’s Bridge (featured in spooky Welsh
noir BBC4 series Hinterland). But with
weather this good the pull of the seaside
draws us to nearby Aberystwyth. As the
sun sets over the Victorian promenade
and pier of this thriving university town
we devour Patagonian meatballs in
Gwesty Cymru and delicate Welsh
pizzas at Baravin. These are just two of
several good places to eat and drink
in Aber. We’ll be back to try the rest
another time.
Lesson 09—
Don’t forget to take in the sights.
You can’t really stay at Devil’s Bridge
without visiting the waterfalls and the
curious three tiers of bridges spanning
the Mawddach river, dating back to
1901, 1753 and the original 11th-century
structure. The latter was built by Satan
himself, according to local folklore.
Having worked off our sumptuous
breakfast we head off towards the
serenity of Strata Florida and to the
12th-century Cistercian Abbey that
marks the start of our ride. This is where
generations of the influential House of
Dinefwr are buried, as well as one of the
greatest Welsh poets, Dafydd ap Gwilym.
All images - Carmarthenshire
29
30 Adventure | The Big Bike
The Big Bike route
Lesson 12—
When it gets dark – eat.
Lesson 10—
Remember to embrace your
inner child.
With blue skies above and countless
streams to splash through, we belt
our way from Strata Florida along the
Doethie Valley across largely dry river
beds whooping and hollering with
childlike enthusiasm. There are times
when we end up cycling through water
up to our knees. In November this would
be grim work, but today it’s joyous. This
is completely unconfined wild biking,
with no soul to be seen along the way.
This is what freedom feels like.
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
Lesson 11—
Cheating has its rewards, sometimes.
We take a wrong turn and end up
spending 90 minutes practically wading
through marshy long grass carrying our
bikes. Wisely, we choose to find a more
reliable route by road. This is technically
cheating, as we vowed to plot our way
through Wales across country. But
there are no regrets in following the
road around Llyn Brianne, an enormous
reservoir supplying large parts of South
Wales. We drink in the stunning views
and bask in the sunshine.
2
9
10
11
01 Heading towards Llyn Brianne
02 Llandovery-bound
1. Tal y Bont / Llyn Cowlyd
2. Capel Curig
3. Porthmadog
4. Trawsfynydd
5. Coed y Brenin
6. Dyfi Valley
7. Devil’s Bridge
8. Strata Florida
9. Llyn Brianne
10. Llandovery
11. Afan Valley
01—
02—
Sometimes you just can’t climb off the
bike. The glorious sunset keeps us in our
saddles past dusk, even though we’re
running on empty. We eventually reach
the ancient Carmarthenshire town of
Llandovery. After a quick shower we’re
welcomed by the good folk at The Indian
Lounge. It doesn’t take long for our
fuel gauges to hit full once again - the
restorative powers of garam masala
should never be underestimated.
Lesson 13—
Sometimes it rains in Wales –
we’re OK with that.
After several days of sunshine, it’s
almost a relief to feel the misty rain
on our faces as we head off to the
last leg of our journey at Afan Forest.
Nobody voices any apprehensions about
charging around the place they call little
Switzerland in the wet. It’s all part of
the fun.
Lesson 14—
When you go off piste, take an expert
with you.
The beating heart of bike riding around
this area is Ben Threlfall, who runs
the Afan Valley Bike Shed. There are
five trails and over 62 miles (100km)
to explore – all you have to pay is a £1
parking fee. It’s ridiculous. Ben recently
started an Afan Off Piste service, where
he guides visitors around some of the
routes less travelled. Visibility is so poor
we can barely see 20 yards (18m) in front
of us, never mind the unforgettable
views down the Afan Valley. Nobody’s
complaining, though. These are the
kind of rides you could spend a lifetime
looking for. We crash through woodland
and career down steep, stony paths. It’s
not for the faint-hearted; but having
Ben to guide us makes it another
unforgettable experience.
We warm up with hot chocolate and a
shower, adrenaline still coursing through
our veins. Ben sums up the trip better
than any of us. “I’m guessing you’ve seen
a lot over the past five days. But even
after four years living in the Afan Valley
I’m always finding new places
to explore.”
We stayed at...
The Hafod Hotel
thehafodhotel.wordpress.com
The Level Crossing bunkhouse
thelevelcrossing.co.uk
We ate at...
Y Sospan bistro
ysospan.co.uk
Gwesty Cymru
gwestycymru.com
Baravin
baravin.co.uk
Indian Lounge
34–36 High Street, Llandovery
We visited these trail centres...
Coed y Brenin
beicsbrenin.co.uk
Bwlch Nant yr Arian
naturalresources.wales
Afan Forest Park
afanforestpark.co.uk
afanvalleybikeshed.co.uk
and these areas...
visitsnowdonia.info
discoverceredigion.co.uk
discovercarmarthenshire.com
visitswanseabay.com
We took expert advice
Our trip was inspired by the Welsh Coast
2 Coast tour put together by expert
biker and journalist Max Darkins.
Check out the details of his tours at:
roughrideguide.co.uk
Quick tips for the ride
Trail centre tips
Don’t worry about being weighed down
by spare inner tubes, or basic bike
maintenance tools. You’ll hardly notice
them once you’re riding and they’re a
must – unless you planned to spend your
visit pushing a bike for hours on end.
All trails are colour coded:
Black: severe
Red: difficult
Blue: intermediate
Green: novice
Make sensible plans to meet up with
members of your party who aren’t
riding. Have a Plan A and a Plan B.
Keep eating and drinking. You might not
be covering dozens of miles, but you’ll
be in the saddle all day and you’ll need to
keep yourself energised.
Accept that there will be times when
riding conditions are impossible,
whatever it might say on the map. Work
your way towards the nearest road and
rethink your plans. Some of our most
memorable rides happened when we
did this.
Always ride with at least one partner
– and not just for safety. People won’t
believe you when you tell them about
the beautiful and dramatic sights you’ve
seen, so you’ll need someone to back
you up.
And we made a film...
To see us in action, go to:
visitwales.com/big-bike
03 Antur Stiniog, Blaenau Ffestiniog
04 Coed y Brenin trail centre, Dolgellau
03—
04—
False courage may get you into trouble.
If you have little experience of riding
over loose rocks, or negotiating sharp
turns at speed, you’ll enjoy your riding
much more if you stick to the blue runs.
Most of the trail centres in Wales offer
bike hire facilities. You’ll need fullsuspension bikes to tackle the tougher
trails, however experienced you may
be. Best contact the trails centre bike
shop well in advance and ask for advice.
Most people who work at these centres
are experienced riders and are only too
happy to help.
Many of the mountain bike trails in
Wales charge for parking only. Some will
provide an uplift service (where a minibus takes you and your bike to the high
point of the trail) for an extra charge.
To maintain your energy levels and keep
you riding all day, check out the food on
offer in advance of your visit. It’s usually
hearty fare and often very reasonablypriced. You really wouldn’t want to miss
out on the amazing locally-sourced
venison burgers at Coed y Brenin!
31
To be born in Wales
(according to the slogan
on gift shop tea towels)
is to have music in your
blood and poetry in your
soul. We wouldn’t put
it quite like that, but we
are a country in which
singing at an Eisteddfod
is considered as normal
as riding a bike. It’s just
something we do.
This is
Art—
You don’t even have to be born here: plenty of
artists move here to live and work (and you’re
very welcome). Making things, painting stuff,
writing poetry and music – being an artist, in
whatever sense – is an honourable trade
in Wales.
Our creative talents stretch from the tiny local
gallery to the big screen. We’re also rather
good at TV: we make mainstream series like
Doctor Who and Sherlock, but also homegrown noir drama like Hinterland, and big US
productions like Da Vinci’s Demons,
pictured here.
The Welsh language has its own artistic culture
that goes even deeper. One example: there’s
a long-running BBC Radio Cymru programme
called Y Talwrn, in which teams of poets
compete. Think about that: competitive poetry
as popular entertainment. Maybe the teatowels are right.
34 Open Country | Nathan Stephens
visitwales.com
Nathan Stephens is a Paralympic
javelin world champion and record
holder. He’s also represented Great
Britain at ice sledge hockey. Now he
works as talent officer for the Disability
Sport Wales Academy, coaching the
next generation of Welsh athletes.
I was rugby and football mad as a kid.
My grandad put bets on me being the
next Welsh prop, because I was quite
a little chunky monkey as a youngster.
So sport was always in my blood.
On my ninth birthday, I lost my legs in
a train accident. At the time it seemed
like a huge tragedy, but unbeknown to
me and my family it was the start of a
great new adventure.
I’ve tried most sports. My parents were
keen to give me opportunities to try as
many sports as I possibly could. Later,
I wanted to find my own niche, and ice
sledge hockey was it. It’s an adrenalinefilled sport that really got me back on my
feet, so to speak. It opened the doors to
everything else that followed. Sport gave
me a focus, but it didn’t really become
serious until I was 14 or 15 and started
athletics and realised I was pretty
good at it.
It’s like being a gladiator. It’s hard to
describe that feeling, when you’re
walking out into a stadium to defeat
your enemies, with thousands of people
watching. To have that GB vest on is a
tremendously proud experience, and to
have your family in the crowd tops it all
off. The gold medals and world records
were the icing on the cake.
We’ve just set a new world record
for downhill mountain biking. We
descended for 24 hours continuously
at Antur Stiniog for Project ENDURO
[prototype four-wheeled downhill
mountain bikes]. We rode through the
night, and my first morning ride was
just as the sun was rising above the
Snowdonia mountain range. It was
phenomenal, I loved it.
The West Wales coastline is amazing.
I was in Aberystwyth a couple of weeks
back and that was great. I do a lot of
work in North Wales now, especially
at Plas Menai [the National Outdoors
Centre], and the drive up the A470
through the mountains is lovely. There
are so many places I want to visit.
One day I’m going to get a camper
van and take a tour.
I’m a keen surfer. I love going to the
Gower Peninsula, and I spend a lot of
time down in St David’s and Freshwater
West in Pembrokeshire. I’ve grown up
with the sea, having been brought up
not far from Rest Bay in Porthcawl. I just
love sitting there watching the tides roll
in. It’s special.
I had my stag do in St David’s. We had a
surfing weekend, me and my best mates
in a camper van in a field, with our surf
boards, Hawaiian theme, night surfing,
the lot. It was amazing.
35
36
Open Country | Nathan Stephens
My mates call me Stumpy. Actually,
I kind of called myself that as a way of
getting over my disability. I was fed up
with other people calling me legless,
so I thought, if I just give myself the
nickname, it gets rid of that stigma.
You can’t hurt me with those words.
So what else have you got to say to me?
People are sometimes afraid to ask me
what happened. With all the injured
servicemen and women who’ve come
out of Afghanistan and Iraq, people
have become more aware. Most people
with a disability are quite open to the
fact. Ask me a question, and I’ll give you
an answer. It’s better than you sitting
there, wondering. We want people to
be more aware of the different types of
disability out there, and we’re cracking
on with it. That’s one of the great things
we’re doing with Disability Sport Wales:
breaking down that perception barrier.
Everyone will have some disability in
their life, one way or another. It could
be physical or mental, or just when you
have barriers put in front of you because
of your demographic or where you live.
It’s about how you deal with it; how
you push forward and break down
those barriers.
My wedding was an adventure in itself.
My wife loves to dance, so she asked,
can you put the leg on to have a proper
first dance? I hadn’t put the left leg
on for about 10 years, so we worked
tirelessly for about six months. It was so
hard, but worth it – it was a tremendous
evening. But the best thing was actually
to walk down the aisle holding my wife’s
hand. I’m usually in the chair or on
crutches, so my hands are always in use.
It sounds strange, but I’d never held my
wife’s hand before.
I tried Gangnam Style, too. I managed it
for about 10 seconds, but by then my leg
was in so much pain I had to hobble away
and take it off!
@javelinstephens
disabilitysportwales.com
projectenduro.co.uk
plasmenai.co.uk
anturstiniong.com
visitsnowdonia.info
discoverceredigion.co.uk
visitpembrokeshire.com
visitswanseabay.com
Climb Snowdon
There’s ramped wheelchair access to the
Snowdon Mountain Railway’s little trains,
which’ll take you all the way to Hafod
Eryri, the striking café and visitor centre
at the summit of Wales’s and England’s
highest mountain. On a clear day you can
see Ireland, England, Scotland and the
Isle of Man.
snowdonrailway.co.uk
Go fishing
01 Project ENDURO in action
at Antur Stiniog, Blaenau Ffestiniog
02 Nathan Stephens
01—
Open country.
We want to make
everything in Wales
accessible to everyone,
whether it’s the top
of a mountain or the
bottom of a mine. The
best place to start is
our website visitwales.
com but here are just
a few ideas to be going
along with.
02—
National Museums
Coasteering
Each of our seven National Museums
has a robust access-all-areas policy,
which even extends to the bottom of
the coal mine at the Big Pit National
Coal Museum. They’re also very good at
providing full sensory experiences for
any kind of disability, so each museum
can be enjoyed in a myriad of ways.
museumwales.ac.uk
Wales invented this ridiculously fun sport,
and providers like Celtic Quest don’t see
why everyone shouldn’t have a crack.
They’ve tailored courses so that anyone
can explore their adventure limits at their
own level. They run trips for deaf, blind,
hearing and visually impaired children
and adults, people with a learning and/or
physical disability – anyone who doesn’t
mind getting wet, basically.
celticquestcoasteering.com
Storm the castle
Castles were designed to keep people
out, so they’re notoriously tricky for
wheelchair users. Still, that hasn’t
stopped us from making as many of
them as accessible as possible. Cardiff
Castle’s a good example: lifts and ramps
have managed to defeat most of the
Roman, Norman and Victorian obstacles.
cardiffcastle.com
Horse power
The horses and ponies of the Riding for
the Disabled charity provide therapy and
enjoyment to people with disabilities
all over Wales and the UK. The Clwyd
Special Riding Centre deserves special
mention, welcoming more than
200 people of all ages every week.
clwydspecialridingcentre.org.uk
rda.org.uk
The Wheelyboat Trust was set up to
give access for disabled anglers on its
large fleet of wheelchair-accessible
Wheelyboats. In Wales they’ve got
them at 10 lakes and reservoirs, spread
nice ’n’ evenly throughout the country.
wheelyboats.org
Explore the coast
A lot of the Wales Coast Path has long, flat
stretches – 12 tarmacked miles (19km) in
the case of the Millennium Coastal Path
in Llanelli. But they’ve opened up some
of the less obvious bits, too. For instance,
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park has
created “Easy Access” and “Adventure”
walks for varying capabilities, in some
of the wilder, woollier stretches. They
also hire out beach wheelchairs at
six locations.
walescoastpath.gov.uk
pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk
Cardiff Castle
Red kite spotting
It’s pretty easy to spot kites in Wales
(just look up) but the many special
feeding stations usually have hides with
wheelchair access. Bwlch Nant yr Arian is
particularly good, with waymarked trails
that are built specially for people with
restricted mobility.
naturalresources.wales
visitwales.com/explore/accessible-wales
Yes, we have Michelin
stars, smart urban
brasseries, sumptuous
country houses and
oodles of gastropubs.
But the revolution in
Welsh food and drink has
been happening quietly
in unexpected places.
Take the Marram Grass Café boys in this
picture. They run a caravan-site café, basically.
It doesn’t need to be this good… but it is.
The food revolution isn’t even that
revolutionary. It’s more a rediscovery of what
Wales does superbly well: first-rate local
ingredients, cooked simply with passion,
honesty and flair. Lamb from the mountains
and saltmarshes. Welsh Black beef. Catch
of the day, from a marvellous 870-mile
(1,400km) coastline. Breweries at the bottom
of the garden. Distilleries, vineyards and cider
orchards. Lobster rolls on a beach. Wood-fired
pizza in a big tipi. DIY charcuterie. Cuttingedge street food.
All of it local, sustainable, made by people
who love what they do – and utterly delicious.
themarramgrass.com
This is
Taste—
40 Culture | Roald Dahl
visitwales.com
visitwales.com
Words by David Atkinson
Illustration © Quentin Blake 1998 from
The Roald Dahl Treasury by Roald Dahl
Fantastic Mr Dahl.
Born in Cardiff in 1916, Roald Dahl
left Wales as a teenage boy, exiled to
boarding school. But Wales never left
him. Wales represented home, happiness
and holidays with his own children. A
hundred years on, we’re welcoming him
back for a year of unexpected pleasures.
Roald Dahl was the master of the
unexpected. The inspired imagination
of the world’s greatest storyteller
conjured up a host of astonishing
characters. But what many of his
readers don’t realise is that Dahl was
actually born in Wales. And this year we
remember Dahl’s literary legacy with a
huge programme of cultural events to
celebrate the centenary of his birth.
Dahl was born in Cardiff to a Norwegian
family on 13 September 1916. The day
is now commemorated globally as
Roald Dahl Day. His stories have been
translated into 58 languages and sold
more than 200 million books worldwide.
Many of his creations have already been
adapted for stage and screen, notably
Willy Wonka and Matilda, while the
next major adaptation will be Steven
Spielberg’s version of The BFG — out
this summer.
Look out this September, too, for
“City of the Unexpected”, a Cardiff-wide
performance celebrating all things
Dahl. Other events throughout the
year include a Dahl-themed concert at
the Wales Millennium Centre, and Dahl
events at the Hay Festival and Cardiff
Children’s Literature Festival.
Wales was clearly important to Dahl for
its inspirational landscape, treasured
childhood memories and formative
storytelling experiences. But expect
the unexpected this year. As the author
himself writes in his last children’s story,
The Minpins: “Watch with glittering eyes
the whole world around you because
the greatest secrets are always hidden
in the most unlikely places.”
For more about Roald Dahl 100 events,
see the events diary; as well as
roalddahl.com
41
42 Culture | Roald Dahl
Wales of the
Unexpected:
12 things you wouldn’t
expect to find in Wales.
Those who don’t
believe in magic will
never find it.
Llandaff—
Cardiff—
Tenby—
Dahl spent his early childhood in the
Llandaff area of Cardiff. From autumn
1923 he went to Llandaff Cathedral
School, situated in the shadow of the
towering Gothic cathedral. And it was
here, aged just seven years old, that he
developed his sense of mischief while
admiring the sherbet suckers and tonsil
ticklers at the sweet shop on the High
Street (where a blue plaque now marks
the spot).
Cardiff was the focal point for Dahl’s early
life. His Oslo-born father, Harald, came
to the Welsh capital to seek his fortune
in the late 19th-century iron-making and
coal-mining boom.
The Dahl family holidayed each Easter
in the stately Pembrokeshire resort of
Tenby. They stayed in the same property,
The Cabin, every year and he describes
in My Year, the diary written in the last
year of his life, tales of winkle-picking
and donkey rides on the beach at Tenby.
Holidays here were a tradition Dahl
continued with his own children. In a
1933 letter, he wrote, “An Easter holidays
is hardly an Easter holidays without
Tenby.” The Grade I-listed property
remains in the ownership of the Dahl
family and it is still available to rent as
a holiday home.
visitpembrokeshire.com
Dahl recounts the legendary Great Mouse
Plot, a scheme to leave a dead mouse in a
jar of gobstoppers to frighten the miseryguts proprietor, in his first autobiography,
Boy: Tales of Childhood. “Mrs Pratchett,”
he writes, “was a small, skinny old hag
with a moustache on her upper lip and a
mouth as sour as a green gooseberry.”
The plot worked perfectly … until, that
is, Mrs Pratchett reported the boys to the
school and Dahl was punished with a
caning. visitcardiff.com
The family regularly attended the
nearby Norwegian Church, established
in Cardiff in 1868 by the Norwegian
Seamen’s Mission, and the young Roald
was christened here in 1916. Today the
building is known as the Norwegian
Church Arts Centre and the nearby
Oval Basin in Cardiff Bay has been
reverentially renamed Roald Dahl Plass.
At the age of nine, Dahl set out for
boarding school in Weston-super-Mare,
Somerset. He would travel on an old
steamer ship from Cardiff Docks and
suffered from terrible homesickness for
his house and family in Wales. During his
first term he faked a remarkably accurate
appendicitis and was sent home across
the Bristol Channel. But even the master
storyteller couldn’t get away with it
every time; a kindly doctor let him have
a couple of days at home before the boy
had to return to school. visitcardiff.com
Laugharne—
Dahl also holidayed in Laugharne,
Carmarthenshire, where he visited Dylan
Thomas’s writing shed on the estuary.
The tiny shed may even have inspired
him to build his own writing hut at his
home in the Buckinghamshire village of
Great Missenden.
Dahl was a great admirer of Dylan
Thomas’s work. In a 1970 interview, Dahl
revealed that hearing Thomas read his
own poetry was “the most beautiful thing
you’ve ever heard.” Dahl even included
the poem “In Country Sleep” in his
much-loved story, Matilda. As the little
girl accompanies her teacher, Miss Honey,
home for tea, they pause at the garden
gate, and Miss Honey tells her that “a
poet called Dylan Thomas once wrote
some lines that I think of every time I
walk up this path,” before reciting the
opening stanza,
“Never and never, my girl riding far and
near / In the land of the hearthstone tales,
and spelled asleep.”
Matilda whispers, “It’s like music.”
Miss Honey responds, “It is music.”
discovercarmarthenshire.com
09—
06—
A ginormous greenhouse
The world’s largest single-span
glasshouse lies, like a crashed spaceship,
in the middle of our National Botanic
Garden of Wales in Llanarthne.
gardenofwales.org.uk
07—
A Roman amphitheatre
The most complete Roman amphitheatre
in Britain – a whopping 6,000-seater – is
now the venue for our National Roman
Legion Museum in Caerleon.
museumwales.ac.uk
01—
Whistling sands
Beaches are supposed to just lie there
and look pretty, but Porth-oer’s sands
make a weird squeaking noise when
you walk across them. This very rare
phenomenon is caused by, um, science.
visitsnowdonia.info
08—
10—
02—
09—
French impressionists
In the early 20th century, sisters
Gwendoline and Margaret Davies
splashed the family fortune on a vast
collection of world-class art. They
bequeathed 260 paintings to the nation;
you can see the best of them at the
National Museum in Cardiff.
museumwales.ac.uk
An underground trampoline
Actually, four huge trampoline-like
nets, one above the other, in the vast
underground cathedral of an old
slate mine.
bouncebelow.net
10—
An Italian village
Hidden at the foot of a wooded
valley, where a river meets the sea,
Portmeirion is an absurd fantasy made
glorious reality.
portmeirion-village.com
03—
Dolphins and porpoises
The UK’s biggest resident pod of dolphins
spends its summers in Cardigan Bay.
Stand on the harbour wall at New Quay
and you’re pretty much guaranteed to
spot one.
cbmwc.org
04—
Gold mines
The Romans didn’t come here for the
beaches, you know. They came for
precious metals, and you can still pan for
gold at their old workings in Dolaucothi.
nationaltrust.org.uk
Lord Hereford’s Knob
It’s a big mountain at the eastern edge
of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Its
Welsh name is Twmpa. And that is all we
have to say on the matter.
breconbeacons.org
11—
11—
Britain’s best beach
Rhossili regularly gets voted the best
beach in Britain, and in the world top
10. This immediately sparks heated pub
debates among Welsh people who
think it’s great but Barafundle/
Whitesand/Tresaith/Abersoch,
etc, etc, are even better.
visitswanseabay.com
05—
12—
Britain’s oldest tree
Several ancient British yews claim the
title, but experts reckon the daddy of
them all stands in the churchyard of
St Cynog’s at Defynnog in the Brecon
Beacons. It’s 5,000 years old – that’s
older than Stonehenge or the pyramids.
breconbeacons.org
White-water rapids
Yes, we’ve got lots on our rivers. But
these Olympic-standard rapids roar and
tumble through the man-made course in
Cardiff Bay, where indoor surfing (really)
is also on offer.
visitcardiff.com
ciww.com
43
44 Festivals | Five of the best
visitwales.com
The fest is yet to come.
There are dozens of festivals in Wales.
Art, music, culture, food, drama, dance,
film, wool... yes, wool. Thousands of
performers and hundreds of thousands
of festivalgoers come to Wales every
year to be part of the story. Here’s just
a handful of the best we have to offer.
Festival No.6
If you think it’s a bit much to describe
the setting of Festival No.6 as one of
the most stunning in the world, then
you’ve probably never visited the
village of Portmeirion. This wonderfully
eccentric slice of Mediterranean serenity
overlooking the estuary of the River
Dwyryd has splendid views over the
water to the Snowdonia mountain range.
The festival itself is just as compelling,
with music, talks and an unforgettable
choral performance to greet each
sunset. festivalnumber6.com
Green Man Festival
Located in the shadow of the Brecon
Beacons, Green Man is the biggest
music and arts festival in Wales. It still
manages to retain a friendly intimacy,
using every nook and cranny of the lush
Glanusk Estate outside Crickhowell for
its 17 stages and countless food and drink
outlets. It has evolved into a landmark
event on the European festival calendar.
greenman.net
SŴN Festival
An urban music festival which takes
place across numerous venues across
Cardiff. The emphasis is very much on
emerging talent, so you’ll see tribes of
indie kids traipsing excitedly from one
place to the next in search of the next
big thing, bringing a unique buzz to the
capital city. swnfest.com
The Good Life Experience
Set on the Flintshire estate of 19thcentury Prime Minister William
Gladstone, the Good Life Festival is the
brainchild of broadcaster and performer
Cerys Matthews and husband Steve
Abbott, along with farmers and authors
Charlie and Caroline Gladstone. Its broad
remit is to go in search of the good life
– and along with the staples of music,
food and drink, it also features butchery
displays and axe throwing. But not at the
same time. thegoodlifeexperience.co.uk
Gottwood
An electronic music festival tucked
away in a wooded corner of Anglesey,
Gottwood is rapidly becoming one of the
favourite underground events on the
European festival circuit. With numerous
stages and a relatively small capacity,
festival goers frequently mention that
the four-day experience has the intimacy
of a house party with all your favourite
DJs playing at it. gottwood.co.uk
45
The Manic Street Preachers are one
of the most successful Welsh bands
of all time. They’ve played all over
the world, so it seemed reasonable
enough to ask Manics frontman, James
Dean Bradfield, how he would go
about staging the band’s own musical
celebration.
Green Man and Festival No.6 are great
events in their own right, but my natural
inclination would be to take this festival
in the opposite direction. It needs to be
an event that stands completely apart
from that sense of wholesome inclusivity.
I want it to be more mono than stereo,
if you know what I mean.
The White Penguin at
Big Pit will keep people
guessing; and I kinda
like that.
01 Green Man Festival, Crickhowell
02 James Dean Bradfield
03/04/05/06 Festival No.6, Portmeirion
The first thing I want to get right for
this festival is the location – the post
industrial backdrop of the former
coal mine at Big Pit in Blaenavon. It’s
a reminder of what made us – the
Industrial Revolution. I can see all these
relics of industry cutting stark shapes
against the night sky.
I like the idea of redressing the balance.
Taking away the distraction from what
you came to the festival for in the first
place. So there will be a stall – bread.
There will be a stall – meat. There will be
a stall – soup. There will be a stall – beer.
And there will be a stall – spirits. Every
product will have to be sourced within
20 miles (32km) of the site. There will be
no more than two of everything, which
gives you a choice, but also reminds
you that it’s not why you’re there. We’d
play, but it’s not about us in any way. The
line-up is very uncompromising. We’d
have to include Russian Circles, who are
an instrumental post-metal band, Golden
Void, who have a heavy psychedelic rock
sound and White Hills, who are almost
beyond categorisation.
a real value to what bullet-nosed guitar
music can actually do to a few thousand
people in a field.
With that in mind, the festival takes
its name from a rare Gretsch guitar
produced in 1957 called The White
Penguin. The White Penguin at Big Pit
will keep people guessing; and I kinda
like that.
There is only one other distraction from
the musical fare and that’s a gallery
of art. Featured artists include Kevin
Sinnott, who paints these wanton
romantic versions of his experience in
the valleys. Mike Jones portays people
who have grown past their usefulness;
03—
and then there’s Neale Howells, who just
rips everything apart and refuses to give
you the instructions on how to put it
back together again.
The main focus, though, will be on the
music. It will be a recognition of just how
important it is. There’s hardly anything
that ignites 20,000 people to feel the
same genuine emotion as one. This
festival will bring that feeling back.
visitmonmouthshire.com
04—
Then there are artists like Titus
Andronicus, Deerhunter, Royal Blood,
Courtney Barnett, Bill Ryder-Jones and
Gary Clark Jr. There would have to be
a Reincarnation tent for older bands.
Rush are invited. So are Einsturzende
Neubaten, who have been together
since 1980 and use scrap metal to make
their music. Dinosaur Jr have to be on
the bill too. The big attraction however,
would be Budgie, from Cardiff. They
were one of the first heavy metal bands.
They’d have to play.
Another thing that would set it apart is
a nod to the film Repo Man. Whenever
you saw products in a supermarket
the packaging would read “bread”, or
“meat”. It reminds me of Richey’s lyric
from our song All Is Vanity: “One bread,
one milk one food, that’s all.”
I can sense the instant reaction: “Oh it’s
just white guys with guitars is it…” and
that might be a criticism that sticks. But
the lines are so blurred now that there’s
05—
01—
02—
06—
47
48 Family | Caught by the River Teifi
Words by Iestyn George
visitwales.com
A little world of great things.
We went in search of the ideal family
holiday and found Wales’s most intimate
festival. Fforest is a short canoe trip from
Cardigan, bounded by the Teifi Gorge
and next door to the Teifi Marshes Nature
Reserve. It’s an adventure playground for
everyone – and a great place to spend an
evening toasting marshmallows on an
open fire.
Along with marshmallows, monsters
and pizza are also high on the list of
the perfect family agenda, according
to Pip and Peg, who happen to be
sitting in the front seat of a John Deere
utility vehicle. They would much rather
be singing a song about driving to
Cardigan really loudly than talking to
some boring grown-up.
By the way, those of a nervous parental
disposition will be relieved to know that
the vehicle’s handbrake is firmly applied
and the keys are not in the ignition.
Phew…
We find ourselves at the most intimate
festival in Wales. Caught By The River
Teifi is a week-long celebration of all
things outdoors. With a capacity of 300
people, the event is hosted at Fforest
Camp, a 200-acre site above the Teifi
Marshes Nature Reserve, with Cardigan
just a few miles down the road. Why
just 300? Because great things grow
organically. Green Man Festival is one of
the best-loved music and arts festivals
in Europe. Around 250 people came to
the first event in 2003 at the Craig-yNos country house, once home to opera
singer Dame Adelina Patti. Wakestock’s
festival of the sea, a unique watersports
and music event on the Llŷn Peninsula,
sprang to life as a party in a car park in
2000.
As far as James Lynch is concerned:
“The inspiration for Fforest as a
place and the festival as an event
are inextricably linked. We get our
satisfaction from creating experiences
for people in intimate detail.”
James is fondly known as the Fforest
Chief. His story would fill several pages
of this magazine, but as we’re chiefly
concerned with getting you to visit
Wales, we’ll focus on the bit when he
fell in love with Siân, a native of the
Ceredigion coast. “I lived and worked
in London,” he recalls, “and we used to
come here all the time, because Siân’s
parents lived in Aberporth. We nearly
went to live in New Zealand but then I
realised that Wales had everything we
wanted in life. Rather than Wales
being the other place, Wales became
the place.
It’s difficult not to get carried away when
it comes to describing Fforest. It has
amazing places to stay, including domes,
camp shacks, cabins and crog lofts. Food
is sourced locally and prepared simply
and with love. It’s an abundant natural
playground for everyone to explore. It
has a wonderful pub, dark and smoky,
stocked with fantastic ales and amazing
wine. So much thought and so much
care has gone into every detail.
49
Children are really
important to us.
They’re the key to
it all.
Caught By The River Teifi, meanwhile,
is a broad collection of people brought
together by a love of the outdoors.
The festival is a hive of activity during the
daytime. There’s handmade printmaking
with Nick Hand, monster mask-making
with illustrator, artist and DJ Pete Fowler
and bird-watching with artist Matt
Sewell. There are classes in photography,
fly-tying, trapeze and rope-climbing.
You can carve spoons, learn how to
dye clothes and new ways of cooking
(invariably involving smoke). There are
falconry displays, kayaking and wildswimming. It sounds frantic, but the
general mood is blissful and languid.
Everybody gathers together to eat
lunch and dinner canteen-style. In the
evening, families gravitate towards big
cauldrons of fire to chat, listen to talks,
toast marshmallows. There are DJs and
sporadic bouts of dad-dancing. It’s ace.
Later in the week, the festival decamps
to the Pizzatipi at Cardigan Quayside for
the River’s Edge Weekend Festival.
A host of bands play over two days –
an intriguing proposition of
underground sounds from Gwenno,
H Hawkline, Stealing Sheep and Meilyr
Jones. Again, it’s ace. Every chapter
of the week appears an effortlessly
enjoyable experience.
The Caught By The River Teifi folk bring
good times wherever they go. James
is all bearded bonhomie, although you
get the distinct impression that his mind
whirrs restlessly like the mechanism of
a fine Swiss watch.
One of the things he’s fascinated by is
revisiting what the word exotic means.
Traditionally, exotic indicates a faraway
place, but when visitors to Fforest look
into what he calls “the beast of darkness
we have here” to see meteorite showers
for the first time, that’s as exotic as any
experience you could have anywhere in
the world.
Only in Wales.
Unique family
adventures in our little
corner of the planet.
Feel like you’ve walked to the top
of the world
Moel Famau is the highest point along
the rolling beauty of the Clwydian Range
in North East Wales. It offers great views
and plenty of intrigue, from Iron Age forts
to the Jubilee Tower at its peak, built
to commemorate the golden jubilee of
George III in 1810. It’s just one of a host
of family-friendly hill walks in Wales –
no crampons required.
clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org
Travel to distant galaxies without
leaving the ground
teififestival.co.uk
discoverceredigion.co.uk
The Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia
National Parks are among just a handful
of Dark Sky Reserves in the world.
They’ve reduced light pollution so
successfully that on a clear night, you can
see the Milky Way, major constellations,
planets, far-off galaxies, bright nebulas
and meteor showers – and they run
regular stargazing nights to help you spot
what’s what. It’s enough to make anyone
starry-eyed.
breconbeacons.org/stargazing
eryri-npa.gov.uk/looking-after/dark-skies
We made a short film while we were
there – see it at visitwales.com/river-teifi
Travel 300 feet (90 metres)
underground with a former miner
“Children are really important to us,” he
emphasises. “They’re the key to it all. If
they engage with the activities we put
on, if we can show them new, exciting
things to do, then everyone is pretty
much guaranteed to have a great time.”
Image: Dark skies, Brecon Beacons
The Big Pit National Coal Museum in
Blaenavon is a remarkable insight into
the industrial history of Wales. It’s also
great fun, particularly the experience of
donning a miner’s helmet and descending
underground to see what life at the
coalface was really like.
museumwales.ac.uk/bigpit
Visit one of the greenest theme parks
in the world
Don’t you dare think that Greenwood
Forest Park is less fun because it happens
to be one of the most environmentallyfriendly visitor attractions on the planet.
The people-powered Green Dragon Roller
Coaster is a big favourite, as are the host
of other active adventures.
greenwoodforestpark.co.uk
Go in search of wildlife on the water
You won’t have to travel far along the
Welsh coast to take a boat ride in search
of seals, dolphins and whales in the
water, or to spot any number of rare birds.
Trips around Skomer, Grassholm and
Skokholm islands offer puffins galore
and clouds of gannets diving into the
sea for food.
pembrokeshire-islands.co.uk
Stay in the prettiest Mediterranean
village perched on the edge of a
beautiful Welsh estuary
Climb one of the biggest sand dunes
in Europe
Or better still, slide down the range at
Merthyr Mawr, Bridgend, just a short
drive from Cardiff. The area is officially
designated a site of Special Scientific
Interest and was used for some of the
desert scenes in David Lean’s 1962 movie,
Lawrence Of Arabia (you do know TE
Lawrence was Welsh, don’t you?). Six
hundred runners snap up places for
the six-mile (9.6km) Merthyr Mawr
Christmas Pudding run every December.
And yes, everyone who finishes gets a
pudding...
visitwales.com
visitthevale.com
bridgendbites.com
Visit the farm that’s a zoo that’s an
adventure playground
Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire has
deservedly been awarded the best day out
in Wales. What was once a modest farm
park is now a world of adventure, with
its own zoo, vintage funfair and assorted
adventure play areas. You still can’t beat
bottle-feeding a newborn lamb, though…
folly-farm.co.uk
Portmeirion was never built to make
sense. Its founder Clough Williams-Ellis
created this small township simply to
give pleasure to its visitors. Portmeirion
was immortalised in cult 60s drama The
Prisoner and is now acclaimed by a new
generation of fans from all over the world
who visit the annual music and arts
event, Festival No.6.
portmeirion-village.com
Explore 40 immaculately restored
buildings from the Iron Age to the
1970s (at least one of them sells cake)
St Fagans National History Museum on
the outskirts of Cardiff is one of Europe’s
leading open-air museums. It charts the
history of Wales through its buildings, set
in the 100-acre grounds of a magnificent
16th-century manor house. There are
traditional craft workshops and the
traditional bara brith from the Derwen
Bake House is sensational.
museumwales.ac.uk/stfagans
Explore a 13th-century clifftop castle –
and the spooky cave beneath it
Wales is known the world over as castle
country (having hundreds of them helps)
and Castell Carreg Cennen, near the
lovely market town of Llandeilo, is one
of the most spectacular. You may well be
greeted by a pedigree herd of Longhorn
Cattle or Welsh mountain sheep, as
the castle is situated in the land of a
working farm.
carregcennencastle.com
51
| The
| The
Adventure
UrbanBirder
Birder
Urban
02
52 Wildlife
visitwales.com
When the going gets chough…
David Lindo is the Urban Birder.
His day-to-day forests are made of
concrete and glass. His first visit to
Anglesey lasted all of 10 minutes. This
time around he makes the most of the
opportunity to explore this unusual
stretch of the Wales Coast Path, the
world’s first dedicated footpath running
along the entire coast of the country.
I have managed to carve a career out
of extolling the delights of observing
nature in built-up areas. The scrublands
are brownfield sites and the watercourses I cross sometimes contain
shopping trollies. But I’ll let you into a
secret. I am a country boy trapped in
the body of a city hipster. It’s a weird
state of suspended animation –
a Lindo limbo, if you like.
The contrast between my home patch
around Wormwood Scrubs and the Isle
of Anglesey, at the north-west tip of
Wales, could not be more pronounced.
Blue skies and a warm autumn sun
welcome me across the Menai Strait.
It’s as if the car took off somewhere
along the M42 and flew me straight
to an undiscovered corner of the
Mediterranean.
My excitement at returning to
Anglesey is framed by past experiences.
I’m already aware that Britain’s fifthlargest island is more than capable of
delivering avian surprises.
The first time I raised a pair of binoculars
in the general direction of a bird here
was in June 2003. I had made a lastminute decision to travel all the way up
to South Stack to twitch the black lark.
This starling-sized waif is usually found
shuffling around the inhospitable
steppes of Kazakhstan, rather than
hanging out on the sheep-cropped
grass in front of an audience of several
hundred people. In fact, there had never
been a recorded sighting of the black
lark on British soil.
I drove from west London to Anglesey in
the dead of night, arriving at daybreak.
While my travelling partner went in
search of the bird, I shamefully snoozed
in the car until he spotted it – and its
assembled audience. I woke up with a
start, saw the lark for 10 minutes, leapt
into the car and drove straight back
to London. That turned out to be my
last blatant twitch and my last visit to
Anglesey. Or so I thought.
Twenty years later and the grand total of
zero black larks since, here I am again.
And this time, I’m determined to make
every minute count. I greet the rising
sun over the mudflats and encroaching
sea at Red Wharf Bay. I find myself in the
company of ubiquitous oystercatchers
probing the mud, alongside curlews,
ringed plover and a solitary grey plover.
53
Thickets of woodland behind me
harbour the vocalists of a dawn chorus
that’s just about to erupt. Trees buzz
with blue tits busily gleaning insects
in the morning glow. Their communal
chattering is drowned out by the
melancholic song of a robin, Britain’s
newly-appointed national bird. The
autumn sunrise is glorious. Over the
next 24 hours I stroll around various
stretches of the Anglesey coast. A
couple of things hit me straight away.
First is that the Wales Coast Path is a big
deal. Everyone I meet is aware of the fact
that the coast of Wales has never been
more accessible for people to stride,
stroll or just sit and contemplate.
The other thing is that when I stop
for a chat with fellow birdwatchers on
Malltraeth Cob (they do love a chat),
they seem genuinely puzzled to find
The Urban Birder in such a rural setting.
“What are you looking for?” they ask.
It’s hard to answer that question without
sounding awkward. My philosophy is
that if you go looking for something in
particular, you’re bound to miss a host
of other surprises. Narrowing your field
of vision is not good in any walk of life,
as far as I’m concerned. Even though
it sounds a bit smart-ass, the simple
answer is this: whatever’s out there.
I can delight in the sight of a meadow
pipit ducking and diving among the
beautiful dunes of Aberffraw. I’m equally
happy to stand opposite a bus stop in
Beaumaris watching an assortment of
waders go about their business.
The 13-mile (20km) walk along the
Wales Coast Path from Malltraeth to
Aberffraw takes in Malltraeth Marshes,
made famous by the paintings of Charles
Tunnicliffe. You also pass through
Newborough Forest and Warren, which
are adventure playgrounds for any
nature lover.
Around the striking black-andwhite striped Trwyn Du (Black Nose)
lighthouse at Penmon Point, rock pipits
proclaim their existence while herring
gulls patrol the coastal rocks. A few
flaps of a gull’s wings away is Puffin
Island, which attracts over 750 pairs of
cormorant, as well as guillemot, razorbill
and kittiwake. The numbers of puffin are
also on the rise, after nearly being wiped
out by an infestation of rats.
From Penmon I head diagonally across
Anglesey for the hallowed turf that the
legendary black lark once stood upon.
As we approach the imposing outcrop
of South Stack, an enveloping grey cloak
covers the clear blue sky. The welcome
from the RSPB staff in the Visitor Centre
is warm and the choughs, South Stack’s
emblematic bird, put on a superb display.
Choughs are essentially crows with red
legs and a curious decurved red bill that
they use to probe the soil for insects and
larvae. They nest in rock faces, caves and
old buildings and the RSPB estimates that
there are between 250 to 350 breeding
pairs in Britain. There’s something about
their showy aerial acrobatics and busy
demeanor that brings a smile to
people’s faces.
Leaving South Stack I have one more
itch to scratch before my last rewarding
supper at the Marram Grass Café.
The unique environment of Cemlyn Bay
was created by an eccentric millionaire,
Captain Vivian Hewitt. An aviation
pioneer and avid birder, he created a
brackish lagoon as a sanctuary for birds.
You can see the Wylfa nuclear power
plant in the distance and it adds a certain
surreal quality to a place I find myself
instantly attracted to. The dense, low
cloud and the fine, misty rain just add
to the special atmosphere. I stand on a
finger of shingle beach separating the
sea from the lagoon.
visitwales.com
Cemlyn Bay has a rich ornithological
heritage. It’s home to the only colony
of sandwich terns in Wales. Sightings
also include a bridled tern (1988) and an
isabelline shrike (1998). In 2005 a sooty
tern, an American golden plover and a
terek sandpiper all made appearances.
My birding instincts kick in as I begin
to decipher all the waders that are
gathered along the lagoon’s shore.
Curlew, grey plover, knot and common
sandpiper, with a kingfisher that shoots
into view.
There are no guest appearances today,
but that doesn’t matter one bit. I could
easily spend a week rooted to the spot,
in this slightly other-worldly corner of
Wales. But I can’t. As darkness descends
and I drive off into the night, I wonder
to myself whether after all these years,
I’ve found a corner of this country to
call my own. I’ll certainly be back before
too long.
visitanglesey.co.uk
rspb.org.uk
Blue skies and a warm autumn sun
welcome me across the Menai Strait.
It’s as if the car took off somewhere
along the M42 and flew me straight
to an undiscovered corner of the
Mediterranean.
South Stack lighthouse
55
56
Wales Coast Path | Anglesey highlights
We visited…
Black Point
A short drive from Beaumaris, the
picturesque coastal stretch of Black
Point has stunning views past Puffin
Island, and back towards Snowdonia.
The coast with the most.
It’s not easy to pick just a few highlights
when 95% of an island’s coastline is
within a designated Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty. But we’ve done the
best we can.
Holyhead Mountain
The sea arches at Rhoscolyn
Menai Suspension Bridge
You can hardly move for forts, castles
and ancient battlements in Anglesey.
Holyhead Mountain is the highest point
on Holy Island. You’ll find a Roman
watchtower and the remains of an Iron
Age farming community dating back to
500BC. The views are as striking as the
sea breeze is bracing.
bbc.co.uk/wales/nature/sites/walking/
pages/nw_holyhead.shtml
Bwa Du (Black Arch) and Bwa Gwyn
(White Arch) are carved out of the cliffs
by the raw power of the sea. In contrast,
Borthwen beach on the south tip of
Rhoscolyn is a sheltered oasis of golden
sand. The area is a natural habitat for
chough, peregrine falcon, shag, raven
and kestrel.
The most ambitious bridge project of its
time, Thomas Telford’s bridge took seven
years to build. When it opened in 1826
it helped to cut down travel time from
London to the port of Holyhead from 36
hours to a mere 27. A second Britannia
Bridge was opened in 1850 to allow train
travel across the Menai Strait.
anglesey-history.co.uk/places/bridges/
visitanglesey.co.uk
South Stack
Mythical, romantic, and not actually an
island, Llanddwyn is a much-loved place
of pilgrimage, once home to Santes (Saint)
Dwynwen, the 5th-century patron saint
of lovers in Wales. The ruins of a 16thcentury chapel remain, as do two unusual
lighthouses – Tŵr Mawr and Tŵr Bach.
The site forms part of the Newborough
Warren National Nature Reserve and
there’s an exhibition about local wildlife
in a restored pilot’s cottage.
anglesey-history.co.uk/places/llanddwyn
Lighthouses are often positioned on
remarkable coastal outcrops, but South
Stack is as dramatic a setting as any.
You can walk down the 400 steps to the
island and explore the lighthouse. It’s well
worth the walk back up…
angleseyheritage.com/key-places/southstack-lighthouse/
Llanddwyn Island
01—
Newborough Warren
Part of a National Nature Reserve, you
could spend days exploring every nook
and cranny, including Malltraeth Sands,
Cefni Saltmarsh, Newborough Forest
and the extensive dune system.
We ate and drank…
Ye Olde Bulls Head Inn
People have been eating and drinking
at Ye Olde Bulls Head in Beaumaris since
the 16th century. And if it’s good enough
for Charles Dickens…
bullsheadinn.co.uk
Aberffraw
One of the biggest dune systems in the
UK, Aberffraw and nearby Traeth Mawr
(Big Beach) and Llyn Coron (Crown
Lake) are collectively a Site of Special
Scientific Interest and Special Area of
Conservation.
South Stack Cliffs
The most westerly point on Anglesey
is a must-visit spot. The RSPB reserve
has abundant wildlife and the views over
the lighthouse towards the Irish coast
are dramatic.
rspb.org.uk
The Marram Grass Café
It’s an intriguing story – how two
brothers turned a converted chicken
shed into one of the most characterful
eating places on Anglesey. The locally
sourced food and drink are great, too.
themarramgrass.com
02—
Cemlyn
There are several walks around this
National Trust-managed area, taking
in its intriguing history. Cemlyn Nature
Reserve has a unique atmosphere unlike
anywhere else on the island.
Find out more:
visitanglesey.co.uk
03—
We stayed…
Château Rhianfa
A 19th-century country house
overlooking the Menai Strait, inspired by
the châteaux of the French Loire valley.
amazingvenues.co.uk/venue/
chateau-rhianfa/
Don’t miss…
Anglesey Walking & Cycling Festival
Two weeks of activities across the end
of May and beginning of June, including
foraging walks, photography rambles
and kayaking at Holy Island.
angleseywalkingfestival.com
01 Aberffraw
02 Ye Olde Bulls Head Inn
03 Marram Grass Café
04 South Stack
04—
57
Wales has more castles
per square mile than
anywhere on earth. At the
last count we’ve got 641 of
them, and they come in all
shapes, sizes and states of
repair, including this fine
specimen, Carreg Cennen.
This is
History—
Some are faint Iron Age traces on mountaintops, or curious ruins in wooded glades, which
come with a local legend attached. Others, like
those thumping great Norman castles, have
hardly changed in 800 years, give or take the
odd cannon-ball scar. There are new castles,
too – built by industrial barons who grew
rich on coal, slate and iron, filling their stately
homes with fabulous art.
Nowadays, all those castles, cathedrals, abbeys,
mills and mines are fabulous places to visit on
a sunny day. But if you look a little deeper, the
whole history of Wales, and Britain, is written in
these ancient stones. How the Romans came,
conquered, and went. How Welsh princes
fought to survive, and Normans defended their
footholds. How we powered the Industrial
Revolution. And how these monuments still
power the imagination.
museumwales.ac.uk
cadw.gov.wales
nationaltrust.org.uk
discovercarmarthenshire.com
60 Landscape | Finn Beales
Words by Finn Beales
visitwales.com
Wales is his studio.
Finn Beales started posting photographs
on Instagram when it was just a fledgling
photo app. The landscapes of his native
Mid Wales feature prominently throughout his work, one of the reasons he has
built a following of over half a million
people. He now shoots all over the world,
but retains an intimate relationship with
the place he calls home.
Home fixture
You’ll find a lot of local scenes from
Wales in my Instagram feed. It’s always
been my home and it’s a pleasure to
share the surrounding landscape with
my followers. I often pitch Wales as a
location for the work I do. It’s a fantastic
country to photograph and it’s a great
buzz to introduce it to people who may
never have visited before.
instagram.com/finn
01—
01—
01—Diving lessons in the Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon at Abereiddi in
Pembrokeshire is an abandoned slate
quarry popular for coasteering, with
waters that are up to 82 feet (25m) deep.
The Red Bull Cliff Diving event draws
athletes from all over the world. The
diving board hangs 88 feet (27m) above
the water, and the quarry is a natural
amphitheatre, with spectators along the
cliff top, into the water and along the
shores of the lagoon. It was a privilege
to meet and shoot these athletes here
in Wales. From a technical point of view
a fast shutter speed is required when
shooting this type of sport. Rather
them than me…
visitpembrokeshire.com
02—Cereal thriller
Most visitors to the Brecon Beacons
National Park hike the well-trodden
path up Pen-y-fan but there are more
spectacular views to be had if you’re
prepared to head a little deeper into
these mountains. This is one of my
favourite views in the Beacons down
onto Llyn y Fan Fach. It’s worth looking
up the folklore legend connected to this
body of water, known as the Lady of the
Lake. I shot this as part of a commission
for travel and lifestyle magazine, Cereal.
breconbeacons.org
midwalesmyway.com
discovercarmarthenshire.com
readcereal.com
61
03—Embracing the grey
One of my favourite places to explore
(outside Wales) is the Pacific North
West of America. I like their unashamed
appreciation of the cold, wet climate.
After my experiences in the PNW I was
keen to embrace the Welsh weather
and shot a series of images for Scout (a
Seattle-based apparel brand) on a cold,
grey, winter’s day in the Black Mountains.
It was the perfect setting for their
products and in the words of Scout’s
creative director, “Finn brought back
some of my favourite pictures of Scout
products to date.” After all these years of
denial I think the time has come to finally
embrace the grey!
breconbeacons.org
midwalesmyway.com
04—Fforest, Cardigan
I travel to some far-flung destinations
with work but one of my favourite
destinations to kick back with the family
is much closer to home. Fforest, near
Cardigan, is the perfect place to escape
from the stresses and strains of the
modern world. Living outdoors with the
simplest of things all wrapped up in the
luxury of a magical setting. A couple
of days at Fforest is a life-enhancing
experience.
coldatnight.co.uk
02—
05—From coal mining to coffee
There are thousands of intriguing little
stories to discover in Wales. Coal Town
Coffee found my work via Instagram.
The company asked me to shoot a series
of images for their coffee roastery based
near Ammanford, a former coal mining
town. Like most small businesses, they
started from very modest beginnings
and now develop their own signature
espresso blends and single-origin
coffees. It’s exciting that small businesses
focused on quality produce are popping
up in rural towns around Wales.
coaltowncoffee.co.uk
06—Cancel the French Riviera shoot…
Private White VC is a Manchester-based
clothing brand, whose creative director
Nick Ashley is the son of legendary
Welsh clothes and fabric designer Laura
Ashley. I guess we could have shot the
Spring/Summer 2016 collection in the
French Riviera, but why bother when
you have beaches like this a couple of
hours’ drive away! We shot the campaign
on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog
in North Wales, and it was epic.
visitsnowdonia.info
03—
04—
For more inspiring photography
of Wales (and some other places)
visit: madebyfinn.com
05—
06—
visitwales.com
63
64 Food | Street Food Cardiff
Street food is big in Cardiff. So much
so that around 25% of the Welsh capital’s
population have visited Street Food
Cardiff, a cheerful collective of likeminded folk who pop-up in different
places around the city when the mood
takes them.
Words by Iestyn George
visitwales.com
While people are drawn to SFC by the
food, whatever they do and wherever
they go seems to add a vibrant,
unpretentious dimension to the
nightlife of Cardiff
There’s been a lot of experimentation,
plenty of contemplation and just enough
refinement to make things work without
rubbing the endearing rough edges
off altogether.
“It’s pretty much like being at a festival,”
admits co-founder Simon Thomas.
“A festival that goes on forever,” adds
SFC partner Neil Young. “That’s one of
the reasons we can’t operate it all year
round. It would kill us.”
Wales has always been known for being
a great place for sourcing ingredients
– meat, seafood and dairy produce, in
particular. Simon points out: “When
you’re producing street food, you have
to take the simple approach, making
the most of those ingredients. You can’t
over elaborate. Maybe we’ve tried to
make life too complicated for ourselves
in the past, but things have really turned
around now.
Like many of the best places to visit in
Wales, Street Food Cardiff comes from
very modest beginnings. It’s been given
time and space to grow organically.
l-r Lucy (Wild Fig), Lara (Dirty Bird fried chicken), Neil (SFC),
Simon (Pipes), Matt (SFC), Jasmine (Hemp Hut), Simon (SFC).
This simplification of the pleasures of
food and drink, has also drawn people to
support a host of new independent cafés,
restaurants and bars in Cardiff, as well as
developing a new-found appreciation of
some of the capital’s more established
family-run eating places.
You may not be in town (we still call it that,
sorry) to experience SFC in all its quirky
glory, but with the inside knowledge of
Simon, Neil and the gang, all you need to
do is follow their recommendations to get
the inside track on Cardiff.
65
66 Food | Street Food Cardiff
A Sunday morning
spent at the Riverside
Market. A coffee from
Caffeine Kid and a
breakfast curry while
catching up with
friends.
01 The Grazing Shed
02 Waterloo Tea
03 Coffico
04 The Grazing Shed
05 Bunch of Grapes
06 Waterloo Tea
07 Milgi
08 The Plan
09 iCookThai
01—
03—
02—
04—
05—
06—
07—
08—
09—
68 Food | Street Food Cardiff
10—
Founders of Street
Food Cardiff, Matt,
Neil and Simon, present
the insider’s guide to
every eating eventuality
in the Welsh capital.
A great cup of coffee (or tea)
Matt: Not only has Waterloo Tea in the
Wyndham Arcade got the best tea,
but also the best coffee in Cardiff.
Simon: Lovely staff … lovely coffee.
Neil: They’ve got places in Pen y Lan
and Penarth too.
waterlootea.com
11—
All the beer in the world?
M: You can’t go wrong with Brewdog on
Westgate Street. Local award-winning
brewers Urban Tap House also have
an impressive set-up, also on Westgate
Street.
S: Pipes is a must-visit spot for a pint.
Keep an eye on their Facebook page
for monthly events.
N: Brewdog does it for me! They do
my favourite wheat beer, which I can’t
pronounce before or after I drink it!
brewdog.com
urbantaphouse.co.uk
pipesbeer.co.uk
10 SFC founders / 11 The Plan / 12 iCookThai
13/14 Nick Otley Bunch of Grapes
15 iCookThai
Cocktails?
M: The Lansdowne and The Conway
both cook excellent roast dinners.
S: I love The Bunch Of Grapes. OK, so it’s
not quite Cardiff but it’s within range, on
the outskirts of Pontypridd. You’ll find it
well worth the effort.
N: I always stay close to home on a
Sunday, which is why I always end up
at the Rhiwderyn Inn in Bassaleg. Again,
not strictly Cardiff, but it’s proper homecooked fare.
knifeandforkfood.co.uk/conway
thelansdownecardiff.co.uk
bunchofgrapes.org.uk
rhiwderinn.co.uk
M: Milgi have the most creative cocktail
list and never fail to deliver on flavour
and ingredients. The place has a real
neighbourhood hangout feel, which is
a real rarity in Cardiff.
S: The Urban Tap house is probably best
known for its beer selection, which is
flawless, the envy of any city. They don’t
do a bad job at cocktails either, with a
good range of whiskey and bourbons.
Boilermakers count as cocktails, yeah?
N: I do like a long mixer. 10 Feet Tall in the
city centre attracts a young, energetic
crowd – and the staff there can mix the
classic cocktails well. That’s me mixing
with the youngsters with mixed drinks.
milgicardiff.com / urbantaphouse.co.uk
10feettall.co.uk
A bit of a change?
M: Milgi is a plant-based restaurant that
pushes the boundaries and perceptions
of this kind of food. I have never left
disappointed. The beer-battered
halloumi is pretty special.
S: For a real taste of the Orient, I like to
go to .cn on City Road. I’ve mentioned
this already but it really does serve the
most authentic Chinese meals I’ve had
this side of Kowloon.
N: Troy Charcoal Grill on City Road. The
barbecued lamb’s liver with homemade
Turkish bread and dips is stunning.
milgicardiff.com
eatcn.co.uk
troymezebar.com
Something exotic?
M: City Road is Cardiff’s own World Food
Mile and Kumar’s is an authentic Mumbai
experience.
S: I’ll go for City Road too. .cn is a
Chinese restaurant with a really different
menu. Lots of tripe and tongue.
N: I love City Road, but I’m going for
the Golden Corner Chinese. It’s a bit
of a sketchy set up and the electricity
goes off quite a lot too; but the food is
authentic and like nothing else I’ve had
in this country.
Kumar’s City Road: +44 (0)29 2009 4094
goldencorner.co.uk
eatcn.co.uk
A nice Sunday lunch?
A warm welcome?
12—
M: Café Citta in the heart of the city is an
upscale café with a warm Italian family
welcome. About the finest wood-fired
pizza in Cardiff, paired with an easy,
relaxed atmosphere. It’s like sitting
around a family kitchen table.
S: La Vita Pizza restaurant. Marco cooks
a mean pizza and makes you feel at
home while you enjoy it.
N: iCookThai is a tiny Thai restaurant on
Crwys Road. Pimm, who owns it, cooks
whatever he fancies and accompanies
your meal with renditions of popular
songs on a very varied selection of
instruments. There are only four tables,
so it gets pretty intense. He’s a right
character! @CafeCitta
lavitacardiff.co.uk
icookthai.co.uk
13—
A sandwich with a difference?
M: The hoagies from the New York Deli in
High Street Arcade are a Cardiff institution.
S: Definitely, the New York Deli run
the sandwich game as far as Cardiff is
concerned.
N: Bombers put a lot of love between
two slices. They seem to offer something
different to the other sandwich shops in
the city. First visit they delivered about the
best bánh mì I’ve tasted. Been going back
for more ever since. Excellent.
@nydelicardiff
bombers-sandwich-house.co.uk
A hearty breakfast?
M: Thé Pot on Crwys Road, if you
can get a seat in this intimate space.
S: Servinis. Proper portions.
N: The Hayes Island Snack Bar is an
institution and probably the longeststanding street food option in the city.
Lots of life and character passes you by
with a decent bacon bap and coffee. thepotcafe.co.uk
servinis-snackbar.co.uk
14—
A pub with good food?
M: It’s not exactly Cardiff, but, as Simon
says, The Bunch of Grapes is definitely
worth the hop, skip and jump to
Pontypridd. Great food and awardwinning Otley beer.
S: Okay not a pub, but a bar. Bar 44’s
Something cheap and cheerful?
M: A takeaway slipper from Café Minuet,
commonly known as Marcello’s, in the
Castle Arcade – a garlicky, cheesy slice
of Cardiff.
S: You can’t go wrong with a stack of
welshcakes from the indoor market. As
little as £2 gets you a bag full of the best
welshcakes my nan didn’t serve me.
N: Mina’s Penarth Road. Mediterranean
food and filled rolls. Try their garlic chicken
rolls; I like mine with beetroot.
restaurantminuet.co.uk
minasrestaurant.co.uk
A bit of posh nosh?
M: The Purple Poppadom delivers
upgraded Indian classics with a twist
from award-winning chef Anand George.
S: Bully’s is the best neighbourhood
bistro dining experience in the city.
Welsh produce is given the classic
French treatment in a place that
delivers class across the board. Love
the branding and the attention to
detail on the plate and the table decor.
N: Bar 44. Amazing menu and you do
feel like you’re somewhere special.
purplepoppadom.com
bullysrestaurant.co.uk
bar44.co.uk/cardiff
drinks and tapas are exceptional.
N: The Conway. Really great pub grub.
Check out the homemade Scotch eggs.
Life-changing!
bunchofgrapes.org.uk
knifeandforkfood.co.uk/conway
15—
An intrinsically Cardiff experience?
M: Chip Alley (otherwise known as
Caroline Street) at 4am is Cardiff at its
best – and worst. Also Pillars restaurant on
Queen Street hasn’t changed since 1985.
S: A Sunday morning spent at the
Riverside Market. A coffee from Caffeine
Kid and a breakfast curry while catching
up with friends.
N: The full-on Cardiff experience is down
City Road. There’s a real mix of cultures
that reflect the nature of the city. You’ll find
amazing food from all around the world
and there’s always a vibe down there.
pillars-restaurant.co.uk
thecaffeinekid.com
Still hungry? Our short film has more info
– see it at visitwales.com/still-hungry
69
The Welsh language
isn’t just for Sunday best.
Actually, it’s a vibrantly
alive language, taught in
every school, heard daily
everywhere from Cardiff
streets to Caernarfon
pubs, seen on every
road sign, and running
rampantly around the
internet – where it can
be extremely funny,
and bracingly filthy…
at least, judging by some
of the people we follow
on Twitter.
This is
Cymru—
It’s at the heart of Wales’s sense of identity.
Its soul, if you like. When the British Jamaican
poet Benjamin Zephaniah visited the National
Eisteddfod in 2015, he understood this
(without actually understanding a word of the
language). He wondered why Welsh isn’t taught
in English schools. Sounds bonkers, but actually
he makes an interesting point.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay
Look at it this way: when the Romans arrived in
Britain, most people spoke Welsh – or at least,
British, the Celtic language from which modern
Welsh is descended. So Welsh is part of the
shared heritage of these islands. Here, in this
western peninsular nation, we’re the keepers
of the flame. But if you’re British, it’s your
language, too. Cherish it. We do.
Events
Diary 2016
01—
It’s our big Year of
Adventure but great
days out come in all
shapes and sizes. Here
are just a few ideas check out our website
for many more.
visitwales.com
14 – 18 March
Zoom International Youth Film Festival,
South Wales
Wales’s largest film event for young
people has workshops, awards, glitzy
evening screenings for all the family and
short films from all over the world.
zoomcymru.com
ALL YEAR
Roald Dahl 100 Wales
The great storyteller was born in Cardiff
in 1916, and Wales is running events
throughout the year, all over Wales,
to celebrate Roald Dahl’s centenary.
literaturewales.org
JANUARY
9 January
World MTB Chariot Racing Championships & Saturnalia Real Ale Ramble,
Llanwrtyd Wells
Saturnalia was the big midwinter
Roman festival. In this version, you’re
encouraged to wear Roman dress, eat
Roman food and quaff un-Roman fine
ales. The “chariot” is a pair of mountain
bikes harnessed to an old steel drum.
Obviously.
green-events.co.uk
FEBRUARY
2 February – 1 March
Quiltfest, Llangollen
Wales has a venerable tradition of
quilt-making which is very much alive
here. The exhibitions, competitions,
demonstrations and workshops prove
that quilting can be a surprisingly radical
art form.
quiltfest.org.uk
5 – 9 February
Abertawe Festival for Young Musicians,
Swansea
Workshops and competitions for young
musical talent, held in three venues
around Swansea.
afym.org.uk
6 March
Anglesey Half Marathon, Anglesey
Try not to let the majestic backdrop of
Snowdonia, Menai Bridge and Beaumaris
Castle distract you from smashing that
two-hour target.
angleseyhalfmarathon.com
12 February
Six Nations rugby:
Wales v Scotland, Cardiff
We like it when Scotland come to play.
Their fans are perhaps the nicest in
world rugby, and they deserved better
than last-minute heartbreak in the 2015
Rugby World Cup. That doesn’t mean
we’re going to let them win, mind you.
principalitystadium.wales
27 February
Six Nations rugby:
Wales v France, Cardiff
Ah, but which French team will turn
up? Hopefully not the one that was
annihilated by New Zealand in 2015.
Come back, Gallic magicians, running it
crazily from behind your own try line,
with a Gauloise hanging from your lips –
the rugby world has missed you.
principalitystadium.wales
MARCH
1 March
St David’s Day Parade, Cardiff
To celebrate our Patron Saint’s day,
there’s a big parade through the
centre of Cardiff, and plenty of festivals,
concerts and street parties all over
Wales. Wear a leek. Or daffodil.
We’re not picky.
stdavidsday.org
18 March
Six Nations rugby:
Wales v Italy, Cardiff
The South Wales Valleys are full of the
descendants of 19th-century Italian
immigrants, so the Azzurri always get a
warm welcome here. They’ve beaten us
often enough to earn full respect on the
pitch, too.
principalitystadium.wales
26 March
World Half Marathon Championships,
Cardiff
The 25,000-strong field allows amateurs
to race alongside (or to be honest, quite
far behind) the world’s elite athletes.
Our money’s on the Kenyan chap.
cardiff2016.co.uk
16 – 24 April
Children’s Literature Festival, Cardiff
The best children’s authors and
illustrators come to Cardiff for this event,
and the name Roald Dahl is likely to crop
up quite a bit, this being his centenary
year.
cardiff-events.com
23 – 24 April
Wonderwool Wales, Builth Wells
Welsh and British artisans gather to
showcase the best in Welsh and British
wool and natural fibres. And all the roads
that lead you there are winding.
(Ha! See what we did there?).
wonderwoolwales.co.uk
29 April – 1 May
Machynlleth Comedy Festival
Mach has grown into a major date on
the comedy calendar, without losing its
sense of mischief. There’s a big, eclectic
line-up in several quirky venues, served
up with lashings of local beer and cider.
No wonder performers love coming
here.
machcomedyfest.co.uk
29 April – 2 May
Talgarth Walking Festival
Guided walks in the unspoilt and
stunning Brecon Beacons. Suitable for
walkers of all ages and abilities. Some are
suitable for dogs, too.
talgarthwalkingfestival.org
APRIL
1 – 3 April
The Laugharne Weekend, Laugharne
Ian Rankin, Tracey Thorn, Brix SmithStart, Mark Thomas and Alexei Sayle are
the first names announced this year. Like
the town itself, it’s quirkily brilliant, with
the od dest (in a good way) assortment
of literary and musical talent ever
assembled in one place.
thelaugharneweekend.com
15 – 17 April
RHS Flower Show, Cardiff
It’s easy to spot people who’ve just
visited the last afternoon of this major
RHS show. They’re the ones carrying
massive armfuls of plants to the car.
rhs.org.uk
02—
30 April – 2 May
Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza,
Llandudno
This graceful seaside resort returns to
its Victorian roots with steam engines,
Victorian musical organs, vintage cars,
costumes, curiosities and side shows.
Cover those piano legs, lest passions
are inflamed.
victorian-extravaganza.com
April (tbc)
Dark Skies Festival, Hay-on-Wye
The Brecon Beacons National Park is an
International Dark Sky Reserve, where
the night sky’s staggering beauty is
allowed to shine through. This weekend
event brings experts to illuminate the
experience.
darkskiesfestival.org
MAY
6 – 8 May
Tredegar House Folk Festival, Newport
A rollicking weekend of international
dance, music and song, held in this fine
Charles II country mansion. Celidhs and
clog-dancing will certainly feature,
and the od d hurdy-gurdy cannot be
ruled out.
tredegarhousefestival.org.uk
7 – 8 May
Welsh Three Peaks Challenge
Can you climb three of the most iconic
mountains in Wales – Pen-y- fan,
Cadair Idris and Snowdon – in a single
weekend? The overnight stay in
Llanberis will help you to replenish lost
fluids and essential minerals (eg, yeast,
hops, barley).
snowdon500.co.uk
12 – 14 May
FOCUS Wales, Wrexham
It’s mostly a spotlight for emerging
musical talent, with 200+ bands on
20 stages. But there’s also a generous
smattering of comedy, film and
interactive arts.
focuswales.com
01 Principality Stadium, Cardiff
02 Dark Skies over The Brecon Beacons
14 May
International Dylan Thomas Day,
Pan-Wales
Under Milk Wood was first read on-stage
in New York on this day, which is as good
an excuse as any for throwing literary
events, big and small, all over Wales.
literaturewales.org/dylan-day
21 – 22 May
Royal Welsh Agricultural Society Spring
Festival, Builth Wells
It’s always been unmissable for
smallholders, gardeners and sustainable
living folk, but in recent years the
Spring Festival has broadened its appeal
considerably, with sports events and
plenty of food and drink.
rwas.wales/spring-festival
21 – 22 May
Snowdonia Slateman Triathlon,
Llanberis
There are two brutally brilliant triathlons
this weekend: the Sprint and the Full.
Or if you’re utterly rock-hard, complete
both and earn the coveted title of
Slateman Savage, you nutter.
snowdoniaslateman.com
22 May
Velothon Wales, Cardiff
Road cycling has become massive in
Wales. More than 20,000 signed up for
the 2016 velothon before a date had
even been announced. The route isn’t
finalised, but expect around 86 miles
(140km) of beautiful scenery and lungbusting climbs.
velothon-wales.co.uk
23 – 29 May
Aberystwyth Cycle Festival,
Aberystwyth
This celebration of cycling attracts of
Britain’s best bikers. Watch the pros onand off-road, or experience the beautiful
and undiscovered lanes of Ceredigion on
your own bike on the Welsh Wild West
Sportive.
abercyclefest.com
73
26 May – 5 June
Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye
Calling it a “book festival” doesn’t even
come close to describing what goes
on at this incredible gathering of the
world’s greatest writers and thinkers.
There are 900+ events over the 10 days,
featuring politicians and poets, scientists
and comedians, novelists and astronauts,
economists and ecologists, musicians
and philosophers – all coming together
to kick around big ideas that will change
the way you think forever. The format
couldn’t be simpler: you turn up in a big
tent and listen to these geniuses, and ask
them questions. There’s also great food
and drink, lovely scenery – and plenty of
books, of course.
hayfestival.com
29 May
Welsh Open Stoneskimming Championships, Llanwrtyd Wells
Stoneskimming is the ancient art of
bouncing stones as far as possible across
water. The official world record is 88
skips, but a bloke who works with my
mate Cenwyn’s brother says he did 142
up Llyn Brianne.
green-events.co.uk
29 – 30 May
Cowbridge Food & Drink Festival,
Cowbridge
Cowbridge is the Vale of Glamorgan’s
most chi-chi, boutiquey town. Here it is
at its most vibrant, with a weekend of
culinary excellence and all-round family
entertainment.
cowbridgefoodanddrink.org
29 – 30 May
Abergavenny Steam Rally, Abergavenny
Who among us does not love a shiny
engine, buffed to gleaming perfection?
Who has not gasped at the relentless
thrust of its pistons, the ecstatic hiss of
steam? No further questions, m’lud. We
shall convene in the cider tent, and there
partake of pies.
abergavennysteamrally.co.uk
30 May – 4 June
Urdd Eisteddfod, Flintshire
One of the largest cultural youth festivals
in Europe, around 100,000 come to
watch more than 15,000 children and
young people compete in song, dance,
drama and design.
urdd.cymru
JUNE
June – September
Cardiff Festival, Cardiff
It’s a long, hot summer of activity in the
capital, with all kinds of entertainment
– including gigs, theatre, street
entertainers, food festival, powerboating
– gathered under the Festival banner.
cardiff-events.com/events/
3 – 5 June
SSE Enterprise Wales Senior Open,
Celtic Manor Resort, Newport
England’s Paul Wesselingh pipped our
own Ian Woosnam to the 2015 title,
after a superb 67 final round. But we
forgive him, because he said such lovely
things about Celtic Manor’s Roman Road
Course and the warmth of the welcome.
celtic-manor.com/golf
europeantour.com
11 – 13 June
Man v Horse, Llanwrtyd Wells
It began as a lively pub debate: which is
quicker over mountain terrain – man or
horse? So they devised a 22-mile (35km)
race to find out. Man has beaten horse
just twice in the event’s 35-year history,
so we’re guessing the evidence points
horsewardly.
green-events.co.uk
12 June
Snowdonia Etape Eryri
Cycling deity Sir Dave Brailsford grew
up in Snowdonia, so he might be slightly
biased when he says how fantastic this
event is. It begins and ends in Caernarfon
Castle, with routes ranging from 47 to
226 miles (75 to 364km).
alwaysaimhighevents.com
17 – 19 June
All Wales Boat Show, Pwllheli
A celebratory festival of all water-based
activities, from wakeboarding to that
luxury yacht we’ve been saving for by
putting loose change in a big whisky
bottle.
allwalesboatshow.com
17 – 26 June
Gregynog Festival
This is simply one of the best classical
festivals in Britain. It’s notably strong on
early music, but in its illustrious history
has premiered pieces by the likes of
Gustav Holst and, more recently, his
blondness Eric Whitacre.
gwylgregynogfestival.org
26 June
Cardiff Triathlon
Cardiff Bay makes a great location for a
tri. Flat, fast, and full of interesting things
for spectators to see, when they’re not
cheering you on. It comes in Olympic
and Sprint flavours, depending on your
capacity for punishment.
cardiff-tri.com
25 June – 3 July
Pembrokeshire Fish Week Festival,
Pembrokeshire
You can get great seafood all year
round in Pembrokeshire, but this is peak
season, with more than 250 events
celebrating the county’s great seafood
and beautiful coastline.
pembrokeshirefishweek.co.uk
29 June – 3 July
Hijinx Unity Festival, Cardiff
Hijinx is based at the Wales Millennium
Centre, and this is its big annual
showcase of inclusive and disability arts
– theatre, dance, music, family shows,
comedy. Moreover, it’s simply fantastic
entertainment of the highest quality.
hijinx.org.uk/unity
JULY
July – August (School Summer Holidays)
Cardiff Bay Beach, Cardiff
Cardiff doesn’t actually have a beach.
Sorry. So well done, whoever had the
idea of filling Roald Dahl Plass with
traditional seaside attractions, including
a funfair and lots of sand. It’s become
a huge hit with locals.
cardiffbaybeach.co.uk
1 – 4 July
The 28th North Wales Bluegrass
Festival, Conwy
The UK’s longest-standing bluegrass
festival brings in talent from all over
the world, including its spiritual home,
Appalachia. It’s a fascinating genre, with
its earliest roots in British folk, filtered
through African-American, gospel and
jazz influences.
northwalesbluegrass.co.uk
2 July
Fifth Royal London One-Day International - England V Sri Lanka, Cardiff
They may have had initial misgivings, but
the Barmy Army has been wowed by the
SWALEC Stadium’s superb hosting of
England matches. The ground is friendly,
easy to reach – and Cardiff does look
rather splendid from those blimp shots
on the telly.
ecb.co.uk
03—
18 – 21 July
Royal Welsh Show, Builth Wells
The daddy of all agricultural shows. We
love tip-toeing through the livestock
sheds (mind that bull), but the zillions
of craft stalls, food hall and exhibitions
bring in herds of non-farmers and
tourists, too. Deservedly so – this is the
heartbeat of rural Wales at its most lively.
rwas.wales
2 - 3 July
Wales National Airshow, Swansea
Free annual event featuring aerial
displays as well as activities and
entertainment on solid ground. A
weekend of family fun on the five mile
sweep of Swansea Bay.
walesnationalairshow.com
5 – 10 July
Llangollen International Musical
Eisteddfod
An extraordinary cultural celebration
featuring 4,000 competitors from
around the world in song, dance and
music, and performances by the biggest
singing stars. A Fringe event has also
sprung up, taking place in the town
a week later.
international-eisteddfod.co.uk
8 – 10 July
Wakestock, Pwllheli
The cultures of wakeboarding and music
meet, get along nicely, and then have
a torrid fling at this festival on the Llŷn
Peninsula. Wakestock took a year off in
2015, and isn’t holding anything back
for its 2016 return.
wakestock.co.uk
04—
Championship and neighbouring
Pyle & Kenfig. 288 world-ranked
amateur golfers will compete with the
winner earning a place in The Open
Championship and the 2017 US Open.
royalporthcawl.com
randa.org
8 – 10 July
Long Course Weekend, Tenby
Yes, it’s Year of Adventure and all that,
but this is stretching the point. Half the
competitors don’t even finish one of the
toughest triathlons around. If you do,
we’ll buy you an ice cream.
longcourseweekend.com
9 July
British Speedway Grand Prix, Cardiff
Cardiff’s Principality Stadium hosts its
15th consecutive Grand Prix. Basically,
it’s four laps of the track, most of it spent
going sideways, like the clappers, on
bikes that don’t have brakes. Madmen.
speedwaygp.com
9 July
The Legend Triathlon
This bills itself as the world’s most
beautiful single-lap event. It’s iron
distance, which means that it finishes
with a full marathon. It’s in Snowdonia,
which means hills. Finish that lot, and
you fully deserve the Legend title.
alwaysaimhighevents.com
13 – 18 July
British Amateur Championship, Royal
Porthcawl and Pyle & Kenfig Golf Clubs
The Amateur Championship is played
on the most prestigious courses in
Great Britain and Ireland. In 2016
the Championship come to the
championship links of Royal Porthcawl,
host of the 2014 and 2017 Senior Open
23 – 24 July
Steelhouse Festival, Ebbw Vale
Heavy metal has always been massive in
the Valleys, its unfashionableness almost
a source of stubborn pride. This bargainvalue festival assembles legendary rock
warriors and young guns in front of
the Marshall stacks, possibly in spandex
trousers, and wielding a Flying V in
a manner that is frankly suggestive.
steelhousefestival.com
29 – 31 July
Big Cheese Festival, Caerphilly
Caerphilly’s whopping castle is the hub
of this mighty shindig that celebrates
history, heritage and culture. Good
family fun, basically.
your.caerphilly.gov.uk/bigcheese
29 July – 6 August
National Eisteddfod of Wales,
Abergavenny
Wales’s biggest arts festival is also its
oldest, tracing its roots back to the
year 1176. It’s an eclectic mix of old
and new, traditional and modern, and
a celebration of Wales’s culture and
language. You don’t have to speak (or be)
Welsh to enjoy the spectacle of an old
language having very contemporary fun.
eisteddfod.org.uk
03 Royal Welsh Show, Builth Wells
04 World Bog Snorkelling, Llanwrtyd Wells
75
July (tbc)
International Ceramics Festival,
Aberystwyth
This three-day festival has grown to
become the UK’s leading ceramics event.
Have a smashing time. Actually, on
second thoughts…
internationalceramicsfestival.org
AUGUST
9 – 10 August
Anglesey County Show, Holyhead
Anglesey was once the bread-basket
of Wales, and the biggest two-day
agricultural show in Wales has more
than 350 trade stands, entertainment
marquee and lots of country pursuits.
angleseyshow.org.uk
13 August
Pride Cymru, Cardiff
The city-centre Parade kicks off a day of
live music that ends with an unmissable
After Party. It’s the biggest and best
LGBT bash in the calendar.
pridecymru.co.uk
18 – 21 August
Green Man Festival, Crickhowell
Green Man was founded in 2003 as a
one-day campfire folk event, and still
stands out proudly in the left-field. It’s
bigger – around 20,000 capacity these
days – but still inhabits its own glorious
alternative universe. The setting is
gorgeous, and there’s the sheer diversity
of entertainment: ten areas, 1,500
performers, 24-hour events, comedy,
poetry, literature, wildlife walks – and
some of the best music around, from
cutting-edge contemporary stars to
venerable legends.
greenman.net
20 August
Race the Train, Tywyn
The narrow-gauge Talyllyn steam train
is the pace-maker at this fabulous multiterrain race. There are several options,
from the Toddlers Trot (a lap of the field)
to the full 14m (22k), which the train can
usually manage in about 1hr48min.
racethetrain.com
05 Ironman Wales, Pembrokeshire
06 Dylan Thomas Writing Shed, Laugharne
07 Winter Wonderland, Cardiff
28 August
World Bog Snorkelling Championship,
Llanwrtyd Wells
We love the wilful idiocy of Llanwrtyd
Wells events. Now in its 31st year, daring
competitors battle it out in a 196ft
(60m) trench cut into a peat bog for the
coveted title of World Champion Bog
Snorkeller.
green-events.co.uk
SEPTEMBER
1 – 4 September
Festival No.6, Portmeirion
This intimate weekend of music, arts
and culture is set in and around the
most stunning festival site you will ever
see. Grace Jones, Belle & Sebastian, Pet
Shop Boys, Manic Street Preachers,
Beck and My Bloody Valentine have been
memorable headliners.
festivalnumber6.com
4 September
Fifth Royal London One-Day International - England v Pakistan, Cardiff
Yet another fifth ODI – so potentially
another series decider, this time it’s
against Pakistan. Around 2% of Cardiff’s
population have Pakistani heritage, so
there’s always a terrific atmosphere
when they play here.
ecb.co.uk
7 – 18 September
City of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl),
Cardiff
This is the big one: the flagship event
of the Roald Dahl 100 celebrations.
The entire capital city is a stage for
large-scale spectacles, theatre and art,
bringing Dahl’s worlds alive in
surprising ways.
wmc.org.uk
16 – 18 September
The Welsh Rockabilly Fair, Porthcawl
Rockabilly is as much a lifestyle as a
music, and this festival promises “as
much fun as you can handle”. And
considering there’s a Burlesque Fringe,
this isn’t an empty boast.
welshrockabilly.co.uk
17 – 18 September
Abergavenny Food Festival
This is one of the biggest events in the
UK foodie calendar, with local produce
and international delicacies, celebrity
chefs, master classes, tastings and street
stalls all on the menu.
abergavennyfoodfestival.com
18 September
Admiral Swansea Bay 10K
Flat and fast, this is one of our most
popular 10k runs. It’s about time
someone beat the course record of
27.39, set by Felix Limo of Kenya in 2002.
We’re relying on you.
swanseabay10k.com
18 September
Ironman Wales, Pembrokeshire
A 2.4-mile (3.8km) swim, a 112-mile
(180km) cycle, followed by a marathon,
with only 17 hours to complete it all.
Just an average Sunday, really.
ironmanwales.com
23 – 25 September
Elvis Festival, Porthcawl
Elvis lives, thanks to the thousands of
fans and the tribute artists who attend
this annual gathering of blue suede
shoes, Vegas jumpsuits, and whopping
sideburns.
elvies.co.uk
05—
OCTOBER
06—
2 October
Cardiff Half Marathon, Cardiff
The capital’s most iconic landmarks
and historic buildings provide a terrific
setting for this annual race around
Cardiff and the Bay.
cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk
DECEMBER
12 – 16 October
Iris Prize Festival, Cardiff
Cardiff’s international gay and lesbian
short film prize welcomes the best new
film–making talent to the capital.
irisprize.org
23 – 24 October
Gwledd Conwy Feast, Conwy
Conwy’s always a great place to visit, but
this weekend sees one of the biggest
celebrations of the music, art and food
of Wales. The quayside, the castle and
medieval streets burst with flavours,
sounds and sights.
gwleddconwyfeast.co.uk
27 October – 9 November
Dylan Thomas Festival, Swansea
After the global hoo-hah of Dylan
Thomas’s 2015 centenary, Swansea
settles back down to enjoy this excellent
annual literary festival, inspired by our
most famous poet.
dylanthomas.com
28 - 30 October
Wales Rally GB
The British leg of the FIA World Rally
Championship has been based in Wales
since 2000. Expect a Finnish man to be
driving at warp speed through a dark
forest. walesrallygb.com
28 – 30 October
Made by Hand, Cardiff
An incredible amount of skill and
ingenuity goes into making the crafts
that are displayed, demonstrated and
sold at this big crafts fair.
madebyhand-wales.co.uk
October (tbc)
Anglesey Oyster & Welsh Produce
Festival, Trearddur Bay
It started as an informal event where
locals would gather to eat oysters and
get merry, but now shows off all kinds of
excellent local produce.
angleseyoysterfestival.com
18 November – 8 January
Waterfront Winterland, Swansea
Museum Park is transformed, complete
with ice rink and funfair, into Waterfront
Winterland. Try saying it really quickly
after a few mulled wines.
waterfrontwinterland.com
Santa Steam Specials
There are 11 steam railways in the Great
Little Trains’ fleet, and most run Santa
Specials during the Christmas season.
greatlittletrainsofwales.co.uk
October (tbc)
Sŵn, Cardiff
Founded and curated by DJ Huw
Stephens and promoter Jon Rostron,
Sŵn is loosely based on the vast music
showcase festival that is SXSW in Texas.
There are 100+ bands in small venues all
over Cardiff, some of whom will vanish
into obscurity, while others are the
stadium-fillers of the future. And we all
like bragging about how we saw Los
Campesinos! / The Cribs / The Vaccines
/ Alt J in the sweaty back room of a
Cardiff pub, don’t we?
swnfest.com
NOVEMBER
November – January
Cardiff Winter Wonderland
Ice-skating and rides, mulled wine and
roasted chestnuts, and all kinds of feelgood festivities in Cardiff’s civic centre.
Dates are yet to be confirmed, but 11
November to 2 January won’t be far
off the mark.
cardiffwinterwonderland.com
November – January
Christmas in Cardiff
Lots of events fall under the Christmas
in Cardiff banner, from panto to ballet.
Santa advises checking out the website
for details.
cardiff-events.com
Christmas markets
There are excellent Christmas markets
in many Welsh towns, including big ‘uns
at Blackwood, Wrexham and Caerphilly.
Dates aren’t confirmed yet, so check
the websites:
visitcaerphilly.com
wrexham.com
visitcaerphilly.com
31 December
Nos Galan Road Races, Mountain Ash
This annual race commemorates the
18th-century Welsh runner Guto Nyth
Brân (who was supposedly so quick, he
could blow out his candle and be in bed
before it was dark). There are races for
all abilities, street entertainment, funfair
and fabulous firework display.
nosgalan.co.uk
07—
77
78
Essential Information
Meet our holiday areas.
Allow us to introduce you
to our 13 holiday areas...
01—Isle of Anglesey
Anglesey offers unparalleled beauty,
amazing adventures, serious solitude
and a warm welcome. Easily accessible;
this unique island, with its coastline,
varied beaches and historical towns
make it a superb base for all the family.
Those that have visited need not be told.
They just return…
+44 (0)1248 713177
tourism@anglesey.gov.uk
visitanglesey.co.uk
facebook.com/visitanglesey
02—Llandudno & Colwyn Bay
Vibrant Llandudno, the Victorian seaside
gem with a history that goes back to the
Bronze Age. World Heritage Conwy
with its rich maritime past. Waterfront
adventure in Colwyn Bay. Year-round
breaks, filled with family fun, good food,
great walking, world-class theatre and a
full calendar of exciting events. All within
easy reach of Snowdonia.
+44 (0)1492 577577
llandudnotic@conwy.gov.uk
visitllandudno.org.uk
facebook.com/VisitingLlandudno
twitter.com/visit_llandudno
01. The Isle of Anglesey
02. Llandudno & Colwyn Bay
03. North East Wales
04. Snowdonia Mountains & Coast/Eryri Mynyddoedd a Môr
05. Mid Wales My Way
06. Ceredigion – Cardigan Bay & the Cambrian Mountains
07. Pembrokeshire – Britain’s only Coastal National Park
08. Carmarthenshire – Carmarthen Bay
09. Swansea Bay – Swansea, Mumbles & Gower
10. The Valleys – Heart & Soul of Wales
11. Cardiff – Capital of Wales
12. The Glamorgan Heritage Coast & Countryside
13. Wye Valley & Vale of Usk
03—North East Wales
Less than 20 minutes from Chester,
we’re just a short journey from the
North West and the West Midlands. From
the bustling shops and cultural events
of Wrexham to the culinary delights of
the Mold Food and Drink Festival to the
world-famous Llangollen International
Eisteddfod. The area includes Rhyl, one
of the best recognized British seaside
resorts and the Clwydian Range & Dee
Valley, Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty. We even have an 11-mile
(17km) long World Heritage Site – the
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal and
you can also walk the ancient Offa’s Dyke
path running through Chirk out to the
coast at Prestatyn.
+44 (0)1978 292015
tourism@wrexham.gov.uk
+44 (0)1745 355068
rhyltic@denbighshire.gov.uk
northeastwales.co.uk
04—Snowdonia Mountains & Coast
The outdoor adventure playground of
North Wales that includes the
Snowdonia National Park, Llŷn Peninsula
and Cambrian Coastline. A wide choice
of quality accommodation, attractions
and activities – castles, narrow-gauge
railways, golf, cycling, walking, awardwinning beaches, country parks, Wales
Coast Path, World Heritage Site, Areas
of Outstanding Natural Beauty and
Heritage Coast.
+44 (0)1341 281485
tourism@gwynedd.gov.uk
visitsnowdonia.info
facebook.com/visitingsnowdonia
twitter.com/visit_snowdonia
visitsnowdonia.wordpress.com
discoverceredigion.co.uk
facebook.com/discoverceredigion
twitter: @visitceredigion
07—Pembrokeshire – Britain’s only
Coastal National Park
Rated by National Geographic magazine
experts as the second best coastline in
the world. With 186 miles (299km) of
magnificent and varied coastline and
over 50 beaches, there’s plenty of space
for everyone. Choose between lively
Tenby and Saundersfoot or peaceful
St David’s and Newport. Perfect for
outdoor activities or just relaxing.
visitpembrokeshire.com
11—Cardiff, Capital of Wales
The capital of Wales has unique
attractions, top-class entertainment, a
wide range of accommodation to suit
all needs and quality shopping with a
difference. Cardiff Castle, the Principality
Stadium, National Museum Cardiff, the
Wales Millennium Centre and famous
Doctor Who Experience combined with
Cardiff Bay offer indoor and outdoor
entertainment for everyone all year
round.
+44 (0)29 2087 3573
visitor@cardiff.gov.uk
visitcardiff.com
12—The Glamorgan Heritage Coast
08—Carmarthenshire –
& Countryside
Carmarthen Bay
The dramatic Heritage Coast and
Carmarthenshire stretches from
05—Mid Wales My Way
popular resorts of Barry Island and
Carmarthen Bay in the south to western
Featuring
Brecon
Beacons
National
Park,
Porthcawl are fringed by lovely Vale and
Beacons
and
the
Cambrian
Mountains
The Valleys – Heart and Soul of Wales
Dyfi Biosphere, Cambrian Mountains,
Bridgend countryside and green hills.
in the north, wondrous gardens, aweLake Vyrnwy & the Berwyns and Offa’s
Discover the special character of an
inspiring castles, Wales’s longest beach,
Country.
Magnificent walks – two
area steeped in history – and it’s close to
1
The Isle
of Anglesey
market towns brimming with local
nationalColwyn
trails, waterfalls
and&many
other
Cardiff, Wales’s cosmopolitan capital.
2/2A
Llandudno,
Bay, Rhyl
Prestatyn
produce and chic shopping.
breathtaking
walks
besides.
Muddy
+44 (0)1446 704867
+44 (0)1267 231557
3
The North Wales Borderlands
Wheels – cycling on- and off-road. A
+44 (0)1656 815332
marketing@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
4
Snowdonia Mountains & Coast/Eryri Mynyddoedd a Môr
great track record – four years with the
tourism@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
discovercarmarthenshire.com
5
Mid Wales
the Brecon
Beacons
Tour of&Britain,
home to
Dyfi Enduro
tourism@bridgend.gov.uk
6
Ceredigion
– Cardigan
Bay traffic-free
09—Swansea Bay – Swansea,
and Beacons
Beast. Family
visitthevale.com
7
Pembrokeshire
routes to extreme mountain biking await. Mumbles, & Gower
bridgendbites.com
Discover Dylan Thomas in Wales’s
Year-round events
– from Hay Bay
Literary
8
Carmarthenshire
– Carmarthen
13—Wye Valley & Vale of Usk
City, birthplace of our poetic
to Machynlleth
Comedy,Gower,
from Green
9
Swansea
Bay – Mumbles,
Afan andtheWaterfront
Vale of Neath
Fantastic scenery and high-quality food
hero
and
playwright.
Spend
some
time
Man to the
Royaland
Welsh
andofWinter
10
The Valleys
– Heart
Soul
Wales
and drink from the Brecon Beacons
in the UK’s first Area of Outstanding
Shows, celebrating our agricultural
11
Cardiff,
capital of Wales
National Park to the Wye Valley Area
Natural
Beauty,
the
Gower
Peninsula
heritage. Stay in magnificent mansions
of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Explore
12
The Most
Southerly
Point
In
Wales
–
The
Glamorgan
Heritage
Coast
and
Countryside
(still
stunning
at
60!).
Unwind
on
awardto wacky wigwams. All topped off with
castles, Roman towns and beautiful
13
Wye mouth-watering
Valley & Vale ofcuisine,
Usk local whiskies
winning beaches and explore unspoilt
gardens; then take in award-winning
countryside.
Bring
your
board,
bike
and marvellous wines. That’s Mid Wales
vineyards, bustling market towns and
and
boots
and
enjoy
a
Swansea
Bay
My Way!
great local pubs. With the renowned
Adventure in 2016!
+44 (0)1874 622485
Newport and Abergavenny Food
+44
(0)1792
468321
tourism@powys.gov.uk
Festivals, celebrated restaurants and
tourism@swansea.gov.uk
midwalesmyway.com
artisan producers, discover why we’re
visitswanseabay.com
06—Ceredigion – Cardigan Bay
the Food Capital of Wales.
10—The Valleys –
& the Cambrian Mountains
+44 (0)1291 623772
Heart & Soul of Wales
Start your Welsh adventure in
tourism@monmouthshire.gov.uk
World-class mountain biking and other
Ceredigion. Delve into the history of
visitmonmouthshire.com
activities on, over and under landscapes
Wales and experience our language
that are never short on drama. Proud
and culture. Discover the expansive
communities bursting to tell you their
landscapes of the gripping TV thriller
stories about Wales’s largest castle, a
Hinterland / Y Gwyll. Tackle Ceredigion’s
World Heritage Site, craft beers and
coast path from challenging hill fort
ciders and an intriguing cast of heroes
climbs to gentle promenade strolls at
from the mythological past to the
Aberystwyth. Take a dolphin spotting
contemporary music scene. You haven’t
boat trip, catch a wave (and maybe a
visited Wales until you’ve been to the
mackerel) or simply enjoy some family
Go to visitwales.com/brochures to
Valleys – the Heart and Soul of Wales.
fun at award-winning beaches.
download brochures or to select up to
+44
(0)29
2088
0011
+44 (0)1970 612125
three for free postal delivery. Or call +44
contactus@thevalleys.co.uk
brochure@ceredigion.gov.uk
(0) 333 006 3001 to request brochures.
thevalleys.co.uk
79
80 Essential Information
visitwales.com
Getting to Wales.
Wales is easy to get to. It’s only a few
hours by motorway from London. By
train it’s even quicker – just two hours
from London to Cardiff. It’s the same from
Britain’s major airports with speedy road
and rail links from Heathrow, Gatwick,
Birmingham and Manchester.
GLASGOW
LIVERPOOL
Fishguard
Pembroke
EDINBURGH
By Road
Mileage and journey times by car:
Birmingham – Aberystwyth
123 miles, 2hrs 44mins
Bath – Newport
42 miles, 52mins
Canterbury – Cardiff
214 miles, 3hrs 51mins
Coventry – Barmouth
138 miles, 2hrs 56mins
Exeter – Swansea
144 miles, 2hrs 35mins
Leeds – Llandudno
126 miles, 2hrs 31mins
London – Cardiff
151 miles, 2hrs 53mins
London – Tenby
238 miles, 4hrs 29mins
Manchester – Caernarfon
105 miles, 2hrs 19mins
Nottingham – Swansea
204 miles, 3hrs 41mins
Newcastle-upon-Tyne –
Llandudno
221 miles, 4hrs 20mins
Reading – Carmarthen
172 miles, 3hrs 2mins
York – Welshpool
152 miles, 3hrs 7mins
Edinburgh – Cardiff
393 miles, 7hrs 3mins
Glasgow – Aberystwyth
331 miles, 6hrs 4mins
Mileage/times supplied by
theaa.com
National Express provides a nationwide
network of express coach services
linking major towns and cities in Wales
as well as the UK’s principal destinations.
Check out their website for special
offers. nationalexpress.com
You can hop on and off the National
Express network with a Brit Xplorer
pass. Passes can be purchased online at
nationalexpress.com/waystosave/britxplorer.aspx
Megabus provides low cost intercity
travel in the UK, with buses running from
a number of major UK cities to locations
in Wales.
uk.megabus.com
By Air
By Rail
In the UK, fast and frequent rail services
run between London Paddington and
Cardiff, taking just over two hours. There
is a half-hourly departure to Cardiff
Central, with an hourly continuation to
Swansea and onward connections to
West Wales.
There are also direct trains from
London Euston and Manchester to
Llandudno, Bangor and Holyhead;
from Birmingham, Shrewsbury and
Crewe to the North Wales coast and
the Llŷn Peninsula; from Manchester
and Shrewsbury to Newport; and from
Portsmouth, Southampton and Salisbury
to Cardiff.
Cardiff Airport is situated on the
outskirts of the capital.
For detailed information on flights and
how to get to and from the airport by
road, rail, bus and taxi go to
cardiff-airport.com/en/airport
Airlines from all over the world fly into
the London airports, so check with
your travel agent or tour operator to
find the best option for your journey.
Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool
also have a number of international
flights, and Bristol airport is very
conveniently located for a trip to Wales.
UK airports that offer easy access to
Wales:
Birmingham International Airport—
birminghamairport.co.uk
Bristol Airport—
bristolairport.co.uk
Liverpool John Lennon Airport—
liverpoolairport.com
London Gatwick Airport—
gatwickairport.com
London Heathrow Airport—
heathrowairport.com
London Luton Airport—
london-luton.co.uk
London Stansted Airport—
stanstedairport.com
Manchester Airport—
manchesterairport.co.uk
From London Heathrow Airport, there’s
a fast, direct rail service to Paddington,
where you can change onto a direct
train to Wales. From London Gatwick
Airport, you can travel direct to
London Victoria, then take the tube to
Paddington or Euston to continue your
journey. For general rail enquiries visit:
nationalrail.co.uk
thetrainline.com
By Sea
Ferry crossings from Ireland to Wales:
Irish Ferries
irishferries.com
Dublin Port to Holyhead
Journey time: 1hr 49mins (Fast ferry)
Journey time: 3hrs 15mins (Cruise ferry)
Rosslare to Pembroke
Journey time: 4hrs (Cruise ferry)
Stena Line
stenaline.co.uk
Dublin Port to Holyhead
Journey time: 3hrs 15mins (Superferry)
Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead
Journey time: 2hrs 20mins (Fastcraft)
Rosslare to Fishguard
Journey time: 3hrs 30mins (Superferry)
Ferry crossings from mainland Europe
to Great Britain:
Brittany Ferries
brittany-ferries.co.uk
Condor Ferries
condorferries.co.uk
DFDS Seaways
dfdsseaways.co.uk
LD Lines
ldlines.co.uk
P&O
poferries.com
Stena Line
stenaline.com
Cruise ships dock at the Port of
Holyhead on Anglesey almost every
week between May and September.
Cruise lines calling in include Crystal,
Hapag Lloyd, Oceania, P&O, Silversea,
Swan Hellenic, Thomson, Tui, Voyages of
Discovery and Windstar.
For more information on getting to
Wales go to visitwales.com/explore/
travel-maps
81
82
Essential Information
visitwales.com
Elan Valley, near Rhayader
Getting around Wales.
It’s easy to get around
Wales by train, bus,
car or even domestic
flight. And if you’re
keen to explore, you’ll
find plenty of journeys
that are wonderful
experiences in their own
right. We have some of
the most scenic roads,
railways and pathways
in Britain.
By Road
The most scenic drives in Wales count
among the best in Britain. Some
favourite routes with fantastic views
include the A466 along the Wye Valley,
the B4574 from Rhayader to the Vale
of Rheidol, the A4069 across the Black
Mountain range, the A4086, A498 and
A4085 around Snowdon and Marine
Drive around Great Orme in Llandudno.
By Rail
Rail services run through the regions of
Wales – usually on highly scenic routes
such as the Cambrian Coast, Conwy
Valley and Heart of Wales lines.
thecambrianline.co.uk
scenicwales.co.uk
heart-of-wales.co.uk
nationalrail.co.uk
arrivatrainswales.co.uk
When you’re out and about in the
National Parks, use the convenient park
and ride bus services designed to cut
down on traffic: pembrokeshire.gov.uk
or gwynedd.gov.uk
For pure pleasure why not take a ride on
some of the 14 narrow gauge and steam
railways? Many are members of the
Great Little Trains of Wales.
greatlittletrainsofwales.co.uk
National Express operates long-distance
intercity coach services to many towns
and cities throughout Wales. For more
information and to plan your journey go
to nationalexpress.com
Additional Information
For up-to-date and reliable public
transport information –
traveline-cymru.info
For a handy route planner –
theaa.com or rac.co.uk
For information on UK road regulations –
gov.uk/browse/driving/highway-code
Megabus runs a low-cost coach service
between Cwmbran, Newport, Cardiff,
Swansea, Carmarthen and Pembroke
Dock. uk.megabus.com
Discounted rail and bus travel
The Explore Wales Pass offers unlimited
travel on all mainline rail services in
Wales plus most scheduled bus services.
Holders will also benefit from discounted
entry to many tourist attractions and
selected accommodation. The Explore
Wales Pass (£94) allows four-day train
and eight-day bus travel. The Explore
South Wales, North Wales and Mid
Wales Passes (£64 each) allow four-day
train and eight-day bus travel within
each regional area. There are also a
number of Rovers and Rangers tickets
available, which all offer unlimited train
travel for one day on specific areas
of the Arriva Trains Wales network.
They can be purchased from the
station booking office or on board
the train. arrivatrainswales.co.uk/
explorewalespass
For more information on getting around
Wales go to visitwales.com/explore/
travel-maps/getting-around-wales
Conwy Castle
83
84 Further Information
Free brochures
Find out more about Wales by choosing
some of the FREE guides available.
Check them out, and order or download
them from visitwales.com/brochures
More information on Wales
For up-to-date information on short
breaks, longer holidays or a full range of
activity breaks in Wales go to
visitwales.com
Mother Tongue
When the Romans arrived in Britain,
every person in what is now England
and Wales spoke the same language:
Welsh (or at least, British, the Celtic
language from which modern Welsh
is descended). Successive invasions
from mainland Europe drove the British
language to the western edges of
Britain, where it evolved into Welsh and
Cornish. The language also hopped
across to north-west France, where
the Breton language is still partly
intelligible to Welsh speakers. Nowadays
Welsh is spoken by around a fifth of the
population, especially in the north and
west of Wales, where it is many people’s
everyday working language. You’ll
also hear quite a bit of Welsh in major
towns and cities like Cardiff, where the
government and all major public bodies
are fully bilingual. So if you want to
know what our ancient British ancestors
sounded like, just find your nearest
Welsh speaker and say shwmae!
A sense of place
Place names tell a story in Wales. You’ll
see the same words appear time and
again on our road signs, and they’ll
always tell you something of the local
history or landscape. Two in particular
appear very often: Llan indicates a
church or parish, usually followed by the
name of the saint to whom it’s dedicated,
as in Llandudno: the church of St Tudno.
Aber means the mouth or confluence of
a river, as in Aberaeron: the mouth
of the river Aeron.
Here’s a list of common names to
look out for on your travels:
Aber
mouth/confluence of river
Afonriver
Betwschapel
source of a stream
Blaen
hill
Bryn a mountain pass
Bwlch fort, fortified camp
Caer chapel
Capel Cas, castell castle
forest
Coed valley
Cwm hill fort
Din city
Dinas Dyffryn valley
church
Eglwys road
Ffordd spring
Ffynnon deep valley
Glyn moorland
Gwaun summer
Hafod winter farmstead
Hendre church, sacred enclosure
Llan lake
Llyn sea
Môr Mynydd mountain
brook
Nant new
Newydd hall, mansion
Plas bridge
Pont waterfall
Rhaeadr beach
Traeth Tŷhouse
island
Ynys FAQs
How do I know I’m booking good
quality accommodation?
When choosing your holiday
accommodation, look for the Cymru/
Wales quality mark of Wales’s official,
nationwide quality assessment scheme.
Visit Wales and the AA are the only
checking agents in Wales, checking
out over 5,000 properties. Both assess
holiday accommodation to the same
criteria and award one to five stars,
based on the facilities and overall quality
of the experience. Also look out for
that extra-special property that has
been awarded Visit Wales’s Gold Award,
given for exceptional standards of
hospitality, comfort and food in serviced
accommodation.
For more information on
accommodation in Wales, the Cymru/
Wales Quality Assessment scheme,
general grading information and
star ratings go to: visitwales.com/
holidayaccommodation
Where can I find holiday information
for people with special needs?
Tourism for All is a free specialist
information service promoting
accessible tourism. It offers free
guidance on travel planning, transport,
accommodation and booking
tourismforall.org.uk
I’d like to learn some Welsh before my
visit – where do I start?
Take a look at the following websites to
pick up some basics:
bbc.co.uk/learnwelsh s4c.co.uk/
dysgwyr/
If you’d like to learn Welsh in Wales, the
Nant Gwrtheyrn Welsh Language &
Heritage Centre specialises in residential
courses for adults learning Welsh.
nantgwrtheyrn.org
Where can I get local tourist
information?
One of the simplest and quickest ways
of getting local information is by calling
in to one of our Tourist Information
Centres. The staff are highly trained,
have an excellent knowledge of the area
and will be delighted to help you with
booking your accommodation, finding
places to eat, things to do, routes to take,
national and local events and obtaining
maps, guides and books. Normally,
offices are open between 10.00 and
17.00. For a list of Tourist Information
Centres see:
visitwales.com/contact/
touristinformation- centres
Travel agents and tour operators
in the UK and Ireland.
To make it really easy to book your
holiday or short break in Wales you
could use a tour operator. There are a
number of UK and Irish companies who
offer Wales-based holidays. They often
have specialist knowledge of particular
products and will be happy to help you
find the right holiday to suit your needs.
For companies go to:
visitwales.com/touroperators
Selling Wales to your clients
If you work in the leisure travel trade
or business tourism sectors, we have a
dedicated website to help you sell Wales
to your clients and enhance existing
tours to Wales or help introduce Wales
into UK programmes for the first time.
There’s everything from great places to
visit, how to get here, inspiring itinerary
ideas, operator and venue searches
and the latest product news where you
can sign up to receive regular product
updates. traveltrade.visitwales.com
Whilst every effort has been made to
ensure accuracy in this publication,
Visit Wales can accept no liability for
any errors, inaccuracies or omissions or
for any matter in anyway arising out of
the publication of the information. All
websites listed are checked at the time
of going to press. However, Visit Wales
cannot be held accountable for any
change in the content of these websites.
visitwales.com
Solva, Pembrokeshire
85
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This is where the rivers Glaslyn and
Dwyfor meet on the northwest coast
of Wales. Nearby is Portmeirion, a
Mediterranean-style village overlooking
the wide estuary of the Dwyryd river.
From there you can see the mountains of
Snowdonia, which have drawn generations
of visitors, from climbers preparing to
conquer Everest, to weekend walkers.
This is just one piece of the puzzle we call
home. A modern country with an ancient
heritage. A nation which speaks two
languages (or more), often at the same
time. A place to come and step outside
yourself, and do something amazing.
Welcome to our Year of Adventure 2016.