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Wales

Wales is a country of outstanding natural beauty with many varied landscapes. Visitors come to Wales to climb dramatic mountain peaks, go walking in the forests, fish in the broad rivers and enjoy the many miles of unspoilt coastline. In many ways, Wales is just what you picture it to be with male-voice choirs, Rugby Union, 'Bread of Heaven', romantic castles, sheep and old mining towns.

The country’s main seaside resorts have long been popular with English holidaymakers. However, in more recent times, the many charms of Wales have become better known internationally.

As well as outdoor pursuits there is a vibrancy of Welsh culture, with its strong Celtic roots, poetry and male voice choirs to be experienced. There are more fine castles in Wales than any other country and they survive today in a variety of conditions, ranging from complete ruins to castles that are still occupied as stately homes for their owners. Ruined abbeys, mansions and cities full of magnificent architecture are plentiful.

Much of Wales is covered by the Cambrian Mountain range which almost fills the space between their better known neighbours, the Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons National Parks and effectively act as a barrier from England. Wales is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a mild climate, with more rain than the rest of Britain. The land is unsuitable for arable farming, but sheep and cattle thrive. The ‘drove’ roads along which sheep used to be driven across the hills to England, are now popular walking trails. It is partly because of the rugged terrain that the Welsh have managed to maintain their separate identity and their ancient language.

The Welsh language is one of the Celtic languages still spoken, perhaps that with the greatest number of speakers. Welsh is an expansive, musical languafe, spoken by only one-fifth of the country’s 2.7 million inhabitants. When visiting Wales you will notice that all roadsigns are displayed in both Welsh and English – this is due to an official bi-lingiual policy that applies throughout the country, even in the areas where the language is used very little or not at all.


Place names throughout Wales are often cause for amusement, confusion or tongue-twisting! You cannot visit this very friendly part of Great Britain without having a go at pronouncing the name of this town:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch. If all else fails it is referred to locally as LlanfairPG!

Reflecting Wales history, it was conquered by the Romans, but not the Saxons. The land and the people therefore retained Celtic patterns of settlement and husbandry for six centuries before the Norman Conquest in 1066. This allowed time for the development of a distinctive Welsh nation whose homogeneity continues to this day.

In the 19th century, the opening of the South Wales Coalfield in Mid-Glamorgan – the biggest in the world for some considerable time, led to an industrial boom, with mass migration from the countryside to the iron and steelworks. Sadly, this prosperity was not to last and the coal industry has been in terminal decline for decades.