Tag: Snowdonia

Tick off your bucket list travels with my new guides to Liverpool and Snowdonia

 

Bucket List Travels has now gone live and I’m one of their travel experts.

My writer profile is here.

The travel site, which curates content for bucket list experiences by local experts, has launched with guides from Sydney to Straford-upon-Avon.

I’ve drawn on my local-knowledge expertise as a travel writer and tourist guide to write two of the guides from my home patch in the Northwest of England and North Wales.

Read my Snowdonia guide here; and my Liverpool guide here.

Here’s a taster of the Snowdonia text:

The anchor point is Mount Snowdon (Eryri in Welsh), Wales’ highest peak at 3,000ft. The mountain Mecca is the small, Alpine-style town of Llanberis but other honeypot hubs offer alternative takes on the park. The Victorian resort town of Betws-y-Coed is the primary base for many visitors, its high street packed with outdoors shops and food-fuel cafes. Given the bucolic setting, you can see why artists and Romantic writers were first drawn here.

Timely, given that the Snowdonia National Park Authority recently voted to use the Welsh names Yr Wyddfa and Eryri rather than Snowdon and Snowdonia.

The decision that Wales’ highest mountain will be referred to by its Welsh name, rather than the English equivalent, came after a petition of 5,000 people called for change.

Read more about the decision here.

And read more travel guides at Bucket List Travels.

Wales has a new Unesco World Heritage Site. Let’s use it wisely then.

Wales has a new Unesco World Heritage Site.

The industrial heritage of North Wales has just been named as the UK’s 33rd Unesco World Heritage Site.

The award reflects the international significance of Welsh slate in “roofing the 19th century world”.

It’s the fourth site in Wales alongside the castles of Edward I, the Blaenavon industrial landscape and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Llangollen.

The pockmarked, post-industrial landscape had been ‘slated’ for Unesco status since it was first nominated by the UK Government in 2018.

The bid focused on six disparate slate-mining areas, divided by mountain ranges.

These include the Penrhyn slate quarry at Bethesda, the Dinorwig quarry near Llanberis and Blaenau Ffestiniog’s slate mines [quarryman turned guide Brian Jones at Llechwedd pictured above].

Some of the attractions fall within the boundary of the Snowdonia National Park, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

Roland Evans of Gwynedd Council, which led the bid partnership, is keen to use the win to entice visitors away from the national-park honeypots:

“The bid champions the social and economic regeneration of our slate valleys, restoring pride to those communities, and documenting their social history through community tourism.”

Read the rest of my feature via Telegraph Travel, Move over Taj Mahal, these Welsh slate quarries are just as fascinating.

An interview with Brian Jones, guide at Llechwedd, North Wales

 

Nothing makes a story come alive like putting a human face to it.

I found another example of this recently on a visit to Llechwedd, the North Wales tourist attraction that forms part of the UK’s current bid for Unesco World Heritage status.

This is to recognise the heritage of the North Wales slate industry.

Llechwedd is home to a host of attractions, including Zip World Titan and Bounce Below.

It also opens a new boutique hotel, Plus Weunydd, in June this year.

But, meanwhile, let’s sit back to listen to Llechwdd guide Brian Jones bringing the site to life.

An exclusive preview of the new Adventure Parc Snowdonia attraction

The new Indoor Adrenaline experience at Adventure Parc Snowdonia opens tomorrow.

But we were there a couple of weeks ago [pictured above] for an exclusive preview of the new adrenaline attraction, researching an article for The Guardian in the family travel section.

Here’s a preview of what we found:

Now rebranded as Adventure Parc Snowdonia, this converted aluminium factory in the Conwy Valley started life in 2015 as Surf Snowdonia with its inland artificial surf lagoon.

But it has expanded for the summer holidays with the opening of its Adrenaline Indoors adventure experience.

Think the TV series Ninja Warrior on steroids.

It’s an action-packed adjunct in a new building opposite the surf lagoon with activities including an artificial caving course, a parkour trail and freefall jumps, plus a soft-play area for younger siblings.

A 106-bedroom Hilton Garden Inn Hotel is due to open late 2020 with a restaurant and spa.

Adventure Parc Snowdonia

Read the full Guardian Travel story here.