Castles In Wales (Part 3)
So here is the final part in the best castles in Wales’s trilogy. So far I have taken you through the biggest, the worst and the most famous of the castles in Wales. These are some of the castles that you may not actually be aware of.
Powis Castle
The castle was designed and built in the 12th century and followed all of the usual norman rules and guidelines. It contained an inner bailey, defensive outer wall and a very strong keep. In 1196 the castle fell to the English and in the 13th century the castle went through a very slow refurbishment programme. All that can now be seen of these improvements is the long gallery.
1667 saw the year in which Earl William started to turn the castle into a huge palace. State apartment, blue drawing room, library and state bedroom were added by William and when William fled the country his family did not return to it until 1703 in which his son set about making major improvements to the place and this is what makes the history of this place so wonderful and a reason to go on one of those family days out here.
Harlech Castle
This was built in the 13th century and is one of the four castles built in Wales for Edward I. It can be found on the top of a rocky outcrop and this location provided the castle with some really nice natural defences with the only weaknesses being from the east and south. The way in which this problem was solved is brilliant with a massive ditch being built to keep all kinds of attackers out and at bay.
The castle looks aslmost as good as it did way back in the day and can be found within the region of Snowdonia.
So there it is, there are still other castles to be explored but there are just a few of them written down for you to think about. UK family holidays are made very nice in Wales and even if you do not fancy a week or so in the area you could always go on one of those family days out to the area.
Why You Must Visit Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a major tourist attraction in Wales and is actually the first of the three national parks to be designated and was made a national park in 1951.
The English name for the park actually comes from the highest mountain in Wales which is of course Mount Snowdon but in Welsh it is named Eryi and it is often argued if this comes from the word eagle or it means highlands. The middle agesa first sparked the terms Lord of Snowdonia and Prince of wales.
The park is huge and is actually 838 square miles in area and is governed by the national park authority which is made up of the government and national representitives. A lot of the land in Snowdonia is actually private and makes up 69.9% of all of the shares this place has. the rest of the area is owned by forestry commission, national trust, CCW, national park authority and water companies.
There are actually 26,000 people in the area and 62% of these people speak welsh. The park has a massive amount of people visiting it every single year in fact over 6 millions people.
Many people actually go to climb the mountains of the area and Mount Everest training is sometimes known to happen here as it prepares future climbers for the perils that lay ahead of them.
Snowdonia is one of the wettest and coldest parts of the British Isles and Crib Goch in Snowdonia is actually the wettest point in the entire UK with an average rainfall of 4,472 millimetres a year over the past thirty years.
These are just some of the many reasons you should think about going to Snowdonia on your travels. Once you get to the top the views in which you can find are simply amazing and will certainly take your breath away, although one of those UK family holidays may not be something you are interested in doing, at least take the time to have a family days out.
London isn’t the only reason to come to the United Kingdom
London can be good because there arte so many things to do. A personal favourite is the O2 stadium as it is the best place to see huge artists from around the world pretty much.Perhaps only second to Wembley.
London has so many museums to offer visitors ranging from science to war. Two of the best that London has have got to be the Imperial War Museum and the British Museum.
The Tower Of London is famous for holding the crown jewels. Of course it is most famous for housing tortured prisoners of which some are still supposed to call the Tower their home.
Sure London has some of the top places to visit if you are coming to England, from Big Ben to the Waxworks but it also has the busy streets, and the feel of a world capital, which doesn’t tend to feel that good. Is London just somewhere to go on one of those family days out?
London is brilliant for someone coming over to see a bit of Britain’s awsome history but show the current beauty of Britain, and that is of course, the countryside.
Wales is a place to go to see the real side of Britain. Of course cities such as Cardiff are busy but again that is one of Britain’s biggest cities, head just outside for a beautiful countryside stay in a cottage. Wales has a lot mroe for you to do from abseiling, surfing and even diving. The Welsh have several foods out there to offer. Salt marsh lamb, Welsh black cattle and farmhouse cheeses are just some that you should certainly think about trying for yourself.
So if you are thinking about family holidays UK then instead of choosing London, Edinburgh or Dublin, why not give Wales a try?