vacation travel & tour

6 things you essential do in West Wales

// October 11th, 2010 // Uncategorized

Come after the M4 the whole way to the end, and you achieve green and pleasing Carmarthenshire. Gareth Huw Davies heads for the historical county in West Wales and attains medieval ruins, one of Britain’s finest botanical gardens, a ahead nature appropriate, a Roman gold mine and a famous poet’s waterside retreat…

1. Green dream

Carmarthenshire is full of history, merely it besides induces a 21st Century masterpiece. The National Botanic Garden of Wales afforded in 2000 on a stretch of ancient parkland. Its centrepiece is the world’s greatest single-span glasshouse, designed by renowned architect Norman Foster.

Glistening on a hill like a giant raindrop, the spectacular dome was also accustomed depict a colony on Mars in a recent episode of Doctor Who. Back in the real world, this is where staff conserve some of the planet’s most endangered plants.

The site features a fantastic range of lakes, currents, woodland, meadows, formal gardens and even a nature appropriate. And you are able to found Wales’s rarest tree, Ley’s Whitebeam, acquired here from a cutting. Only 17 continue the wild, each matchless clinging to steep limestone cliff faces in the Brecon Beacons

2. Sunbeam, steam and sands

This field attractions array from the Roman-era Dolaucothi goldmines in Llanwrda to the Museum of Speed at Pendine Sands – the seven-mile extend of beach is wherever, in 1924, Malcolm Campbell set a new world land-speed record, accomplishing an average of 146mph in his V12 Sunbeam Blue Bird.

Whenever you don’t accept a car, there are transport options when it bears on searching the county. The aptly named Heart of Wales Line, which runs 121 miles from Swansea to Shrewsbury, absorbs some of the most spectacular scenery in Wales. From Llandeilo, I travelled north to the market town of Llandovery before heading to the handsome county town of Carmarthen  .

3. A house upon the rocks

Poet Dylan Thomas’s life was frequently turbulent, merely he was happiest at The Boathouse in Laugharne, his ’seashaken house on a breakneck of rocks’. It was there – his last address in Wales before he met his drink-fuelled death in New York in 1953  -  that he wrote Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, one of the most quoted of his works. The Boathouse, overlooking a tangle of inlets west of Carmarthen, is restored to look much as it would have during Thomas’s time, and the property contains an exhibition of his work and life . Then I called at the Owl And The Pussycat tea rooms in Laugharne for tea and a slice of excellent bara brith (Welsh fruit loaf).

4. King of the castles

Is Carreg Cennen castle, high on a 325ft crag on the western flank of the Brecon Beacons National Park, the ultimate romantic ruin? This is one of the citadels seized by Edward I in the 13th Century. It was partly demolished in 1462 but still offers breathtaking views of the Preseli Hills to the west and the Black Mountains to the south. The castle is also known for its vaulted underground passageway which leads to a natural cave, a ghostly cavern deep beneath the fortifications. After all my exertions in reaching the steep hill up to the ruins, I was glad to have a bowl of deliciously thick vegetable soup and a slice of homemade cake in the nearby cafe (www.carregcennencastle.com .

5. Wet and wild

There was silence at the National Wetland Centre Wales near Llanelli. At a hide, we peered through a wooden slat to a deep lake, jam-packed with rare and splendid waterbirds. The helpful expert next to me pointed out the stars of the show. ‘Look, a little egret. And a black-tailed godwit, and some greenshanks.’

The series of lakes, pools and lagoons at Burry Inlet make up one of the most remarkable of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserves that speckle the British coastline. This one was forged from a land blasted by 200 years of heavy industry. Explore by canoe, trail the meandering paths by bike, or stay in the warm and spot pink Caribbean flamingoes .

6. Hilltop haven

Llandeilo is a delightful surprise, nine miles from the end of the M4. This pretty little town on a steep hill boasts a castle, Wales’s oldest single-span river bridge (with a glorious view down the River Towy), recently discovered Roman remains, a church rebuilt by Sir Gilbert Scott, specialist shops and a sprinkling of fine 19th Century houses. It’s a good base for a visit to Carmarthenshire.