If Mainland isn’t remote enough, the little island of Shapinsay is another ferry ride away. Thanks to a largely flat topography and fertile soil, it’s given over mostly to cattle and sheep rearing, and its small size makes it possible to walk around in a day. Secluded beaches and seal- and bird-watching (with some 300 species of the latter identified) are among the attractions, with a sound track of the bleating of lambs and the cries of seagulls against the ocean waves.
As you walk, you cannot fail to spot Balfour Castle, a major landmark of Shapinsay with its famous seven spires. Built in 1848 by local landowner Thomas Balfour, today the whole castle can be rented out for exclusive use by groups of 6 to 18. Days are spent fishing at sea or playing croquet on the lawn, but Balfour Castle’s best-known activity is shooting, particularly the specialty of “wildfowling” (for ducks and geese), which attracts hunting devotees from around the world.
Some 20 stones of the original 60 form the Ring of Brodgar, thought to have been erected more than 4,000 years ago.
WHERE: Mainland is 182 miles/293 km north of Aberdeen. VISITOR INFO: www.visitorkney.com. ALBERT HOTEL: Tel 44/1856-876-000; www.alberthotel.co.uk. Cost: from $190. LYNNFIELD HOTEL: Tel 44/1856-872-505; www.lynnfield.co.uk. Cost: from $175. BALFOUR CASTLE: Tel 44/1856-711-282; www.balfourcastle.co.uk. Cost: from $4,300 per day for a group of 6 guests, all-inclusive. BEST TIMES: Jun–Sep for nicest weather; Mar–Oct for birdlife; May for Orkney Traditional Folk Music festival.
Birthplace of the Royal and Ancient Game
SCOTTISH GOLF
Scotland
There are more than 550 courses in Scotland—more per capita than in any other country in the world—and they’re some of the globe’s finest. Many are true “links” courses, a term derived from the old Scottish word for coastal dunes and scrubby undergrowth; it’s where trees are rare, bunkers are frequent, and unpredictable winds pose an additional hazard.
Officially recorded in 1552, golf is believed by historians to have originated in Scotland as a diversion for the bored aristocracy as early as the 14th century. You’ll feel like nobility yourself at the grand, storied hotels near many of the courses, where the raison d’être is to indulge guests with as much top-notch playing as the long hours of daylight will permit—with luxurious après-golf accommodations to boot.
The Old Course at St. Andrews is the world’s most legendary temple of golf, which explains why you sometimes need to reserve tee times up to a year in advance. To relax after your round, the 22-room St. Andrew’s Golf Hotel offers excellent bay and links views plus a knowledgeable staff to help make your golf arrangements.
Near Edinburgh is the distinguished Muirfield, where top-level tournaments, including 11 Amateur Championships and 15 Open Championships, have been played over the years. Overlooking the fairways is the elegant Edwardian Greywalls Hotel, designed in 1901 by Edwin Lutyens (responsible for building much of New Delhi) and exuding the warmth of a private home.
Scotland’s other hallowed greens include Gleneagles, with its venerable Queen’s and King’s courses and its PGA Centenary Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, all framed by remarkable scenery. Beyond the Highland city of Inverness is the Royal Dornoch Golf Club; at just 6 degrees short of the Arctic Circle, it is the most northerly of the world’s great courses as well as the third oldest on record. The historic club at Turnberry offers three magnificently situated coastal courses and even has its own lighthouse, while Carnoustie (6 miles east of Dundee) has a reputation for being treacherous—though world champions call it the best in Britain.
VISITOR INFO: http://golf.visitscotland.com. ST. ANDREWS: Tel 44/1334-466-666; www.standrewsgolf.org. Cost: greens fees for Old Course $105 (off-peak), $210 (peak). ST. ANDREWS GOLF HOTEL: Tel 44/1334-472-611; www.standrews-golf.co.uk. Cost: from $300. MUIRFIELD: Tel 44/1620-842-123; www.muirfield.org.uk. Cost: greens fees for visitors $285. GREYWALLS HOTEL: Tel 44/1620-842-144; www.greywalls.co.uk. Cost: from $375. OTHER COURSES: www.gleneagles.com; www.royaldornoch.com; www.turnberry.co.uk; www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk. BEST TIME: May–Sep for nicest weather conditions, although greens fees rise during this period.
Bookworm’s Delight
HAY-ON-WYE
Mid Wales, Wales
Astride the border between England and Wales is compact little Hay-on-Wye. Often simply called Hay (the suffix comes from the River Wye, which flows through the town), this is the world’s capital of antiquarian and secondhand books, and a monument to British eccentricity.
Hay was once a sleepy market town surrounded by sheep-grazed hills. Then along came Richard Booth in the 1960s, determined to reverse its economic decline by converting an empty building into the town’s first bookstore. Thanks to his perseverance (and some successful publicity stunts, such as declaring Hay an independent nation), book buyers came in droves, and the town with a population of 2,000 now has more than 30 bookstores stocking millions of titles among them.
Hay’s annual Festival of Literature, known to bibliophiles everywhere, is the largest gathering of its type in Britain, with writers and poets coming from around the world to give readings and hold informal discussions about their work. (Guest speakers have included Bill Clinton, who famously called it “the Woodstock of the mind.”) Such is its success that satellite Hay Festivals now take place in locations as varied as Belfast, Cartagena, and Beirut.
After trawling the endless shelves looking for an elusive title, rest your legs at the Old Black Lion, one of Hay’s most venerable pubs and restaurants. There are comfortable rooms upstairs, and breakfasts are especially good.
Or leave the town behind and travel into the 500-square-mile Brecon Beacons National Park, a broad range of rolling whaleback hills that separate the tranquil farmland and empty moors of Mid Wales from the industrialized valleys of the southeast. The main town, Brecon, is a good base for explorations, and it’s home to a Hay sibling event: the annual Brecon Jazz Festival.
Stop at the White Swan Inn in Llanfrynach, about 15 miles south of Hay; the food is excellent, and the friendly ambience may tempt you to linger on one of the fireside sofas. Or head 10 minutes west from Hay to Llangoed Hall, a country hotel with a rich history (some parts date back to the 1600s) and several distinguished past owners, including the architect of Portmeirion (see p. 49) and Sir Bernard Ashley, cofounder, with wife, Laura, of the company that still bears her name. If you can tear yourself away from the delightfully decorated rooms, not to mention the fine restaurant, the River Wye wends its way through the hotel grounds (providing guests with some of the best salmon and trout fishing in Britain), while the 10 acres of pristine gardens offer views across to the dramatic Brecon Beacons on the horizon.
Bookstores flourish in this small Welsh town.
WHERE: 150 miles/245 km northwest of London. VISITOR INFO: www.hay-on-wye.co.uk. OLD BLACK LION: Tel 44/1497-820-841; www.oldblacklion.co.uk. Cost: from $135; dinner $45. BRECON BEACONS NATIONAL PARK: www.breconbeacons.org. WHITE SWAN: Tel 44/1874-665-276; www.the-white-swan.com. Cost: dinner $50. LLANGOED HALL: Tel 44/1874-754-525; www.llangoedhall.com. Cost: from $315; dinner $75. BEST TIMES: May–Sep for pleasant weather; late May–early Jun for Hay Festival; mid-Aug for Brecon Jazz Festival.
Stalwart Symbols of the Past
THE CASTLES OF NORTH WALES
North Wales, Wales
No other country on earth has as many castles per square mile as Wales. From Roman garrisons and Norman strongholds to medieval forts and fanciful follies of the Victorian era, the history of Wales is writ large in some 600 solid piles of stone. The finest collection of fortresses is in north Wales, most of them constructed at the end of the 13th century by England’s empire-building King Edward I to impress and ultimately subdue the fiery Welsh.
If you’re driving from England, the mighty Conwy Castle will likely be your first stop; as well as admiring the castle itself, be sure to take a walk along the perfectly preserved defensive walls that surround the medieval town. Just 10 miles to the west, on the island of Anglesey
(Wales’s largest, and where Will and Kate live part-time), the towers and battlements of Beaumaris Castle overlook the waters of Conwy Bay. Farther south is the dramatic ruin of Harlech Castle—inspiration for “Men of Harlech,” an unofficial Welsh national anthem.
But the greatest of all is the crenellated Caernarfon Castle, with its distinctive octagonal towers. Edward II, born here in 1284, was given the honorary title of Prince of Wales as a clear symbol to the Welsh that the English were in charge, and to this day it is a title conferred on the eldest son of the reigning British monarch. The investiture of Prince Charles, the current Prince of Wales, took place at Caernarfon in 1969 amid great pomp and ceremony.
In sharp contrast to foreboding castle battlements are the genteel surrounds of Bodnant Garden, a few miles south of Conwy in Tay-y-Cafn, overlooking the Conwy Valley. It is one of the country’s most luxuriant gardens, particularly when seen against the postcard-perfect backdrop of the mountains of Snowdonia (see p. 50). Fragrantly covering around 80 acres, the plantings are arranged in formal Italian-style terraces near the manor house and lead down to a woodland of colorful flowers, exotic shrubs, magnificent trees, and rock arrangements.
Nearby Bodysgallen Hall, housed in a 17th-century building, offers similar vistas of Snowdonia; its antiques-furnished interiors, leavened with just the right modern touches, create a bucolic retreat.
At the historic and more informal Groes Inn, near Conwy, a traditional British pub is the unexpected setting for truly exceptional food and 14 comfortable rooms, some with balconies overlooking the surrounding Welsh countryside. Meanwhile, more refined dining is the draw at Seiont Manor Hotel, near Caernarfon. After dinner relax by the fire in the cozy lounge or stroll by moonlight in the delightful gardens.
WHERE: Conwy is 210 miles/340 km northwest of London. VISITOR INFO: www.gonorthwales.co.uk. CASTLE INFO: www.cadw.wales.gov.uk. BODNANT GARDEN: Tel 44/1492-650-469; www.bodnantgarden.co.uk. When: closed Dec–Jan. BODYSGALLEN HALL: Tel 44/1492-584-466, www.bodysgallen.com. Cost: from $225; dinner $60. GROES INN: Tel 44/1492-650-545; www.groesinn.com. Cost: from $185; dinner $45. SEIONT MANOR HOTEL: Tel 44/845-072-7550; www.handpickedhotels.co.uk. Cost: from $120; dinner $60. BEST TIMES: May–Sep for pleasant weather; Mar–Apr and Oct for Bodnant Garden at its finest.
Olympics of Welsh Culture
INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL EISTEDDFOD
Llangollen, North Wales, Wales
Wales is known as “the Land of Song.” Its tradition of poetry and music stretches back to the ancient Celtic era and is symbolized by the harp, the country’s best-known instrument, in the same way that bagpipes represent Scotland. In more recent times, a vital part of Welsh culture has become that of male choirs—a tradition originating in the south Wales collieries of the mid-19th century and remaining strong today. It is said that when a Welsh male choir bursts into song, the audience bursts into tears, and the harmonies of the very best ensembles—a kind of aural waterfall—certainly seems spiritual.
Traditional poetry, harp music, male choirs, and much more are major attractions at eisteddfods (the plural in Welsh is eisteddfodau), festivals of Welsh music and language which trace their roots back to a 12th-century Celtic tradition of traveling bards. Today, eisteddfods are held annually across the country, with many of the events judged and winners declared in various categories. The pinnacle is the National Eisteddfod of Wales (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru), the largest gathering of competitive poetry and song in Europe. It is a totally Welsh-speaking festival (with headphone translations available for non-Welsh speakers) that’s held in a different town every year, usually alternating between the north and the south.
In contrast, the International Musical Eisteddfod is held at the same venue every year—the town of Llangollen, with more than 4,000 performers of instrumental music, song, and dance from 50 countries around the world, often appearing in colorful national costume. It is recognized as one of the world’s greatest music festivals. Competitive events are held during the day, with evenings given over to concerts, all of it intending to promote Wales’s place in the wider world as well as global peace and harmony.
WHERE: Llangollen is 190 miles/308 km northwest of London. VISITOR INFO: www.llangollen.org.uk. NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD: www.eisteddfod.org.uk. When: 1 week, early Aug. LLANGOLLEN INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL EISTEDDFOD: Tel 44/1978-862-001; www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk. When: 1 week, early Jul.
Nature’s Beauty and One Man’s Legacy
LLŶN PENINSULA
North Wales, Wales
Jutting out from northwest Wales is a very special corner of the country: the Llŷn Peninsula (or Lleyn, its English name). It’s a popular holiday destination, thanks to an unspoiled rural landscape and a sandy, picturesque coastline.
Seaside resorts on the south side of the peninsula, such as Abersoch and Pwllheli, overlook the waters of Tremadoc Bay and are thus sheltered from the weather. To the north, the coast is rockier, with beaches such as Trefor and Nefyn Bay overlooked by the distinctive range of conical hills—including the three summits of Yr Eifl—that dominate the skyline. With a landscape like this, it comes as no surprise that much of the Llŷn Peninsula is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a protection given to locations in England and Wales, second in importance only to national parks.
Near Pwllheli is one of the Llŷn Peninsula’s gems, Plas Bodegroes, a handsome Georgian manor-house-turned-hotel whose quiet is broken only by birdsong. The emphasis here falls firmly on the cuisine—it’s a “restaurant with rooms” more than a hotel, and it’s one of the best places to eat in the country, serving temptations such as seared Nefyn Bay scallops with Carmarthen ham and butter pudding served with Welsh whisky ice cream.
At the far southeastern part of the peninsula is the historic town of Criccieth, with its 13th-century castle, one of the many constructed or strengthened in this region by King Edward I of England; other examples are Conwy and Caernarfon (see p. 47). Also here is the Moelwyn, another “restaurant with rooms,” where the fabulous sea views from the vast picture windows are as enticing as the menu.
Nearby, the village of Portmeirion, more redolent of southern Italy than Wales with its campanile and piazzas, stands atop a wooded hillside with romantic views of sea, sand, and mountains. Reportedly inspired by a trip to Portofino, Welsh architect Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis built the village in pieces, from 1925 to 1975, when it was completed on his 90th birthday.
At the edge of the village, down by the sea, is the Hotel Portmeirion, one of the architect’s early ventures. Inaugurated in 1926, it reopened in 1990 after a major fire and has since been refurbished to its original charm, with an interior that’s both opulent and informal. Noël Coward was inspired to write Blithe Spirit, his most ethereal play, while staying here.
Portmeirion took its inspiration from southern Italy.
WHERE: 200 miles/324 km northwest of London. VISITOR INFO: www.llyn.info. PLAS BODEGROES: Tel 44/1758-612-363; www.bodegroes.co.uk. Cost: from $240; dinner $67. MOELWYN: Tel 44/1766-522-500; www.themoelwyn.co.uk. Cost: from $110; dinner $35. HOTEL PORTMEIRION: Tel 44/1766-770-000; www.portmeirion-village.com. Cost: from $235 (off-peak), from $390 (peak), inclusive. BEST TIMES: May–Sep for nicest weather; May, Jun, Sep, and Oct for local festivals.
Arthurian Mountains and Victorian Railways
SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK
North Wales, Wales
Wales is as famed for stunning landscapes as for its historic castles, and the mountains of Snowdonia offer unparalleled grandeur and beauty. Dominating the scenery of northern Wales and protected as a national park (the first of three in the country), the area takes its name from Snowdon, at 3,560 feet the highest point in Wales (and higher than anything in England). According to myth, this rugged peak is watched over by the spirit of King Arthur, while underneath the rocky slopes his Knights of the Round Table lie sleeping. Its Welsh name, Yr Wyddfa, means “tomb,” referring to the grave of Rhita Gawr, the legendary giant slain by King Arth
ur.
Unlike in many other countries, the national parks of Britain are inhabited, and Snowdonia is no exception—it is home to over 26,000 people. One of the villages within its rugged terrain, Llanberis, is the departure point for a 3-hour trek to the summit. A more relaxing ascent is on the Snowdon Mountain Railway, installed for Victorian sightseers a century ago with steam-powered locomotives still going strong today. Trains stop just 70 feet below the peak, leaving an easy climb for the final stage. From the top, on a clear day, you can see much of the park’s 840 square miles and as far as Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains (see p. 75), 90 miles away across the Irish Sea.
There are endless opportunities to hike and bike on marked trails amid a vast range of spectacular scenery and wildlife. For train buffs, there are other narrow-gauge steam railways within the park; most were originally built to transport slate from quarries on the high ground to harbors on the coast, but now they provide entertaining rides through the Welsh countryside, connecting tiny villages and remote stations, such as Dduallt, still not accessible by car.
Within the southern range of the park, about 20 miles south of Llanberis, in the village of Talsarnau, is Maes-y-Neuadd, a handsome 14th-century manor house (with more recent 16th- and 18th-century additions). Offering a range of room styles from traditional to more contemporary, it’s the perfect base from which to explore the mountains and railways, as well as Harlech Castle (see p. 47), just 3 miles away. The restaurant offers freshly prepared meals made with ingredients from the hotel’s own garden or locally sourced that are perfectly topped with a board of specialty Welsh cheeses.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 9