Category — Sightseeing

Scotland is a land of contrasts combining the old and the new, the rural with the urban. A land of unspoilt and unrivaled landscapes, of rugged mountains and lochs, yet possessing vibrant and modern cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, it manages to successfully combine these two contrasting sides. It holds a rural backdrop of awe inspiring scenery, villages and towns of unique local history and culture all the while possessing a modern and young urban landscape with cities of the calibre of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen that can rival the best in Europe. Scotland is  a land for many tastes, both young and old. From the intrepid trekker, the nature enthusiast, the history buff to the young trendsetter and music fan, Scotland holds a bit of everything.

The newspapers here in Britain make for a depressing read at the moment. They are all doom and gloom with regard to the state of the British economy and the fact that the value of the British Pound (£) has been falling considerably against other currencies, particularly the Euro and the Dollar. Whilst this is indeed bad news for me as I try to organize my own holiday abroad this summer, I have noticed that many of my guests are, to the contrary, very happy! And they are happy to rub it in too. It seems for the first time in several years the exchange rates have swung in your favour and our international guests are now, to coin a classsic American phrase, “getting even more bang for their buck!”

It was a foul day here in Wales when Juliana and I set off to mid Wales to visit one of the hotels that we use on our itineraries – The Lake Vyrnwy hotel in Powys, Mid Wales that has a great location overlooking the lake.

On the way we stopped off for morning coffee at Llangoed Hall, a country House hotel owned by Sir Bernard Ashley, widower of Laura Ashley. It was either that or The Little Chef in Builth Wells. No competition. Sorry Little Chef. There’s no reception desk at Llangoed Hall, so you really do feel that you’re walking into your very (very) rich uncle’s house. We wandered into the drawing room that looked out over the croquet lawn towards the farmland beyond, introduced ourselves to one of the staff, and ordered a coffee. I could have easily spent the rest of the day being waited on hand and foot reading the latest Grisham novel, but Lake Vyrnwy beckoned so off we set.

As both my daughters now live in London I find myself visiting frequently, generally using the underground to get around. On my last visit however, my eldest who has only just moved there, persuaded me to buy tickets for one of the hop on hop off CitySightseeing buses (that we actually sell here at myguideBritain).