Posts filed under 'Wales'
Broadband - we can’t get enough of it. What was stunningly quick last year is now mind numbingly slow. Most of us will remember dial up internet connections that cost the earth and always lost the connection 10 minutes into an important 11 minute download - meaning another 11 minutes of waiting and paying. In this area of South Wales many homes can get 20Mb broadband meaning some pretty fast web speeds. And of course we all have mobile phones sprouting from our ears.
Surprisingly it’s not the same everywhere as there are some isolated areas of Britain where broadband looks to be many moons away. For instance one of the b&b’s that we use for those of our guests that want to get away from the pressures of the mobile phone and the PC Is The Lion Hotel in Gwytherin.
February 12th, 2008
This weekend is a massive sporting weekend on both sides of the Atlantic. You’ve got Superbowl XLII in Phoenix, Arizona .We’ve got the opening matches in the 2008 six nations rugby tournament involving Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy. 
In both events the media hype for the games is massive with players taking on the status of warrior gods in these clashes of titans.
The build-up is very much the same both sides of the pond and will remain so until a few minutes prior to kick off when it’s time for the National Anthem. In Colorado the crowd will unite with Jordin Sparks (sorry I don’t know her either but she won “American Idol” if that means anything to you) and stand proud in the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. In the rugby matches a sub competition occurs at this point when each nation involved sings its own anthem. It’s a proud moment with the power to bring tears to the eyes. I know I’m not the only one.
February 1st, 2008
The 25th of January is St Dwynwen Day here in Wales, Dwynwen being the patron saint of love and friendship, and our equivalent of St Valentine. As with all these old Welsh folk tales passed down by word of mouth over the centuries there are a number of versions. Here’s one.
Dwynwen was the prettiest of the Celtic King Brychan Brycheiniog’s 24 daughters (he also had 11 sons!). At one of the parties that King Brychan held regularly Dwynwen fell in love with a handsome prince called Maelon Dafodrill. However her father refused her permission to marry him as he’d arranged for her to marry another. Maelon was so angry that he raped Dwynwen and left her.
January 24th, 2008
Wales Week USA is an annual event that takes place around March 1 – St. David’s Day. Wales Week is co-ordinated by the Welsh Assembly Government in New York in partnership with a wide variety of organisations, artists, writers and performers in both Wales and the USA. Click on the link to find out what’s on the program of events this year. www.walesweekusa.com
January 21st, 2008
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.
January 18th, 2008
This is by way of a warning when driving on British Roads. We have speed cameras everywhere. I think we’ve got as many speed cameras as rabbits - they seem to be proliferating at the same rate anyway. A debatable number of these yellow boxes are there in the name of road safety. The vast majority however are cash generators for our esteemed government. You have been warned. Even Britain’s top traffic cop, Meredith Hughes fell foul of the cameras recently and was fined and disqualified from driving for 6 weeks for driving at 90mph in a 60 mph area. I shouldn’t gloat as I’m nearly in the same position as Mr. Hughes, being only a couple of minor speeding offences away from a statutory driving ban. I’m not alone however as it’s calculated that there are over 1 million motorists in the same predicament. If you think that the fact that you’re not British and that you’re driving a rental car will protect you …think again.
January 9th, 2008
As a lot of you know, we recently arrived back from one of our Trips around the UK. We got to see many different places, attractions and were shown around a lot of the hotels that we recommend to you! On our last night our hotel was kept a secret. (I have got to admit I was getting a little worried on the Wednesday as we were told nothing was yet booked for the following evening!) However, by Thursday Morning Darryl could no longer keep the secret quiet. We were given a very nice surprise; our last night stay was to be in the Historic Ruthin Castle in North Wales.
December 21st, 2007
I heard an interesting thing on the radio this morning. It was the Prince of Wales speaking Welsh. Now my first language is Welsh and it’s the language spoken by about half a million of us in Wales, but it was still a surprise to hear Charles speaking it. He was obviously reading it from a script but nonetheless his pronunciation was passable. Apparently, he’s purchased the Llwynywermwd estate located in Myddfai in Camarthenshire and in the short clip I heard, he talked of his love of the area and how much he’s looking forward to coming there to stay. As it happens Myddfai has a prominent place in Welsh folk lore, being associated with the tales of the “Physicians of Myddfai” (”Meddygon Myddfai” in Welsh) and “The Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach” ( Morwyn Llyn y Fan Fach) dating back to the 13th century that are worth recounting.
December 14th, 2007
I often get asked for a list of my top places to visit in Britain, both from guests and colleagues in myguideBritain. It’s a difficult question to answer as there are so many great places to list and more often than not I try and deflect it by suggesting some safe bets such as Stonehenge, Bath and Edinburgh. These are places that I know everyone will love. Also, you see, I’m never sure if people will like the same things as me. And of course, it depends very much on my current mood! If I’m a bit stressed my list includes remote out of the way places such as the Brecon Beacons, just a few miles from the office, here in South Wales where I can sit in solitude. If I’m on top of my game it’ll include dynamic buzzing places such as London………. I’m sure you get the drift.
November 29th, 2007
I used to live in Louisville, Kentucky and my first daughter was born there so it holds a warm place in my heart. It was in Loretto, Kentucky on a bright autumn day of that year that I discovered hard liquor ….. and Maker’s Mark is still my whisky of choice. Try it and be convinced.
November 21st, 2007
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