Probably the most overlooked British travel

destination, Wales offers some of the best food in the U.K. as well as its own distinct music, art, history, and language. Rarely noted is the superb variety of unspoiled scenery of Wales, including three distinct regions worthy of national park status, the highest mountains south of Scotland, and cozy, undiscovered villages.
        Wales is closest to England geographically. Perhaps because of this proximity the Welsh are the most nationalistic and culturally separatist of all the British. The Welsh identity is tied to its history as a Celtic population under siege by their neighbors in England. These original Britons were forced into hiding by invading waves of Angles, Saxons, Vikings, and Normans. They retreated into the rugged, mystical mountains and vales that dominate the Welsh landscape.
        Today the Welsh variety of Gaelic is alive and growing while most other Gaelic languages are disappearing. Welsh cuisine, custom, religion, music, and mentality all can be said to be more than just dialectical versions of their English,

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AUTUMN IN SNOWDONIA:
THE LLANRWST BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER CONWY.
Photo © HOME AT FIRST

Scottish and Irish relatives, and each is main-
tained with the prideful caring due national treasures.
(For more on this theme, see: ST. DAVID.)

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— NORTHWESTERN WALES —

        Home At First's northwestern Wales cottages are in or near Snowdonia National Park, where Britain's highest mountains south of Scotland rise sharply from the sea. Snowdonia's folded landscape offers rugged hiking, expansive beaches, great little steam trains, challenging seaside golf courses, impregnable medieval castles (like Caernarfon, pictured here), and friendly villages with unpronounceable names.

GO TO: SNOWDONIA (NORTHWESTERN WALES)
TRAVEL PROGRAM PAGE

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Several great castles — including all
four of the U.N. listed World Heritage
Site — are within easy day-trip reach
of Home At First's cottages in
Snowdonia, Northwestern Wales.
Photo © HOME AT FIRST
 

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— NEAR THE ENGLISH BORDER —

        Home At First's Mid-Wales cottages are in the midst of superb scenery between the mountains of Brecon Beacons National Park and the English border. Nearby is scenic wilderness inviting discovery on foot, on horseback, or by car. Search for King Arthur and Merlin here. Cross the border into Shakespeare country and the Cotswolds — easy days away. Another secret — the Welsh may be the friendliest people in Britain.

GO TO: MID-WALES TRAVEL PROGRAM PAGE
 

 
Hay-on-Wye is home to more than two
dozen second-hand book shops. Like all
our Mid-Wales villages, Hay-on-Wye is
just minutes from the rugged mountain
and white water streams of Wales as
well as much of Western England.
Photo © HOME AT FIRST