North Wales

We hired a guide for the day to take us around to some of the sites in North Wales. We started at The Ugly House Tea Room.

 

 

It may not be gorgeous on the outside but I think the inside is rather cute.

 

 

Next we visited the National Slate Museum which tells the story of slate mining in this area.

 

 

We attended a very interesting demonstration on how slate is mined and split. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring material, and for gravestones. This is how the slate is split.

 

 

And this is how the edges are finished.

 

 

The museum also has the largest working waterwheel in mainland Britain. The waterwheel was constructed in 1870 by De Winton of Caernarfon and is 50 ft 5ins in diameter, 5 ft 3ins wide and was built around a 12in axle.

 

 

We then visited Beaumaris Castle. Work was begun on the castle in 1295 but the King's priorities changed, construction stopped in 1330, and the castle was never finished.

 

 

 

Next up was Caernarfon Castle. The town of Caernarfon has a walled old town similar to Conwy.

 

 

 

We even stopped at the town with the second-longest place name in the world:

 

 

In case it is not obvious to you how to say it, here is a pronunciation guide:

 

 

And here is what the name means:

 

 

On maps and road signs it’s called by its nickname “Llanfairpwll”.

 

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Conwy Castle, Walls, and Plas Mawr House

Conwy Castle and the wall surrounding the town were built between 1283 and 1287. The castle has eight towers and a 91-foot-deep spring-fed well. The wall has 22 towers and is the most complete medieval town wall in Britain. Inside the castle there is a scale model of the town as it might have looked around the year 1312.

 

 

Today the castle looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the walls look like this:

 

 

 

 

This cute sculpture is in one of the castle courtyards.

 

 

We also visited Plas Mawr, a rare house from 1580. Built during the reign of Elizabeth I, Plas Mawr was the first Welsh home to be built within Conwy’s walls. It is said to be the oldest house in Wales.

 

 

 

 

These critters were on the ceiling of one of the rooms.

 

 

 

The weather vane was very special too.

 

 

The town of Conwy is located on the River Conwy.

 

 

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Conwy, Wales

We traveled to Conwy, Wales today by train and had a few hours to look around. The first interesting thing we saw while walking into town from the train station was Conwy Castle. The town and the castle were built in the 1280s and Conwy has the best medieval walls in Britain.

 

 

 

 

 

Even the train tracks are scenic.

 

 

 

Conwy is also home to the Smallest House in Great Britian. According to Wikipedia: "The house, which has a floor area of 10.0 by 5.9 ft (3.05 by 1.8 metres), was used as a residence from the 16th century until 1900 when the tenant was a 6-foot-3-inch (1.91 m) fisherman named Robert Jones. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully and he was eventually forced to move out when the council declared the house unfit for human habitation."

 

 

Our bed & breakfast, on the other hand, is quite a bit larger and very charming.

 

 

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London St Pancras Station

After a few days visiting friends in Folkestone we took the train to London for an overnight in a hotel before traveling on to northern Wales. Our train arrived at the gorgeous St Pancras station. Here are a few photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the inside.

 

 

 

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