Scenic Point on TravelPOI

Aberaeron is one of the most complete and architecturally coherent planned towns in Wales, a small harbour settlement on the Ceredigion coast that was laid out in the early nineteenth century around a newly constructed harbour and developed with unusual discipline and consistency to create a townscape of considerable charm. The town was essentially the creation of the Reverend Alban Thomas Jones Gwynne, who inherited the estate in 1807 and used it to finance the construction of both the harbour and the grid of streets and squares that define Aberaeron's character today. The result is a Georgian planned town that survives in remarkably intact condition. The harbour is the heart of Aberaeron and gives the town its most distinctive visual quality. The inner harbour is enclosed by stone quays and surrounded on three sides by the colourfully painted Georgian and Victorian buildings that have become the defining image of the town. Small fishing vessels and leisure craft sit in the basin, and the combination of pastel-painted facades, the working harbour and the hills of Ceredigion rising behind creates a scene that is simultaneously quintessentially Welsh and reminiscent of the fishing towns of Cornwall or Brittany. The honey pot character of the setting has made Aberaeron one of the most visited small towns on Cardigan Bay. The streets behind the harbour reveal the planned town at its best, with consistent Georgian terraces and the town's squares maintaining the architectural discipline of the original development. The town has a good selection of independent shops, galleries, cafés and restaurants reflecting both its local economy and the significant tourism that the coastal setting and architectural quality attract. The Harbourmaster Hotel on the harbour front is among the most celebrated small hotels in Wales. The coastline either side of Aberaeron is typical of the Ceredigion coast, with low cliffs, rocky coves and the wide arc of Cardigan Bay stretching north toward the Llŷn Peninsula. The Wales Coast Path passes through the town and provides good coastal walking in both directions, while the landscape inland toward the Cambrian Mountains offers a very different experience of this beautiful and relatively uncrowded Welsh county.

Aberdaron is a small village at the very tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales, a remote community at the end of the long peninsula whose combination of the ancient church, the sheltered bay and the views toward Bardsey Island just two miles offshore creates one of the most evocative and most spiritually resonant destinations in Wales. The village was the last resting point for medieval pilgrims before they crossed the treacherous Bardsey Sound to the island monastery of Bardsey, and the tradition of pilgrimage that made Aberdaron a waystation in the medieval world gives it a depth of spiritual association that persists in the atmosphere of this remote place. The Church of St Hywyn by the beach dates from the twelfth century and was the principal church of the peninsula in the medieval period, its twin naves reflecting the expansion of the building to accommodate the pilgrim traffic that passed through on its way to Bardsey. The churchyard and the two-storey building above the beach known as Y Gegin Fawr, the Great Kitchen, where pilgrims were fed before their crossing, complete the physical evidence of the medieval pilgrimage tradition. R S Thomas, the Welsh priest and poet regarded by many as the finest Welsh poet of the twentieth century, served as vicar of Aberdaron from 1967 to 1978 and his poetry is saturated with the landscape and spiritual qualities of this remote peninsula. The combination of the Thomas association, the medieval pilgrimage heritage and the wild beauty of the surrounding coast makes Aberdaron a destination of exceptional cultural depth.

Abergavenny is the principal market town at the southern gateway to the Brecon Beacons National Park, a handsome town in the Usk Valley whose combination of the medieval castle, the excellent food market, the surrounding mountain landscape and the walking available on the hills above the town has made it the most rewarding base for exploring both the Beacons and the Black Mountains. The town's reputation as the food capital of Wales has developed since the 1980s and the annual Abergavenny Food Festival, held each September, is one of the most celebrated food events in Britain. The castle at Abergavenny, though largely ruined, has one of the most dramatic histories of any Norman castle in Wales. It was here in 1175 that Sychtyd ap Iorwerth and several other Welsh chieftains were invited to a feast by the Norman lord Ranulf de Breos and then massacred in one of the most notorious acts of treachery in the violent history of the Norman-Welsh frontier. The castle museum within the restored tithe barn provides excellent local history. The three mountains immediately above the town — the Sugar Loaf, Blorenge and Skirrid Fawr — are all accessible on foot from the town centre and provide summit walks with exceptional views that can be combined in a single day by energetic walkers. The Skirrid Fawr is perhaps the most atmospheric, its distinctive summit profile attributed in legend to the earthquake at the moment of the Crucifixion splitting the hilltop.

Achill Island off the northwest Mayo coast is the largest island off the Irish coast, connected to the mainland by a bridge and offering some of the most dramatic and most unspoiled Atlantic landscape in Ireland. The combination of the great sea cliffs of Croaghaun, the magnificent beaches of Keem Bay, Dugort and Keel, the bogland and mountain walking and the character of the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht communities that have traditionally inhabited the island creates a destination of exceptional variety and emotional power. The Croaghaun cliffs on the west coast of the island are among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, rising approximately 688 metres from the Atlantic in a near-vertical face that rivals the more famous Cliffs of Moher while being far less visited and far more dramatically exposed. The approach on foot across the open bog of the island's western section adds to the sense of arriving at an edge of the world, and the views from the cliff top along the Atlantic coast in both directions are among the finest in Ireland. Keem Bay at the western tip of the island, enclosed beneath the great cliffs and accessed by a spectacular clifftop road, provides one of the most beautiful and most sheltered beaches in Connacht, its clear turquoise water and fine sand creating an Atlantic beach experience of exceptional quality in a setting quite unlike the more accessible beaches of the east coast.

Aldeburgh is one of the most distinguished and most characterful small seaside towns in England, a Suffolk coastal settlement of considerable literary and musical culture whose combination of the famous annual music festival founded by Benjamin Britten, the attractive High Street of Georgian and Victorian buildings, the excellent seafood and the relationship with the Aldeburgh Beach and the North Sea creates one of the most rewarding cultural and coastal destinations in East Anglia. The town has attracted artists, writers and musicians since the late nineteenth century and retains a cultural vitality quite out of proportion to its modest size. The Aldeburgh Festival, co-founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears in 1948, is one of the most important annual music events in Europe, drawing audiences and performers from across the world to concerts in the Maltings at Snape, in Aldeburgh church and in various other venues across the surrounding Suffolk countryside. Britten's connection with Aldeburgh was the defining relationship of his creative life, and the town and its landscape permeate his music from the early orchestral works to the late operas whose settings are drawn directly from the Suffolk coast. The beach at Aldeburgh is one of the most characterful stretches of the Suffolk coast, its long ridge of shingle backed by fishermen's huts and the working boats that haul up on the beach provide fresh fish directly to the public. The scallops and fish sold from the huts on the beach are among the freshest available anywhere on the east coast, and the Fish and Chip shop in the town is one of the most celebrated in England.

Alfriston is one of the most beautiful and most completely preserved medieval villages in East Sussex, a settlement in the Cuckmere Valley below the South Downs whose combination of the medieval church of St Andrew, the fourteenth-century Clergy House, the ancient Star Inn and the village layout of timber-framed buildings creates a scene of English village perfection that has attracted visitors since the Victorian period. The Clergy House, now managed by the National Trust, was the first building the Trust ever purchased, acquired in 1896 for just £10, and its preservation provides a direct connection to the origins of the conservation movement in England. The Church of St Andrew, built from the distinctive local flint in the Perpendicular Gothic style in the late fourteenth century, is known as the Cathedral of the South Downs for its size and quality relative to the small community it serves. The church is set on a raised circular churchyard that may indicate pre-Christian sacred site use, and the combination of the church, the Clergy House and the surrounding medieval street plan creates a remarkable concentration of fourteenth and fifteenth century domestic and ecclesiastical architecture. The village is set at the point where the South Downs Way crosses the Cuckmere River, and the walking south along the river to the Cuckmere Haven and the Seven Sisters cliffs provides one of the finest short day walks in Sussex. The combination of the medieval village, the downland walking and the coastal scenery accessible nearby makes Alfriston one of the most richly rewarding small destinations in the southeast.

Appledore is one of the most attractive and most completely preserved maritime villages in Devon, a small port at the confluence of the Rivers Taw and Torridge near Bideford whose combination of narrow streets of Georgian and earlier cottages, the active shipyard, the maritime museum and the estuary setting creates one of the most authentic and most rewarding small coastal destinations in the West Country. The village retains the genuine character of a working maritime community in a way that more tourist-developed Devon coastal settlements have lost. The shipyard at Appledore, one of the last traditional shipbuilding yards in Britain, has constructed vessels on this site for centuries and continues to build and repair ships of considerable scale. The sight and sound of an active shipyard working with steel and tradition in a village of this intimate scale is one of the most distinctive features of Appledore and the most powerful evidence of the maritime heritage that the village museum documents in more conventional ways. The North Devon Maritime Museum in the village provides an excellent account of the seafaring history of the Taw-Torridge estuary, including the Victorian seamen who emigrated to Newfoundland and established the fishing communities of that coast. The estuary itself, with its shifting sandbanks, the bird life of the mudflats and the views across to Instow and the Taw Valley beyond, provides the beautiful setting for a village that rewards extended exploration.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch is a historic market town in Leicestershire whose name alone announces its Norman-French origins, the de la Zouch family who gave the town its distinctive suffix having been among the Anglo-Norman lords who established themselves in the English Midlands following the Conquest. The town is best known today for its impressive castle ruins, which represent one of the finest surviving examples of a late medieval fortified manor house in the East Midlands and tell the story of the most powerful magnate family in fifteenth-century England. Ashby Castle was developed into its grandest form by William Lord Hastings, who was created Baron Hastings by Edward IV and became one of the most important figures in the Yorkist political establishment. The great Hastings Tower, the most impressive surviving element of the castle, was built by William in the 1470s and rises to a considerable height despite the demolition ordered by Parliament following the Civil War in the seventeenth century. Hastings met his end in one of the most abrupt and dramatic moments of the Wars of the Roses when Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had him summarily executed in 1483 during the council meeting in which Richard seized effective power in England, his death dramatised by Shakespeare as a consequence of his loyalty to Edward IV's family. The castle is managed by English Heritage and allows visitors to explore the ruins including the tower, the great hall and the domestic buildings that survive in various states of preservation. The combination of architectural interest and the vivid historical associations of the Hastings family makes it one of the more compelling castle ruins in the Midlands. Walter Scott set scenes from his novel Ivanhoe at a tournament ground near Ashby, giving the town a further fictional dimension in the romantic tradition. The town itself is a pleasant Midlands market town with a good range of independent shops and the Queen's Head Hotel, a building with its own historic character. The surrounding Leicestershire countryside provides gentle walking and cycling.

Aviemore is the main gateway town for the Cairngorms National Park, the largest national park in the British Isles, and has been developed since the 1960s as a year-round outdoor recreation destination serving the ski fields, walking country, mountain biking trails, wildlife watching and watersports that the surrounding landscape offers in exceptional abundance. The town itself is a functional resort rather than a historic settlement, its modern hotel and leisure infrastructure reflecting its purpose-built character, but the landscape it serves is of the most remarkable quality. The Cairngorm plateau, the high arctic mountain environment that forms the core of the national park, covers an area of over five hundred square kilometres above five hundred metres and contains five of the six highest mountains in Britain. The plateau's character is genuinely subalpine: harsh, exposed, subject to violent weather at any season and supporting plant and animal communities more typical of Scandinavia than of most of the British Isles. Dotterel, ptarmigan, snow bunting and the Scottish subspecies of the crossbill breed here in summer, while reindeer, introduced to the Cairngorms in 1952, roam the open mountain slopes in a herd that is the only free-ranging population in Britain. The Cairngorm Mountain funicular railway, one of the highest mountain railways in Britain, carries visitors from the Coire Cas ski area to a visitor centre near the plateau summit, providing year-round access to the high mountain environment for those who prefer not to walk. The ski area is Scotland's largest and operates from approximately December to April in most years, though snow reliability has reduced in recent decades with changing climate patterns. In summer the ski area transforms into a mountain biking and walking venue of considerable scope. The River Spey, one of Scotland's great salmon rivers, flows north from the national park through Aviemore, and the surrounding forests of ancient Caledonian pine, remnants of the great forest that once covered much of the Scottish Highlands, support capercaillie, red squirrel, crested tit and osprey in habitats of international conservation importance.

Baltimore is a small fishing village and sailing centre on the southwestern tip of County Cork, positioned at the entrance to Roaringwater Bay with views across to the Sherkin Island, Cape Clear Island and the Fastnet Rock lighthouse on the horizon beyond. It is a place of considerable maritime character and atmospheric beauty, its compact harbour, colourful houses and fishing boats reflecting a way of life shaped by the sea across many centuries of occupation in one of the most dramatically indented and island-scattered coastlines in Ireland. The village has a history that extends far beyond its current quiet character might suggest. In 1631 Baltimore was the site of one of the most extraordinary events in Irish coastal history, when Algerian corsairs led by the Dutch renegade pirate Jan Janszoon landed in the night, ransacked the village and carried approximately a hundred men, women and children back to North Africa as slaves. The Baltimore Captives, as they became known, were the subject of the poet Thomas Davis's famous ballad, and most of the captives never returned to Ireland. The attack was devastating enough to effectively depopulate the village for a generation, and the memory of it has never entirely faded from the local consciousness. The Sherkin Island ferry runs from Baltimore harbour several times daily, making it easy to visit the island with its ruined Franciscan friary, sandy beaches and relaxed island community. The ferry to Cape Clear Island, the most southerly inhabited island in Ireland, provides access to an Irish-speaking community with a long seafaring tradition and one of the best seabird observation stations in Ireland at the island's southern tip. The Fastnet Lighthouse, visible from the Cape Clear coast, is one of the most famous lighthouses in the world as the turning mark of the Fastnet Race, the classic offshore sailing race. Baltimore has developed a reputation for excellent local seafood, and the combination of fresh fish from the harbour, island hopping and coastal walking along the Mizen Peninsula makes it one of the most rewarding small coastal destinations in the southwest of Ireland.

Barmouth Bridge is one of the most extraordinary pieces of Victorian railway engineering in Wales, a timber viaduct of approximately eight hundred metres length crossing the mouth of the Mawddach Estuary between Barmouth and Morfa Mawddach station on the Cambrian Coast Line. The bridge was built in 1867 and has been maintained in service ever since, carrying both the railway and a pedestrian walkway across the estuary in a structure that is simultaneously an outstanding piece of civil engineering heritage and a remarkable viewpoint over one of the finest estuarine landscapes in Wales. The construction of the bridge from timber rather than iron or masonry reflected both the economics of nineteenth-century railway building in this remote part of Wales and the particular challenges of crossing the shifting sands and tidal waters of the Mawddach mouth. The bridge rests on hundreds of timber piles driven into the estuary bed, supplemented by a swing section at the northern end that allows maritime traffic to pass when required. The structure requires continuous maintenance and periodic replacement of its timber components, a programme of ongoing conservation work that has kept a building dating from 1867 in operational railway use to the present day. The views from the pedestrian walkway of the bridge are exceptional in both directions. To the east the Mawddach Estuary stretches inland between the Rhinog mountains to the north and Cadair Idris rising massively to the south, a vista of mountain and water that John Ruskin described as one of the finest estuary landscapes in Europe. To the west Cardigan Bay opens toward the horizon with the sandy beach at Barmouth below and the distant outline of the LlÅ·n Peninsula closing the view to the northwest. The Mawddach Trail long-distance walking and cycling route runs from Barmouth to Dolgellau along the southern bank of the estuary, using the former railway trackbed that once extended inland from the junction at Morfa Mawddach. The trail provides a gentle, traffic-free route through an exceptionally scenic estuary landscape.

The Legend of Beddgelert – Myth or Reality? Nestled among the dramatic mountains of Beddgelert in Snowdonia National Park, this charming Welsh village is famous for one of the most powerful legends in Welsh folklore — the tragic story of Gelert the faithful dog. The village name itself means “Gelert’s Grave.” Long ago, Beddgelert was described as “a few dozen hard grey houses… huddled together in some majestic mountain scenery.” Even today, the village sits surrounded by breathtaking landscapes just south of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), the highest mountain in England and Wales. The Story of Prince Llywelyn and Gelert According to legend, the medieval Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth once set out on a hunting trip, leaving his infant son at home under the watchful care of his loyal hunting dog, Gelert. When the prince returned, Gelert rushed to greet him. But something was terribly wrong — the dog’s muzzle was covered in blood, and the prince’s baby was nowhere to be seen. Believing the worst, Llywelyn flew into a rage and struck down his faithful companion. Moments later, he heard a baby crying. Pushing through nearby bushes, he discovered his son alive and safe in his cradle. Beside it lay the body of a giant wolf, slain after a fierce struggle. Gelert had fought the animal to the death to protect the child. Realising his terrible mistake, the prince rushed back to the dog — but it was too late. Gelert died from the wounds inflicted by his master. Overcome with grief and guilt, Llywelyn is said to have buried his loyal dog in the village. From that day on, the place became known as Beddgelert — the grave of Gelert. Legend or Clever Marketing? As powerful as the story is, historians believe it is almost certainly a myth. The tale was likely invented by local traders many years ago to attract visitors travelling through the Snowdon area. In reality, the name Beddgelert probably refers to Saint Gelert, a sixth-century religious figure associated with the region. By the mid-19th century the legend was already widely known. When the writer George Borrow visited the village in 1854, he recorded the story during his travels through Wales. His journey later became the basis for his famous book Wild Wales, published in 1862. Gelert’s Grave Today visitors can still see the supposed tomb of Gelert, located in a peaceful meadow below Cerrig Llan. The grave itself is simple, consisting of a stone slab lying on its side with two upright stones nearby. Whether the story behind it is true or not, it remains one of the most visited landmarks in the village. A Valley That Inspired Travellers George Borrow described the surrounding landscape as: “A wondrous valley — rivalling for grandeur and beauty any vale either in the Alps or Pyrenees.” It’s easy to see why. Beddgelert sits at the heart of some of the most spectacular scenery in North Wales. The skyline is dominated by Snowdon, while the surrounding countryside is filled with: Wooded valleys Rocky mountain slopes Crystal-clear lakes Fast-flowing rivers A Village Full of Character Despite its popularity, Beddgelert has managed to retain its traditional charm. The village is filled with stone-built houses, inns and small hotels, all surrounded by the dramatic landscape of Snowdonia. Small, welcoming and full of character, Beddgelert offers visitors a wide range of amenities including: Hotels and guest houses Cafés and restaurants Independent shops Local attractions All set within one of the most beautiful parts of Wales. A Story That Still Lives On Whether the legend of Gelert is true or simply a clever story told centuries ago, it has become an enduring part of Welsh culture. Today, visitors still walk through the quiet meadow to see Gelert’s grave, imagining the loyalty of a dog whose story continues to echo through the mountains of Snowdonia. Practical Summary Location: Beddgelert, Snowdonia National Park Meaning of the name: “Gelert’s Grave” Legend: Prince Llywelyn accidentally kills his faithful dog after mistaking it for harming his child Reality: The story was likely created to attract visitors Landmark: Gelert’s Grave in a meadow below Cerrig Llan

Bedruthan Steps on the north Cornish coast near Padstow is one of the most dramatic and photographed coastal landscapes in Cornwall, a series of enormous sea stacks rising from the beach in the wide bay below the clifftops, their sheer faces and varied forms creating a scene of raw geological power that has made this one of the signature images of the Cornish coast. The stacks are the remnants of a headland progressively eroded by Atlantic wave action, the harder sections of rock resisting the sea longer than the surrounding material and surviving as isolated columns while the rest of the headland has been worn away. The clifftop viewpoint above Bedruthan, accessible from the National Trust car park, provides the classic view over the stacks and the beach below that appears on postcards and in travel guides. The beach itself is accessible by a steep staircase cut into the cliff face when conditions allow, but the tidal range on this exposed section of the north Cornish coast is considerable and the beach at high water is entirely submerged, making timing essential for anyone wishing to walk at beach level. The stacks have acquired individual names over the years, including Queen Bess, Samaritan Island and Diggory's Island, though the origin and reliability of these names in historical use is variable. The coastal scenery around Bedruthan is part of the extraordinary Heritage Coast that extends north toward Trevose Head and south toward Newquay, one of the most impressive stretches of the south-west coast path and an area where the full force of the Atlantic on an exposed coast can be experienced on all but the calmest days. The clifftop vegetation of maritime heath and grassland supports stonechats, skylarks and in spring the distinctive display of sea thrift that colours this stretch of Cornish cliff in pink every May and June. The National Trust café at the clifftop provides refreshments and the Trust manages the immediate site and the surrounding coastal farmland, maintaining both the visitor infrastructure and the ecological value of this important coastal landscape.

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Britain at 1,345 metres, and the tourist path, officially known as the Mountain Track but colloquially as the Ben Path or Pony Track, is one of the most walked mountain routes in the country, carrying an estimated 150,000 ascents annually up the western side of the mountain from the visitor centre near Fort William to the vast plateau summit. The path was originally built in the nineteenth century to service a meteorological observatory on the summit and the route it follows, while not technically challenging, involves a considerable and unrelenting ascent of approximately 1,300 metres over approximately seven kilometres with correspondingly demanding descent. The experience of ascending Ben Nevis via the tourist path is one of contrasts. The lower section through the valley of the Allt a' Mhuilinn is gently graded and passes through pleasant moorland and river scenery before the path begins its sustained ascent of the mountain's broad western shoulder. The upper section above the Red Burn is increasingly exposed and demanding, the path crossing boulder fields and scree before reaching the plateau, where the walking surface becomes more level but the conditions can deteriorate rapidly and dramatically at any time of year. Snow can remain on the summit into August and the plateau is subject to violent weather that claims lives every year among walkers who underestimate the mountain's conditions. The summit plateau provides one of the most dramatic mountain experiences in Britain on clear days, with panoramic views extending across the Scottish Highlands to the distant peaks of the Cairngorms to the northeast, Ben Lomond to the south and, on exceptionally clear days, the mountains of Ireland to the west. The ruins of the Victorian observatory, the emergency shelter and the memorial cairn mark the summit area, and the dramatic cliffs of the northeast face, falling nearly 700 metres to the Coire Leis below, provide a sudden and vertiginous contrast to the gentle western approach. The Mountain Track approach via the Allt a' Mhuilinn should not be confused with the much more serious mountaineering routes on the north face, which include some of the finest winter climbing in Britain.

Beningbrough Hall is an early eighteenth-century country house of the highest architectural quality standing in its own parkland beside the River Ouse in North Yorkshire, managed by the National Trust and housing an exceptional collection of portraits from the National Portrait Gallery which provides the principal focus of the interior display. The house was built between 1712 and 1716 and is one of the finest examples of early eighteenth-century English baroque architecture in the north of England, its restrained but confident exterior and richly decorated interior representing the best of the Queen Anne architectural tradition applied by a talented provincial architect. The house was built for John Bourchier and the quality of the craftsmanship throughout is remarkable for a house of this period and this region. The carved woodwork, the plasterwork ceilings, the painted staircase hall and the bold architectural mouldings of the principal rooms represent a level of execution that compares favourably with the great London houses of the same period. The central hall rising to the full height of the house and lit by a clerestory above is one of the finest baroque interior spaces in the north of England, its proportions and details carefully calibrated to produce an impression of solemnity and grandeur appropriate to the aspirations of its patron. The partnership with the National Portrait Gallery allows Beningbrough to display over one hundred seventeenth and eighteenth-century portraits within its historic rooms, providing a combination of architectural quality and picture collection that creates an unusually coherent and satisfying visitor experience. The portraits, displayed in appropriate period settings, illuminate both the history of the house and the broader history of the period they represent. The walled garden and the parkland setting by the Ouse provide good outdoor visiting, and the combination of house, garden and landscape makes Beningbrough one of the most rewarding National Trust properties in Yorkshire.