Wales

Wales  is a small country with  beautiful  scenery, a dynamic capital city, lots of places to visit, and a very special culture. The Welsh are rightly proud of their national identity which includes the Welsh language, spoken by 20% of the population, the distinctive national costume with its tall hats, the Welsh dragon which features on the flag, a passion for rugby and a huge talent for singing.

Most of the small population of 3 million live in a small urban area comprising the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport in the south-east. The rest of Wales  has an abundance of unspoilt scenery, much of it quite dramatic as it is a mountainous and hilly country of rivers and lakes with a long and beautiful coastline. This makes Wales a popular choice for outdoor activities including climbing, walking and watersports. In the north is the National Park of Snowdonia with England and Wales’s highest mountain, Mount Snowdon. The gorgeous hills of the Brecon Beacons  in the south are another National Park, and the third National Park is the whole of the south-west Pembrokeshire coast which has some of the UK’s most outstanding beaches and marine wildlife.

The capital, Cardiff, is the cultural centre with two superb modern venues for arts and sports:  the Wales Millennium Centre and the Millennium Stadium.  Swansea, the next largest city and  home of the poet Dylan Thomas, offers good shopping and entertainment and lies next to the stunning Gower Peninsula. Along the coast are delightful resorts such as Tenby, Aberystwith and the magical Isle of Anglesey in the north. Wherever you go in Wales, you will find majestic castles, evidence  of the country’s turbulent history of invasion and resistance, arts and craft centres and charming tea shops and pubs, all offering a warm welcome.

Wales is ‘the land of song’, famous for its male voice choirs and fantastic  singers  from Tom Jones and Katherine Jenkins to  Bryn Terfel and Duffy. The National Eistedfodd in August is  celebration of music and poetry where visitors can see people in the national costume and hear the music of the Welsh harp. Wales also has a number of traditional foods for visitors to try, including laverbread made from seaweed, cockles, bara brith, Welsh cakes, Welsh lamb and the tasty snack Welsh Rarebit.

The rest of the country consists mainly of farmland, woodland and the beautiful areas of the National Park, with small towns and villages offering a traditional welcome to visitors.
With the disappearance of its old coalmining, iron and steel industries, the main industries in Wales today agriculture, tourism and media.