The rivers of beautiful Wales are as varied as they are numerous. From small streams trickling down hillsides to powerful watercourses that over centuries have gouged out valleys and tunnelled through rock. From the small River Gwynant in Snowdonia to the mighty River Severn, that flows through four different counties and is the longest river in the UK…

Hands up who loves a deliciously cold and smooth pint of cider? Even better if it’s locally produced and made with love! We’re big fans of cider here at the Oakeley Arms, and you’ll find some great choices of Welsh and craft cider available from the bar. The humble apple is a wonderful British icon,…

Today, the canals of Wales are ideal leisure spots, but it wasn’t always that way. The canals once provided crucial transport links for industry at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Join us this month as we discover the secrets of the canals of Wales.  When steam trains thundered into Wales in the early 19th century they…

The lighthouses scattered along the Welsh Coast aren’t only icons of coastal life; they have a long and fascinating history. The tall and elegant custodians of Britain’s shores that dot the coastline are unmistakable traditional coastal icons. The lighthouse holds a classic air of maritime magic to the many who admire them from a distance;…

The Welsh coast was once home to some of the most important ports in the world, and the maritime history of our beautiful coastline is woven deep into our culture and legends. Humans have been setting sail from, and to, the Welsh coast for as long as there have been settlements along it, and the…

For a little country, Wales boasts a lot of islands. Almost 100 of them are scattered along the coastline and they vary from large flat-lands like Anglesey, to tiny and very remote outcrops like Worms Head in Gower. Over the centuries the islands of Wales have been shrouded in mystery and myth. Many of the…

Churches and chapels are dotted all along the Welsh coastline, so this month we take a look at the saintly figures who inspired these stunning coastal religious sites. Legends, stories and tales of ancient Saints and sacred holy spaces are abundant along the wild Welsh coast. Many saints were said to have landed here on…

Roll up, roll up! Wales’s market towns are some of the finest in the UK so this month why not join us we take a closer look at these historic towns. The market towns of Wales are renowned as some of the most elegant in Britain. Bala, Dolgellau, Welshpool, Aberaeron, Pwllheli and Ruthin and Llandovery are among the prettiest market…

When Offa, the revered Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia, first began his ambitious project to build an enormous linear embankment to separate his kingdom from the neighbouring lands of Powys, it’s unlikely he imagined that hardy walkers would still be ambling along it more than 1,200 years later; but Offa’s legacy is now one of the…

Industrial landscapes were once considered a blot on the stunning serenity of the Welsh Coast, but digging a little deeper than dusty chimneys and steel structures reveals important and fascinating histories of the industries and the people that helped to shape Wales. The coastline of Wales has been nominated one of the most stunning in…