Meet the ‘new’ South Wales: Valleys Homecoming 2010

06-10-2010

Extreme Landscape Makeover: From Tons of Coal to Tons of Greenery

UNESCO World Heritage Site Impresses

 

New York, New York – June 7, 2010 – If there were a prize for ‘extreme landscape makeover,’ the resilient Valleys of South Wales would likely win it: the metamorphosis of the Valleys of South Wales from bleak industrial landscape – think 1939 novel / 1941 Oscar film “How Green Was My Valley” – to a really cool – think hiking and biking trails, waterfalls, green mountains - is positively stunning.

And so it is with great Welsh pride that the Valleys of South Wales kick off a Homecoming campaign to celebrate their radical regeneration from coal mines, ironworks and steel works to scenic splendor, buzzing culture and one-of-a-kind, fun visitor experiences and events: think the Big Pit National Coal Museum, the Big Cheese Festival at Caerphilly Castle and the National Eisteddfod.  www.thevalleys.co.uk/homecoming .

Big Pit, which takes ‘kitted-out’ visitors 300 feet down a coal shaft to experience a miner’s life underground, epitomizes the transformation of the South Wales Valleys.  Opened as a working coal mine in 1880 and closed in 1980, Big Pit, located in Blaenarvon, re-opened as a museum in 1983. Admission to Big Pit is free, as is admission to all of the National Museums of Wales.  www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/.

How dramatic a change is this for the Valleys’ landscape?  At the height of coal production, the Blaenarvon region, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its contribution to industrialization through iron and coal production, had 160 drift mines and over 30 shafts.

Adding more good cheer to the cheerful landscape which has returned to its pre-industrial era greenery, the Valleys will host the annual Big Cheese Festival at Caerphilly Castle, Britain’s second largest castle (after Windsor) with its leaning tower, more askew than Pisa’s.  It’s a free weekend - July 23-25 - featuring street entertainers, living history encampments, music, minstrels, troubadours, fire eating, falconry and of course Caerphilly cheese.www.caerphilly.gov.uk/bigcheese/.

And this year, from July 31 – August 7, the Valleys’ former steel works town of Ebbw Vale located 45 minutes outside of Cardiff, hosts the be-all-and-end-all of Welsh cultural events, The National Eisteddfod. Dating back to 1176, the Eisteddfod (the Welsh word for sitting or gathering pronounced Eye-STETH-fod) is the pinnacle of a Welsh cultural event, bringing together literature, music, dance, poetry, theatre and visual arts all through the medium of the Welsh language. http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk

For more information about happenings and attractions in the South Wales Valleys, visit www.thevalleys.co.uk.

For general information about Wales, go to. www.usa.visitwales.com ,  www.twitter.com/visitwales , www.facebook.com/visitwales.

 

About Wales:

1.    Wales & England & Scotland are the 3 distinct countries that make up the island of Britain.

2.    Wales – about the size of Massachusetts - is  "a peninsula on the western flank of England, facing Ireland," as writer Jan Morris aptly says.

3.    The people of Wales are called Welsh; many still speak the ancient Welsh language (and English).

4.    Wales is the host nation for golf's Ryder Cup 2010, October 1-3, 2010 at Celtic Manor Resort located near Newport in South Wales. www.golfasitshouldbe.com.

 

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