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Heart of England and South Wales: Travel Details

This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Heart of England and South Wales" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Great Britain guidebook.

Lord Neidpath's Home

Stanway is notable for its manor house, Stanway House. Lord Neidpath, whose family tree charts relatives back to 1202, opens his melancholy home and grounds to visitors just two days a week in the summer (£6, July and Aug for sure, and either June or Sept, Tue and Thu 14:00–17:00, tel. 01386/584-469, www.stanwayfountain.co.uk).

Vine B&B and Riding Center

Anyone can enjoy the Cotswolds from the saddle. Jill Carenza's Riding Centre, set just outside Stanton village, is in the most scenic corner of the region. The facility has 50 horses, and takes rank beginners on an hour-long scenic "hack" through the village and into the high country (£25/person for 1 hour; lessons, longer rides, rides for experts, and pub tours available; well-signposted in Stanton, tel. 01386/584-250, www.cotswoldsriding.co.uk). Jill rents four rooms at her Vine B&B, but it takes a backseat to the horses. There's no greeting or check-in, and guests wander around wondering which room is theirs. Still, it's convenient if you want to ride all day (Ds/Db-£65, most rooms with 4-poster beds, lots of stairs, tel. 01386/584-250, fax 01386/584-385, luicarenza@msn.com).

Land's End Cider Farm

Mr. Wilkins' Land's End Cider Farm, a great back-door travel experience (free, Mon–Sat 10:00–20:00, Sun 10:00–14:00, west of Wells in Mudgley, take B3139 from Wells to Wedmore, then B3151 south for 2 miles, farm is a quarter mile off B3151 — tough to find, get close and ask locals, tel. 01934/712-385).

Caerphilly Castle

The impressive but gutted old castle, spread over 30 acres, is the second largest in Europe after Windsor. English Earl Gilbert de Clare erected this squat behemoth to try to establish a stronghold in Wales. With two concentric walls, it was considered to be a brilliant arrangement of defensive walls and moats. Attackers had to negotiate three drawbridges and four sets of doors and portcullises just to reach the main entrance. For the record, there were no known successful enemy forays beyond the current castle's inner walls (£3, June–Sept daily 9:30–18:00, May and Oct daily 9:30–17:00, Nov–April Mon–Sat 9:30–16:00, Sun 11:00–16:00, last entry 30 min before closing, 45-min audioguide-£1 with £5 deposit, 9 miles north of Cardiff, 30 min by car from Museum of Welsh Life in St. Fagans or take train from Cardiff to Caerphilly — 3/hr, 20 min — and walk 5 min, tel. 02920/883-143, www.cadw.wales.gov.uk).

Museum of Welsh Life

This best look at traditional Welsh folk life displays more than 40 carefully reconstructed old houses from all corners of this little country in a 100-acre park under a castle. Each house is fully furnished and comes equipped with a local expert warming up beside a toasty fire, happy to tell you anything you want to know about life in this old cottage. Ask questions!

A highlight is the Rhyd-y-Car 1805 row house, which displays ironworker cottages as they might have looked in 1805, 1855, 1895, 1925, 1955, and 1985, offering a fascinating zip through Welsh domestic life from hearths to microwaves.

The museum has three sections: houses, museum, and castle/garden. A small train trundles among the exhibits from Easter to October (5 stops, 50p per stop, whole circuit takes 45 min). If the sky's dry, see the scattering of houses first. Spend an hour in the large building's fascinating museum. The castle interior is royal enough and surrounded by a fine garden (free, daily 10:00–17:00, tel. 02920/573-500, www.nmgw.ac.uk).

Tintern Abbey

Inspiring monks to prayer, William Wordsworth to poetry, J. M. W. Turner to a famous painting, and rushed tourists to a thoughtful moment, this verse-worthy ruined-castle-of-an-abbey merits a five-mile detour off the motorway. Founded in 1131 on a site chosen by Norman monks for its tranquility, it functioned as an austere Cistercian abbey until its dissolution in 1536. The monks followed a strict schedule. They rose several hours after midnight for the first of eight daily prayer sessions and spent the rest of their time studying, working the surrounding farmlands, and meditating. Dissolved under Henry VIII's Act of Suppression in 1536, the magnificent church lingered in relative obscurity until tourists in the Romantic era (mid 18th century) discovered the wooded Wye valley and abbey ruins (£3.20, June–Sept daily 9:30–18:00, April–May and Oct daily 9:30–17:00; Nov–March Mon–Sat 9:30–16:00, Sun 11:00–16:00; last entry 30 min before closing; www.cadw.wales.gov.uk).