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This attractive pocket size book gives you the ten very best dale and valley walks in the Peak District. The White Peak is known for dramatic limestone gorges: convoluted pathways carved into its heart, where rearing pinnacles, dark caves and thundering rivers struck awe into seventeenth-century travellers. Still captivating today, they harbour rich woodland, wildflower meadows and disappearing and resurgent streams, one of the area’s strangest curiosities. Delightful Dovedale, once the haunt of the renowned anglers Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, contrasts with Cave Dale, a gaunt, dry passage below Castleton’s Norman stronghold. But the Dark Peak has attractive valleys too, and different again is the Dane Valley, which cuts onto the Cheshire Plain from the gritstone moors. -
This lovely little book explores the ten best short circular walks along the southern part of the Pembrokeshire coast — itself part of the Wales Coast Path. The Pembrokeshire coast alters subtly from north to south. The southern rocks are far younger and the coast tends to be south-facing, too, creating a gentler hinterland. This influenced historical development and culture, for although the Norman advance extended throughout Pembrokeshire, settlement focused on the more fertile southern corner. It became known as ‘Little England’, with English rather than Welsh spoken, a tradition reflected in place names. Before reliable roads, trade and prosperity favoured the coast, and because the railways came late here, Pembrokeshire was largely ignored by the Industrial Revolution. Unspoiled and breathtakingly scenic, the coast is captivating every step of the way. -
Pembrokeshire’s Café Culture is booming and it’s not the big chains leading the way. Gone are the steamy fugs, greasy-spoon menus and chipped mugs; instead, there’s no shortage of bright and friendly venues serving speciality coffees and teas, home-made baking, and wonderful snacks and meals that capitalise on the best of local produce and culinary talent. Very often there’re take-away options too and sometimes interesting wines or Welsh-brewed beers and ciders. Many are open all day from breakfast and morning coffee to afternoon tea, with some venues running into the evening too with live music, poetry or storytelling. They’re great places to rest or meet up with friends, too; so go for a walk and see what you can find — you’ll not be disappointed. -
This attractive and good looking book will take you on ten short circular walks to some of the finest and most iconic pubs and inns in Pembrokeshire, in South Wales. Ever since rambling became a recognised pastime, country pubs have been magnets for walkers. Whether a lunchtime stop along the way or a final destination for the day, the promise of a thirst-quenching pint, bar snack or a hearty meal is for many, an integral part of the day. Many of Pembrokeshire's coastal inns have origins in serving seafarers, while those inland lay beside routes to and from the coast or beside old droves along which livestock were herded to market. Today, all have a fine tradition of serving visitors who come for no other purpose than to enjoy the magnificent countryside. Those chosen here have long established reputations for their food or ale and have an individual quirkiness worth seeking out. -
This photogenic book will take you on ten short circular walks along the northern part of the Pembrokeshire section of the Wales Coast Path. Pembrokeshire’s north coast has a rugged and remote quality, reflecting the wildness of the hills that rise behind. It was largely ignored during the Norman colonisation and even today beyond St Dogmael’s there are only a handful of coastal communities. Yet burial cairns, promontory forts and a pre-historic trackway across the Preseli Hills indicate widespread prehistoric settlement, and it was an important focus during the spread of Celtic Christianity. Fishing, farming and stock grazing were traditional ways of life, but the Industrial Revolution briefly opened coastal quarrying and the railway made Fishguard an important Irish port. Today, it is a relative backwater but the coast has an untamed beauty, its flowers, birds, seals and porpoises making it a truly special place.
