Just a little bit in love with Wales, it's the most rural place I think we have been to, with farming and national parks that have actually got forest in them. It's a little strange over here compared with home, at home national parks are areas of untouched nature, wilderness proper, but over here national parks can cover vast stretches of land with farms and villages, with limited development therefore allowing the area to retain a certain local charm. They are very beautiful and I can absolutely appreciate why they are protected, it was just a little unexpected. Here in Wales there is more woodlands within the landscape, it's far less developed then other parts of England, except the Scottish highlands. And as with the rest of the UK, Wales has a collection of delightful little villages around the coastline, of which we visited several and got to experience playing on our very own little beaches amongst the rugged coastal cliffs as there was just no one else around. The weather was a little bit Irish, and Dad asked if it was so bad that there were no photos worth uploading....but no, we are just being slack and taking our time.
My dad grew up in Wales and whilst we have visited before, it was really nice to spend some time living in the region he lived in and meeting the locals. Claire has written about our visit to Dad's home town so have a look at that. The locals speak predominantly Welsh and the local school is all Welsh speaking, to the point children are disciplined for speaking English in the playground. It is a really difficult language and I wonder how dad managed in school coming from England.
