These have to rank as some of the best places I have visited in Britain. At the start of November 2006 we visited the Castle at Beaumaris and spent a night in Conwy, and it was fantastic.

The castle at Beaumaris is situated on the Island of Anglesey at the end of this quaint town that overlooks the treacherous Menai Straits. This castle was the most technically progressive of King Edward's 'Ring of Iron'. It is quite easy to see how the main defences work; they provide a barrier to invaders, if that is breached you are then in a kind of void where it would be easy for the defenders to pick you off. All in all there are about four separate lines of defence, with masses of other small details that would help to protect the castle from invasion. There is plenty for you to explore inside the castle, and the view from the wall walk is great as you look out across the Straits to the Snowdonia Mountains. If you have an interest in Bridges this is also a great place to visit, the two Bridges across the Menai are some of the finest pieces of engineering from the Industrial Revolution.

We then carried on to Conwy, which is completely surrounded by impressive Town Walls, and the walk along the top of them was perhaps the highlight of the trip for me (picture). The town itself is lovely, and the castle in the corner of the walls is very impressive, with small versions of the two Menai Bridges leading away from it. It was a great place to spend a night in a traditional Welsh B&B. The backdrop to the Town as with all of these castles is the magnificent Snowdonia National Park and if you wanted to spend longer here then it is really good for hiking.

A year after my first visit, we went back to spend another night in Conwy, and also visit Caernafon. Conwy was as nice as we remembered it, and Caernafon was very interesting to walk around. The castle is perhaps the most historically significant, and has a strong role in Welsh history and identity. It was also great to walk around the town and here that Welsh was the first language of most people there.

The city of Bangor is the best connected in the area for transport to the castles. All the timetables are integrated at the traveline site. The area would be good to explore from the WHS of Liverpool or on the way to/from the ferry for Dublin.

This was one of the best WHS I have seen in Britain and I would have no problem in going back to Harlec castle and spend another quiet night within the city walls of Conwy, great if you want to see a different side of Britain.

[Site 8: Experience 8]