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BACK FROM NORTH WALES

Having spent the last week up in North Wales with the family, blogging has been light.

With the weather (with the exception of Tuesday) being absolutely fantastic, we had a glorious time.

The day we spent on the beach in Aberdaron (or rather on the outside terrace of the Ty Newydd Inn) was the highlight.

Good friends, fantastic local food, sparkling conversation, wonderful weather and a vista of 'creigiau Aberdaron' but, fortunately no wild waves of the sea!

We were fortunate to have some of our friends from Cardiff up on the Llyn Peninsula with us, but it surprises me how few South Walians actually bother making the journey up to North Wales and instead choose Devon and the hell of the M5 on bank holidays. Certainly, if they had experienced the Llyn Peninsula this weekend, they would even consider going over the border again for their holidays. Yes it is a four hour journey but well worth the trip, particularly given the beauty of mid-wales on a sunny day.

And talking of mid-Wales, I cut my holiday short to attend our first Prince of Wales Innovation Scholarship summer school in the sublime setting of Gregynog Hall. With nearly 80 attendees - academics, students and companies - the two day event has been an outstanding success.

We have been fortunate enough to get Steve Brown, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to lead some of the workshops and bring that special MIT magic to the attendees.

With the University of Wales Global Academy having already established an exchange agreement with MIT's Industrial Liaison Programme, we fully expect that all the companies attending this week will be linking up with one of the World's top academic institutions in the near future.

Certainly, our hope of bringing the best of the World to Wales and taking the best of Wales to the World may be finally be gathering momentum.





Comments

Anonymous said…
I would love to spend time up there, but its so expensive
Its cheaper to go to abroad for a week
June 04, 2010 4:16 pm
Carl Morris said…
There's a big opportunity here for Visit Wales to promote Wales to people in Wales.

Gyda llaw dw i'n caru Aberdaron hefyd.
June 04, 2010 10:40 pm
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said…
Mam - you obviously are not looking in the right places!

There is an extensive self-catering network around the Llyn Peninsula which is very reasonable and means you are only a few miles from some of the most fantastic beaches in the World.

Carl - i have been banging on about this issue for years. It would be interesting to know how much of the Welsh tourist pound is actually spent outside of Wales and where. If people in Cardiff are travelling the four hours to Devon for their holidays, then why not to North Wales. It is a massive market. More importantly, the coast of West Wales is still more popular with Brummies than people in Wales.
June 06, 2010 9:03 am
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