AS hotel names go, this one’s a little unusual. Across Church Street, where I’m standing in the Welsh Border town of Chirk, is the Hand Hotel. Parts of it date back to 1610, during the reign of James

Wrapped in the wild and timeless beauty of North West Wales, its landscape forged by the elemental forces of ice, wind and rain, is an oasis of calm and order. It is the beautiful and unique garden of

When Tom Stoppard died in November, he left behind over 30 stage plays. But it was to Arcadia, his story of a Regency-era girl genius, that the obituarists most frequently returned. In Thomasina Cover

When we visited Beddgelert last June, we left home in shorts and T-shirts following a heatwave across the UK. The sun was shining, and we were confident it would stay warm for the week ahead. So imagi

Where does your interest in geology stem from? Did you collect rocks as a child? Yes, I was an avid mineral and fossil collector as a child. My prize possession was a geological hammer and any exposed

We arrive at the top of High Cup Nick in the North Pennines. “It’s like the world starts just over there,” comments my friend Mark. He’s pointing down the U-shaped chasm of High Cup Gill, beyond whose