At a meagre 1,085 metres, the highest peak in Wales puts the country towards the bottom of the international league of physical elevation, not far above the Maldives or the Netherlands (or England). So not the least surprising aspect of North Wales is that Snowdon and surrounding ranges look impressively mountainous – magnificently and austerely so. And then there’s another surprising feature: only twenty minutes from roads cowering beneath crags and precipitous moorland are others cossetted in lyrical lowland landscapes of green fields, abundant broadleafs and plump livestock.

The variety and beauty of the scenery is matched by the geology which underlies them; in a bid not just to enjoy but to understand the landscapes, a geologist, Peter Cattermole, joins the second half of the tour. This region has some of the most fascinating and famous geology in the British Isles; it is no coincidence that some of the foundations of the scientific study of rocks and the formation of the Earth’s crust began here.

Castles provide a further surprise. Not that Conwy, Caernarfon and Harlech are not well known, but first-time visitors are likely to be astonished by their vast magnificence, their immaculate state of preservation and the splendour of their setting. In the 1280s King Edward I of England planted here the finest group of mediaeval castles to be found anywhere, technologically the most developed military architecture of the pre-gunpowder era. Temples to temporal power, they are every bit as fascinating and awe-inspiring as contemporary cathedrals.

Topography, economy and politics were not favourable for the development of country houses of the first rank but there are some treasures in this department – the Rex Whistler mural at Plas Newydd, the Neo-Norman staircase at Penrhyn Castle, the restituted 1640s panelling at Gwydir, the servants’ portraits at Erddig. A few gardens, too, have flourished magnificently, Bodnant being one of the finest in Britain.

Neither was topography favourable for travel and transport. All Edward I’s castles were built with fortified harbours so they could be sustained by the navy. But in the nineteenth century, politics (the imperative of better communications with Ireland) and the economy (exploitation and export of mineral riches) forced the conquest of rivers, straits and passes. Both Thomas Telford and George Stephenson excelled here with world-beating bridges and viaducts. Industrial archaeology is therefore another strand of the tour, with a particular focus on slate – Welsh slate ‘roofed the Industrial Revolution worldwide’.

The tour is based at two outstanding hotels which in their different ways are among the most agreeable in Britain.

Lecturers: Neil Johnstone and Peter Cattermole.

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