I had a great couple of days out of the office
showing a group from UK Inbound around our area.
UK Inbound is a trade association that represents Tour Operators
from around the world who bring travellers into the UK. And
15 of those operators pitched up in Cardiff on Thursday to see what
Southern Wales could offer them.
Arriving in Cardiff Central train station the group made the short
journey out to Llanerch
Vineyard on the outskirts of the city where they
enjoyed a cookery demonstration from chef Angela Grey in the
vineyard's cookery school. Next it was into the restaurant
for lunch and a welcome from owner Ryan Davies who gave the group a
taste Llanerch's very own wine.
Following Llanerch Vineyard the group made the quick hop to the
UK's favourite Tourist Attraction,
the St Fagans National History Musuem. They were intrigued by
the buildings which make up the museum's exhibits, particularly the
Workingmen's Institute, church and the row of ironworkers' cottages
from Merthyr Tydfil.
The following day saw
the group visit Caerphilly Castle, one of the biggest in Europe,
before winding their way through the Southern Wales Valleys to the
town of Tredegar and the newly restored Bedwellty House. From there it
was a short journey to the village of Six Bells and the impressive sight of
the Guardian Mining Memorial. Next stop was the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre for
lunch and a quick tour to find out why the area has been named as a
World Heritage Site.
Then it was time for many people's highlight of the day, a tour of
the Penderyn Distillery, the only whisky
distillery in Wales. The group had a guided tour of the site
where they learned all about the process of making Welsh
wysgi before finding themselves in the bar where they
could sample some of the finished product.
The group then headed back to Cardiff for their last night in
Wales. We only had a couple of days to show them what we can
offer. We really could have done with a couple of weeks
instead.
You can see more images from the trip on our flickr page
