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Offa’s Dyke Offers Great B&Bs
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Off the beaten track in places, maybe, but the area close to Offa’s Dyke is certainly one of the best places in Britain for a perfect B&B break.
We have the late Frank Noble, a teacher and avid rambler from Knighton, to thank for the current abundance of quality B&Bs dotted around the Offa’s Dyke Path, which extends along the Wales-England border from Prestatyn in the north to Sedbury Cliffs and Chepstow in the south. Back in the 1960s, Mr Noble championed a campaign to open a National Trail along Offa’s Dyke in order to make the existing path more accessible to ramblers. In 1971, the 177-mile (287 km) long National Trail called Offa’s Dyke Path was opened. Mr Noble was also the driving force behind the Offa’s Dyke Association (established in 1969). Throughout the campaign he took a broad approach to attracting tourists and walkers to the area. His efforts, at the time, were unstinting; he even had the commercial foresight, during the early 1960s, to approach farmers' wives who lived along Offa's Dyke and also other householders who would be willing to provide a bit of B&B in return for spare cash. The idea caught on, with a large number of local inhabitants seizing the opportunity to offer their spare bedrooms on a B&B basis.
Today, many of these original B&B enterprises are still going strong, albeit as slicker operations with broader tourist appeal. Today, the area boasts an impressive range of B&B accommodation, from private guest houses to luxury four star hotels, not to mention a wide range of tourist facilities that all add up to a memorable B&B break. Popular B&B bases along the Offa’s Dyke Path include Prestatyn, Llangollen, Knighton (roughly mid-point), Hay-on-Wye and Chepstow. Knighton, Welsh name Tref y Clawdd (meaning Town on the Dyke), however, is the only original settlement on Offa’s Dyke and has some of the best preserved sections of the remaining, high earthwork in the nearby hills around the town.
Starting at Chepstow, ‘must-see’ historic landmarks and interesting places to visit en route include Tintern Abbey, the fortified town of Monmouth, White Castle (7 miles north east of Abergavenny), Powis Castle (1 mile south of Welshpool), the ruins of Castle Dinas Bran overlooking the village of Llangollen and Chirk Castle (8 miles south of Wrexham).
Punctuated by glorious scenery, with commanding views of mountains, valleys, pastures and rivers, the area surrounding the fragmented remains of Offa’s Dyke is a walker’s paradise. The well-signposted route with many stiles crosses the border between Wales and England nine times and passes through some of the most stunning landscapes that both countries have to offer. In addition, it is also the only National Trail to follow a man-made feature, namely the earthwork and dyke that marked the first official border between the two countries.
Rambling potential aside, Offa’s Dyke and its environs are of great interest to those who are keen to explore the turbulent history of Anglo-Celtic rivalry and the bloody battles of centuries past that culminated, in 1282, when Wales finally fell to the English. Offa’s Dyke, itself, dates back to the late eighth century, when the then merciless ruler of the English kingdom of Mercia, King Offa, commanded the construction of an earthen bank and ditch to mark his territory and to keep what he considered to be the marauding Celts at bay. The original eighty-mile long earthwork consisted of a bank (up to twenty-five feet high in parts), with a ditch running alongside, north to south, through the Welsh borders. Saxon laws implemented by King Offa, upon completion, dictated that ‘Neither shall a Welshman cross into English land without the appointed man from the other side who should meet at the bank and bring him back again without any offence being committed’.
All that animosity, however, is a thing of the past. Today, ‘cross border’ communication could not be more amicable! But why not find out for yourself what Offa’s Dyke and the surrounding area have to offer? Book up a B&B, online and contact the Offa’s Dyke tourist information centre at www.offasdyke.demon.co.uk for further information.
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