Wye Valley & Vale of Usk

I have to be totally honest with you when writing this piece, that before going to visit some of the great places within this section of the book, I had never visited the Wye Valley area before. I knew of and had heard about the places that make up both the Wye Valley and the Vale of Usk but didn’t know that collectively that that’s what they were called. But I can honestly say with true conviction, that once visited, these places are certainly not places to be forgotten in a hurry. There are so many historical connections with this area of Wales and that can be readily seen in our selection of tourist attractions for this section of the book. From museums to castles, magical gardens to stately homes and a historical ship thrown in for good measure, this area is steeped in that much history, you’ll begin to forget which year you’re in.

Although they are not mentioned as one of the Top 100 Attractions in Wales, Chepstow racecourse is a huge pull to the area, along with its sister racecourse Ffos Las in Carmarthenshire they make up most of the Welsh race meetings and they also play host to a number of special events. I mention this only because for decades this racecourse has continued to bring people from all over the UK to its race meetings, and I didn’t want you to think that it was only historical events or places that the Wye Valley was renowned for. For centuries, people have seen the Wye valley as a very special place, they have taken to boating holidays and trips up the Wye river in their millions so much so, that now the Wye river has been given the status nationally as a Special Area of Conservation.