Latest news with #LandmarkTrust
South Wales Argus
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Argus
Bluey, ABBA, and Romans: Things to do in Gwent this weekend
The weekend fun kicks off for families on Saturday, July 26, as M Cwmbran's store hosts a meet and greet event with the popular character, Bluey. (Image: Supplied) Running from 9am to 5.30pm, visitors can play chef with the Bluey mascot, and participate in various other family-friendly activities at the store. The fun continues at Caldicot Castle with the Mamma Mia! Outdoor Cinema ExtrABBAganza event. (Image: Supplied) Fans of the hit musical and the Swedish pop group ABBA can sing along to the films Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, which will be screened outdoors. Aside from the films, there will be an ABBA disco, street food, and a bar on site. Visitors are encouraged to dress up and bring along picnics, although alcohol must be purchased on site. The gates open at 5pm and the films start at 6.30pm. Over at Usk, Cardiff's board game enthusiasts, Rules of Play, will be bringing their pop-up shop and games night to the Lines Taproom. (Image: Supplied) A multitude of games will be available for purchase, and visitors can book tables to play games. The event is set to be a fun evening of learning and playing new games. The Landmark Trust is opening the historic Grade-I listed house, Llwyn Celyn, in the Black Mountains, for the July public open days from Friday, July 25, to Sunday, July 27. The site is free to visit, allowing visitors to explore the historic site and learn about its history and the work of the Landmark Trust. Canines are welcome at Llwyn Celyn and there are two events taking place on the Saturday: poetry and creative writing with Clare E Potter, and writing for wellbeing. To register your interest, email engagement@ The weekend also has a historical highlight, with the 'Meet the Romans' event at Caerwent Roman Town. (Image: Supplied) Running on both Saturday and Sunday, from 10.30am to 3.30pm, visitors can meet Roman centurion Tiberius Claudius Paulinus and his lady, who will be conducting guided tours of the Roman town at 11.30am and 2.30pm. There will be a Silurian wise woman on site, who will be talking about Celtic-Romano herbs at her plant stall. This free event also includes craft activities for children and refreshments.
Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Daily Mirror
'Mysterious' UK island with 'tiny' population, no cars and a dark past
This island has a population of around 28 people, making it one of the UK's least densely populated islands. Tucked away off the UK coast lies a little-known island that feels like a step back in time. With no cars, a handful of residents, and an atmosphere of untouched charm, this hidden gem has earned a spot on Wanderlust Magazine's must-visit list for summer. Ranking amongst the top 30 of Britain's secret places to visit, Laundy Island in Devon stands out for its captivating appeal. The travel experts wrote: "This island feels like a lump of the Hebrides mysteriously dumped in the south-west. "It is a wild, beautiful and almost treeless place, with a tiny resident population, no cars, a lot of sheep, cattle and ponies, and kilometres of footpaths. The chief attraction is the cliffside breeding puffins (best seen from April to July), but the chance to get away from it all ensures that few visitors only come here once." Why visit? If you're looking for peace and serenity, this is the place to visit. Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, located 12 miles off the coast of Devon, England. The secluded island boasts an average residential population of 28 people, including a warden, an island manager, a farmer, a shopkeeper, maintenance and housekeeping staff, and a kitchen team in the Marisco Tavern, reported Bideford Council. The Landmark Trust said: "Just off the coast of Devon, surrounded by the clear waters of the Atlantic, Lundy Island is a world apart. "A haven for divers, climbers and birdwatchers, Lundy is an island of contrasts with spectacular coastal scenery and sheltered valleys, rich in wildflowers and wildlife. And at the end of the day, swap tales of your adventures in the friendly Marisco Tavern." Lundy Island's dark history This seemingly quiet island is rich in history and has a turbulent past, once serving as a haven for rebels and pirates. In 1235, nobleman William de Marisco was linked to the murder of a royal messenger, and three years later, a failed assassination attempt on King Henry III was traced to his family. William sought refuge on Lundy Island, where he constructed a stronghold at the site now known as Bulls' Paradise. In 1242, he was seized along with 16 of his followers, transported to London, and executed for treason. By 1250, King Henry III reinforced the island's importance by building a castle there. Fast forward a few centuries to 1627, and Barbary pirates, also known as the Salé Rovers, took control of Lundy, utilising it as a base to plunder ships and coastal towns, kidnapping locals for ransom or enslavement. Five years later, under the reign of King Charles I, the Royal Navy regained control of the island. During the English Civil War, Lundy was the last Royalist stronghold, surrendering in 1647. How to visit There are only two modes of transport that can get you to Lundy Island. From April to October, visitors can reach the island via the Landmark Trust's own ship, the MS Oldenburg. The ship departs from both Bideford and Ilfracombe around three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with an extra day added on Wednesday during July and August, reported Bideford council. According to Lundy Trust, return tickets for the 2025 period cost: £97 for adults £51 for children under 16 £23 for infants under four Day return tickets are cheaper: £54 for adults £28 for children under 16 Infants under four travel free of charge. A family ticket for two adults and two children is £125. However, the MS Oldenburg is out of service during the winter months. Between October and March, a scheduled helicopter service from Hartland Point provides access to the island. Tickets cost £174 for adults, £96 for children under 16, and £26 for infants under two. Flights operate on Mondays and Fridays between 12 noon and 2pm, departing from a field near the Beacon at the top of Hartland Point. Visitors have the option to stay overnight in one of the 23 different accommodations available. Prices start at £168 for a four-night stay in a small cottage or you can opt to stay in the Lundy Vestry, which was constructed by Reverend Hudson Heaven in 1896. A four-night stay in the St Helens church will set you back just over £300.
South Wales Argus
18-07-2025
- South Wales Argus
Llwyn Celyn farmhouse to open to public for rare weekend
Llwyn Celyn, a Grade I listed building in the Black Mountains, will welcome visitors from July 25 to 27 for a rare opportunity to explore its historic grounds. The Landmark Trust, a leading building restoration charity, has organised the event, which will feature creative writing and wellbeing activities. Celebrated poet Clare E Potter will lead a free creative house tour on Saturday, July 26, from 11am to 12pm, followed by a Writing for Wellbeing workshop from 1pm to 2pm. Tickets for the workshop are £6.13, including the booking fee, and can be pre-booked via Eventbrite at The farmhouse, typically reserved for holiday guests, is one of Monmouthshire's most atmospheric historic buildings. Set in the picturesque Llanthony Valley, it is only open to the public two weekends a year. Visitors can look forward to a free general entry, learning about the building's journey from ruin to restoration, and engaging in creative writing activities. Restored by The Landmark Trust, Llwyn Celyn was recently featured on Channel 4's Historic House Rescue series. The event is open to all, family-friendly, and refreshments will be available. Dogs are also welcome on site. Llwyn Celyn is approximately a 15-minute drive from Abergavenny, with accessible parking on site and general parking in a neighbouring field. Pre-booking is preferred via the Landmark Trust website. This rare event offers a chance to discover a slice of history in a stunning natural setting.
Press and Journal
15-05-2025
- General
- Press and Journal
Fairburn Tower: Artist's Highland castle transformation on TV tonight
He was one of the talented individuals whose labours helped bring a ruined Scottish castle in the Highlands back to life. And now, the story of how Paul Mowbray was involved in the restoration of the 16th century Fairburn Tower is the subject of a new TV documentary. The programme recounts how the large-scale project was overseen by the Landmark Trust, while a disparate group of artists, craftsmen and tradespeople sprinked their magic at the site, near Muir of Ord in Ross-shire. Paul was commissioned to recreate the structure's medieval ceiling and produced something beautiful at the heart of what had been a 500-year-old shell. He was often oblivious to anything happening in the wider world, such was his absorption in resurrecting a rare survivor from the Scottish Renaissance. But this beetle-browed lover of art, architecture, history, his homeland and a challenge rose to the task magnificently and his work will feature in the More4 documentary series Historic House Rescue at Paul told me: 'I was asked if I would be interested in creating a traditional Scottish board and beam painting in a late 16th century style. 'I went to visit the tower and was very impressed with the standard of the restoration considering the state it was in before. The draft for the painted ceiling was impressive and very well researched by two of the Landmark Trust's historians. 'This was the backbone of the task and was based on the look and manner of some content from Delgatie Castle, a ceiling I always admired in the Aberdeenshire style. 'I worked with the historian and produced a 3D visual of how it would look and, together, we established relevant historical content and where it should be placed within the area of the ceiling.' Such significant renovations weren't implemented easily. Forget about a minor tinkering of the amenities; this was basically starting from scratch on a giant canvas. But thankfully, Paul's passion for his subject and the knowledge gleaned from travelling across Scotland from Fife to Glasgow and Aberdeenshire to Inverness allowed him to transcend any difficulties he encountered. He said: 'Physically, the work was demanding and it entailed painting above your head daily for two months which was pretty hard going. 'I worked long hours and stayed in local guest houses to maximise progress. 'I also used a local sports therapy masseuse to keep me in shape, and had a yoga mat on site to minimise fatigue. 'From a technical perspective, the work had to be sympathetically carried out and the style of the painting was faithfully observed. 'It was beneficial that I have studied, researched and photographed many of Scotland's finest painted ceilings and built up knowledge and insight over several decades. 'This helped build a bond with a project such as Fairburn Tower and ensured that it went beyond being a commission and became a responsibility; it's not only something you do for the present, but also for generations to come in the future.' Paul is one of those people who don't look for problems but solutions; an individual who admits he thrived as part of the collaborative effort at Fairburn. And much of his drive and determination sprung from the encouragement he was given by his family in his formative years. He said: 'My parents were very encouraging in broadening my interests. Travel, along with historic buildings and museums and studying nature, were central to most days out as a child, and many of these interests and memories inspire my art to this day. 'My parents had limited means, but they bought a steady stream of arts and crafts materials, books and encyclopedias for me and I am so grateful for that.' Paul's participation was just one piece of a larger jigsaw puzzle when it came to an initiative on the scale of Fairburn Tower. He paid tribute to skilled labourer Tristan Maryon, who provided him with whatever support he required and, as Paul said: 'He is one of these folk you don't meet very often – positive, full of energy in his job. It must be something in the water up there.' Yet, in his words and his unfettered enthusiasm for his labours, there's the zeal and zest of the genuine aesthete, allied to a pride in what he and his colleagues achieved. So what were the abiding memories of immersing himself in the Tower? Once again, his words testified to the fact this project was about a lot more than his fee. He said: 'It's hard to express the sense of leaving your artwork in a noble historic property and painting in a style of a long forgotten age, but using snippets of content that tell a little about Fairburn's story today. 'Then, there were the barn owls that moved in during site work and the jackdaws that broke in and built impressive nests while the workers were on their weekend break. 'Ultimately, the story has been told using the design and emblem books of the 16th century, so the authenticity permeates throughout. 'We can appreciate all this now, but it will be interesting to know how future generations will observe the art work.' There's no such thing as a 'normal' schedule. One week, he will be completing Gothic carvings for a Georgian manor. The next, he will be involved in producing his own contemporary artwork which has been displayed in the Royal Scottish Academy. He savours the north of Scotland and isn't done with this part of the world. In fact, there could be another alluring assignment this year at Boleskine House; the Loch Ness home of occultist Aleister Crowley, and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. But we'll leave that particular stairway to heaven for another day. If you enjoyed this story, you may also like: Big interview: Exclusive: Meet the man bringing the past to life at Fairburn Tower in the Highlands
Business Mayor
09-05-2025
- Business Mayor
‘One bunker is now a surf school': a tour of Jersey's wartime coastal defences
I 'm woken by a tractor uprooting jersey royals in the potato field next door. In my simple hexagonal room, dawn illuminates five high slit windows marked with military coordinates and a compass etched into the ceiling. But heading downstairs, I timeslip into a 19th-century lounge where gothic-style windows frame sea views in three directions. During the second world war, Jersey's occupying forces requisitioned Nicolle Tower, a whimsical two-storey folly, and added an extra level. In what is now the bedroom, German soldiers kept lookout for an allied invasion that never came. Nicolle Tower, where German soldiers kept watch. Photograph: Debbie Ward It's thanks to restoration charity the Landmark Trust that I'm enjoying this hilltop tower. Inland from Le Hocq beach, it is now a self-catering holiday let. It's unique, yet one of a staggering 1,200 fortifications on Jersey, the Channel Islands having served as a showcase for Hitler's Atlantic Wall defences. During my 1980s childhood holidays, abandoned bunkers invited exploration and sibling jump scares. Now, on the 80th anniversary of liberation, which came on 9 May 1945 (a day after the German forces on mainland Europe surrendered), I want to discover how some of these structures have found a new lease of life. I start in an underground hospital hewn into rock. It never treated battle casualties; instead, a postwar farmer used its extensive passages to cultivate mushrooms. Now it houses Jersey War Tunnels, the museum of the island's almost five-year occupation. A tank on display at the Jersey War Tunnels museum. Photograph: Visit Jersey I learn about the scramble for evacuation, how remaining residents swapped meagre rations through newspaper personal ads, and about Organisation Todt, the huge Nazi construction operation that saw hundreds of fortifications built. Hand tool marks can still be seen in half-finished sections of the tunnels, one of which has lighting effects to simulate a rock fall. Elsewhere, amid islanders' personal stories are interactive exhibits posing the ethical dilemmas they faced, such as whether to launder a German uniform in exchange for food. That evening, I join nonprofit Jersey War Tours inside a resistance nest set into the sea wall at St Aubin's Bay. Our guide, Phil Marett, winds a hatch and sweeps the anti-tank gun over a deserted beach, demonstrating how soldiers were primed for a D-day-like scenario. Inland at Le Coin Varin, a farmer's field contains a huge block-shaped battle headquarters. Once poorly disguised as a house, its chimneys hid periscopes. Time has laced the outside with vines, but inside, acrid-smelling rooms are blackened by modern fire brigade drills. Nearby, Marett points out an oddly shaped bungalow that the homeowners built around another abandoned bunker. Waves crash below the wild headland of our final stop, Noirmont Point, where, amid the gorse, a crack of light entices us into Battery Lothringen. In a restored two-storey subterranean command bunker, I note the poignant bunk-side photo of an elderly German man who returned here as a tourist. Original graffiti at Battery Lothringen. Photograph: Debbie Ward Compared with that austere, imposing space, the cosy hexagonal lounge of Nicolle Tower feels like a trinket box. Its bookcases hold a thoughtful selection relating to Jersey's nature and history, but having stayed in other Landmarks, I seek the logbook first. Completed by visitors, this is part diary, part crowd-sourced guidebook and always charming. At a sea view writing desk, I turn the pages and smile at former guests' tales of big birthdays and marriage proposals and a naked yoga session interrupted by a dog walker. Many have left recommendations for walking routes and pubs. A few have contributed affectionate watercolours of the folly. Next day, I head to Faulkner Fisheries, a fishmonger and cafe based inside a former bunker for 45 years that lies on a rocky peninsula to the north of St Ouen's Bay, the largest of Jersey's sandy beaches. Lobsters destined for the lunchtime barbecue shuffle inside seawater pools flushed via pipes converted from wartime ventilation shafts. 'In the end tank, where the crabs are, there was a gun pointed towards Guernsey,' owner Sean Faulkner tells me as he shows me around. 'The office was originally another machine gun post.' Based inside a bunker, Faulkner Fisheries keeps its lobsters where a gun post once stood. Photograph: Danny Evans Faulkner grew up on a farm opposite, playing in the bunker as a child and diving for crabs to sell from a junkyard pram. After a career in the merchant navy, his youthful exploits became his business. As I enjoy huge, garlicky scallops at a picnic table, watching the waves glint in the sunlight, the plump seafood, barbecue aroma and 5-mile (8km) surfing beach suddenly recall Australia. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Later, on a cobbled slipway, I spot a smaller bunker housing boards and wetsuits. Jersey Surf School is painted on its original, still sturdy metal doors. Water ingress is never a problem, owner Jake Powell tells me, before reminiscing about teenage parties around a bar he constructed in another bunker. Jersey's vast tidal range reveals extensive rockpools, not least at La Corbière lighthouse, where I linger for the celebrated sunset view. Standing sentinel opposite is the Radio Tower, a German range-finding post. For years, a coastguard headquarters, it has since found a third use as holiday accommodation. The charity Jersey Heritage oversees this and other fortifications, from German-adapted martello towers to a 1940s bunker turned cold war shelter, many open to visitors. Chief executive Jon Carter acknowledges their tourist interest. 'They were all built in the most scenic places with the best views because that was the idea – they were observational and they wanted arcs of fire,' he tells me over tea. The celebrated sunset view at La Corbière lighthouse, Jersey. Photograph: Max Burnett The metres-thick reinforced concrete of these mass bunkers makes their destruction unviable. The mixture of abandonment, historical reconstruction and pragmatic reuse I've seen reflects decades of fluctuating attitudes. Any continued discomfort about the structures' presence is now less about why they were built than how, Carter explains. The back-breaking work often fell to prisoners of war and forced labourers. At the government's behest, Jersey Heritage is working with volunteer preservationists the Channel Islands Occupation Society to consider the reuse of 70 state-owned fortifications too, connecting with those 'wrestling with the same conundrums' along the Atlantic Wall. Carter anticipates a continued mixture of 'selective preservation' and 'contemporary use'. Next, I visit the island's newest fortification museum St Catherine's Bunker, which Marett dubs 'a real Bond villain lair'. Its cliff-face gun post fronts substantial German-built tunnels. For years, though, this was a fish market. Like the bunker turned toilets I discover on my childhood beach, it feels an ironic counterpoint to hubris. Ten minutes away, I lunch at Driftwood Cafe at Archirondel Beach. As I tuck into thick crab sandwiches opposite the French coast, fisherwoman and cafe owner Gabby Mason tells me she'll be at sea over the Liberation 80 weekend, her boat decked in flags. From today into next week, there will be street parties, an international music festival and historical re-enactments, including, in St Helier, British soldiers raising the union jack above Liberation Square, so named in 1995 to celebrate 50 years since the end of occupation. The Landmark Trust is also celebrating – 60 years of restorations. Before I leave Nicolle Tower, I take in those glorious views a final time and add a logbook entry, my own sliver in the multilayered history of this building and this island.
