Original subtitles

Narrator: Wales, a land of myth and majesty,

Of legendary kings and warrior rebels.

With more fortresses per square mile

Than anywhere else in the world.

From the hills that put the stone in stonehenge,

To the secret hideaways

Where led zeppelin and queen changed the history of rock...

A country that forged its own destiny

From the great monuments of its industrial past.

A legacy, celebrated in architecture,

Capturing the heart and the soul.

Soar high above fairy tale castles,

Over rivers,

And as close to the edge as you dare.

Meet a people defined by poetry, song, and sport...

A nation that bears the indelible marks

Of 2,000 years of invasion,

But never once lost its identity.

This is wales, as you've never seen it before.

♪

The size of new jersey,

With a population of just 3 million people,

Wales has always been fiercely proud of its autonomy.

Simon evans is originally from the southeast of England

But moved here with his family when he retired.

This raised bank of earth close to the welsh border

Runs near his home,

And he and his son tom walk here regularly.

A few years ago, simon trekked its entire length,

A distance of around 177 miles.

In fact, this is an ancient boundary

Between England and wales,

Which follows long stretches

Of the current border between the two countries.

It was constructed more than 1,200 years ago

By the anglo-saxon king offa

To divide his territory from wales.

According to ancient tradition,

The english would cut off the ears of any welshman

Found to the east of offa's dyke,

And the welsh would hang every englishman

Found to the west of it.

Thankfully, for these two englishmen,

The old traditions have lapsed.

But the cultural significance of offa's dyke,

Like that of hadrian's wall on the scottish border,

Is clear.

Wales and England were, and always will be,

Separate places.

♪

The first ancestors of the welsh arrived here 29,000 years ago,

Long before rising sea levels

Separated britain from mainland europe.

Today, two-thirds of the population

Live in the valleys and towns of the south,

Including the country's largest city

And its capital, cardiff.

[boat horn blows]

In the 19th century, coal exported from south wales

Fueled the furnaces and boilers of the world.

The booming port of cardiff

Attracted thousands of migrant workers.

Back then, the neighborhood of tiger bay

Was an infamous dockland quarter,

Home to the city's red-light district.

An unlikely location for this lutheran church.

But not to the norwegian seafarers who settled here.

In 1868, they built it

As a place to meet and worship together.

♪

In recent years,

The waterfront has become home

To somewhat more imposing buildings,

Including this glass and steel edifice.

It's the national assembly, or senedd in welsh,

Home of the country's parliament.

Nearby, the millennium center,

With its facade inscribed with the words

Of welsh poet gwyneth lewis,

Is a venue for ballet, theatre,

And the headquarters of the welsh national opera.

♪

Cardiff castle was built by the normans in 1081,

15 years after their king, william the conqueror,

Invaded britain from northern France.

Constructed on the remains of a third-century roman fort,

This legacy of two major conquests

Was the seed from which the modern city grew.

Though expanded and redeveloped many times,

It remains an iconic feature of the welsh capital.

In the 1860s,

This was the family home

Of the fabulously wealthy john crichton-stuart.

He hated growing up at the castle

And later commissioned architect william burges

To transform it in lavish gothic revival style.

Burges added new towers, a roof garden,

A sumptuous banqueting hall,

And this magnificent 150-foot clock tower.

[air raid siren]

During world war ii,

Air raid shelters tunneled into the medieval walls

Protected 1,800 people.

♪

In 1947, after the death of crichton's son,

The family bequeathed the castle to the city of cardiff.

♪

[gulls squawking]

♪

Close to the castle

Is the home ground and high church of welsh rugby,

Cardiff's principality stadium.

The arena,

Built from 56,000 tons of concrete and steel,

Can seat more than 74,000 supporters.

Since 1999, it's hosted three world cup tournaments.

Rugby is wales's national sport

And a cherished part of its cultural identity.

To compete here is the dream of every young welsh player.

♪

Many pursue that dream at rugby clubs like this one,

A few miles north of cardiff in the town of pontypridd.

Rugby actually originated in northern England

In the 1820s,

But no one embraces it quite like the welsh.

There's hardly a town, factory, or community in wales

Without its own team.

Full back lloyd rowlands

Has been playing rugby since he was nine.

Now semi-professional,

The training is a little more intense.

But every try takes him one step closer to the big league.

♪

Of course, rugby isn't the only way to achieve legend status

Here in wales.

Pontypridd is also hometown

To one of the country's most famous sons,

Singer sir tom jones.

Long before he achieved global stardom,

The 100-million-record-selling artist

Worked at a glove factory in town.

At home here in his family's end-of-terrace house

On laura street,

He honed his skills listening to american blues singers

Like big bill broonzy

And mahalia jackson, the queen of gospel.

♪

Like the voice of its most famous singer,

Wales has always been a force to reckon with.

In a.D. 43,

Just ten years after the death of jesus,

The romans invaded britain.

Within five years,

They controlled most of the southwest.

But here in wales,

The empire would struggle to overcome

The fierce native tribes

For another three decades.

Relics of the roman occupation survive to this day.

Near the village of caerleon lie the ruins of a military base

Once manned by 5,000 elite roman troops.

Close by are the remains of a great oval amphitheatre

Built around a.D. 90,

Where as many as 6,000 spectators

Would have witnessed brutal gladiatorial combat.

[crowd cheering]

The romans would occupy wales for over three centuries,

From 78 a.D. To 383 a.D.

This is the first town they founded--

Caerwent, near the southern city of newport.

Sections of the original first-century wall still remain,

Some rising up to 17 feet high.

It's one of the most perfectly preserved roman fortifications

In northern europe.

In the early 5th century,

With the empire under attack

By barbarian armies all over europe,

The emperor honorius withdrew his garrisons from britain.

And so ended roman rule.

♪

Soon, wales would be conquered all over again.

And this time, it would surrender without a fight.

♪

Between the sixth and eighth centuries,

The pagan tribes of wales

Were converted to christianity by missionaries from ireland.

The age of the saints would see monastic settlements

Established all over the country.

First by the irish, then by the converted welsh.

The sixth-century ruin of st. Non's chapel

On the west coast of pembrokeshire

Is said to be the birthplace of st. David,

Wales's patron saint.

♪

In his time, st. David would spread christianity

Throughout wales, England,

And brittany in northern France.

Here, half a mile from his birthplace,

Stands the city named in his honor--

St. David's, population 2,000,

Britain's smallest metropolis.

The city's medieval cathedral was founded on the site

Where st. David established a monastic community.

A stone set into the altar is said to have been brought back

From a pilgrimage st. David took to jerusalem.

Near the cathedral lie the ruins of a medieval palace

Built by 13th and 14th-century bishops.

But in the 16th century,

Bishop william barlow stripped the lead from the roof

To pay for the dowries of his five daughters.

The building fell into disrepair,

Never to recover.

♪

St. David's cathedral has had a tumultuous history.

Extensively damaged by an earthquake in 1247,

It was modified many times over the next three centuries,

And contains the tomb of edmund tudor,

Grandfather of king henry viii of England.

♪

Just outside st. David's,

Entomologist and ecologist dr. Sarah benyon

Runs a farm unlike any other.

In a bid to overcome a childhood phobia of insects,

She immersed herself in all things creepy-crawly.

The result was the bug farm,

Established in 2015

And now literally buzzing with activity.

Here, guests can explore habitats

Swarming with insect life,

Visit the bug museum and zoo,

And learn about the farm's cutting-edge research

Into farmland biodiversity.

They can also dine at the grub kitchen,

Britain's first edible insect café.

Delicacies on offer include bug burgers,

Mealworm hummus,

And their famous cricket cookies.

♪

Local producer gayle twitchen

Tends beehives at six locations on st. David's peninsula,

Including the bug farm.

♪

[bees buzzing]

Just as the honey gayle harvests

Is sweetened of this peninsula's wildflower meadows,

The landscape of wales is imbued

With one of the greatest legends of medieval britain.

♪

The great mountain range of snowdonia national park

Includes some of the highest peaks in wales,

Including the highest of them all,

Mount snowdon.

♪

This 800-square-mile natural reserve

Also preserves the legend

Of an extraordinary mythical figure.

In welsh, the name of mount snowdon

Means "the tomb of rhita gawr,"

A fearsome giant supposedly slain by king arthur.

As legend has it, the giant's body lies buried

Under massive stones at the summit.

This ridge is said to be the place

Where arthur himself died,

Killed in battle by his own son, mordred.

Arthur's magical sword excalibur

Is said to lie beneath glaslyn lake

On the mountain's east flank,

Cast into the icy waters by sir bedivere

After the king's death.

♪

Snowdon's mystical beauty

Attracts half a million visitors every year.

The outlying region is home to over 28,000 people,

Nearly two-thirds of whom

Speak welsh as their first language.

♪

There are many routes to the top of wales's highest peak,

But the most comfortable is the snowdon mountain railway.

In 1896, steam locomotives began taking visitors

From the village of llanberis

On the 4.5-mile journey to the summit.

The locomotives were built specially for the line

In switzerland,

The only country at that time with the required expertise

To transport people safely up and down the mountain.

Three of the original five locomotives

Are still in service today,

Over 120 years later.

♪

Every year,

130,000 passengers brave the vertiginous 2.5-hour climb,

Rewarded with spectacular views of the welsh landscape

All the way up,

Weather permitting.

♪

In 2009, this visitor center opened at the summit.

On a clear day,

Passengers alighting

For a 30-minute stopover at the highest point in wales

Can see all the way to ireland.

♪

The 19th-century english travel writer

George borrow once wrote,

"I never saw water falling so gracefully,

So much like thin, beautiful threads as here."

The object of his affection

Was the great waterfall of pistyll rhaeadr

In the northeast of snowdonia.

This place,

Where the river afon dysgynfa tumbles down a 240-foot cliff,

Is known as one of the seven wonders of wales.

Pistyll rhaeadr is not one, but three separate falls,

Each adding its own complexity to the elegance of the cascade.

♪

Where there are mountains, there are lakes,

And snowdonia has 250 of them.

♪

This one, called llyn padarn,

Is popular with kayakers and paddleboarders.

Lake bala to the east

Is the largest natural lake in wales--

Rich pickings for anglers,

Who come here for perch, pike, trout, and salmon.

♪

Barry evans and his son ilan

Have fished these waters all their lives.

But one fish they won't be landing today

Is the gwyniad.

It's an elusive species native to lake bala,

Stranded here over 10,000 years ago

At the end of the last ice age.

It lurks in the deepest reaches of the lake,

Far beyond the reach of rod and line.

♪

The picturesque village of tremadog

On the outskirts of snowdonia

Is the home to the hostel of snowdon lodge.

In 1888, this was the birthplace

Of archaeologist, soldier and writer

Thomas edward lawrence,

Known to the world as lawrence of arabia.

In his classic book "the seven pillars of wisdom,"

Lawrence recounted his exploits in the middle east

During the first world war.

During that conflict,

He helped lead an arab revolt against the ottoman empire--

A campaign immortalized in the classic 1962 film

"lawrence of arabia."

♪

From wales's most colorful son

To one of its most colorful towns.

Located on a private peninsula off the snowdonia coast,

The brightly colored buildings

And enchanting parks of portmeirion

Were built between 1925 and 1976.

This fanciful landscape,

Created in the style of an italian village,

Was primarily designed as a tourist attraction.

The entire village operates as a hotel,

With guest rooms in each of its buildings.

♪

Portmeirion is perhaps best known

As the filming location for the cult 1960s sci-fi series

"the prisoner,"

About a british former secret agent

Who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal resort

From which he can never seem to escape.

♪

Before his death,

Portmeirion's unconventional architect,

Clough williams ellis,

Asked for his ashes to be launched

Over the estuary in a rocket.

His last request was eventually carried out

On new year's eve, 1998.

♪

This structure in northeast wales

Might look like a bridge.

But it is more than that.

This is the 200-year-old waterway

Of pontcysyllte aqueduct.

Crossing the river dee and rising 126 feet above it,

The stone and cast-iron span

Is an incredible feat of civil engineering

That took ten years to design and build.

Completed in 1805,

Pontcysyllte is the longest and highest navigable aqueduct

In britain.

It's 100 feet long and five feet deep,

Supported by arched iron ribs on 18 hollow masonry piers.

The aqueduct was originally designed

To transport coal, iron, slate, and limestone.

Today, it's mainly sightseers

Who are rewarded with incredible views

Across the dee valley.

♪

Lake vyrnwy in north wales.

130 years ago,

This was a peaceful valley where a village once stood.

Today, it's a watery playground for sportspeople

Like professional adventurer dave proctor,

Who runs an activity center nearby.

He's been sailing these waters for almost 50 years.

The great reservoir was built in 1888,

And was once the main water supply

For the city of liverpool, 80 miles to the north.

Although swimming in vyrnwy is prohibited,

Local diane thomas

Makes the most of the lake on her doorstep.

She recently completed a triathlon here,

Part of which involved kayaking the full length of the lake.

In the distance,

What looks like a gothic-style tower

Is actually an elegant water filtration system.

In its day, the dam was britain's largest

And supplied power to the local area

Right up to the 1960s.

But lake vyrnwy came at a cost.

Flooding the valley

Required the sacrifice of the village of llanwddyn,

Whose dead were respectfully exhumed from the local cemetery

And reburied further down the valley.

♪

In the lower reaches of snowdonia national park,

The market town of machynlleth

Is regarded as the ancient capital of wales,

Once the stronghold of a rebel leader

Just as legendary to the welsh as the mythical king arthur.

His name, owain glyndwr,

The last welshman to hold the title prince of wales.

Glyndwr's 15th-century revolt against english rule

Was effectively a full-scale war

Against the english king henry iv.

♪

This medieval building in the town

Is the original site of a parliament

Where glyndwr declared his vision

Of an independent welsh state.

♪

Here, he was crowned prince of wales

By his followers.

♪

When the rebellion ultimately foundered,

Glyndwr went into hiding.

Despite enormous rewards offered for his capture,

He was never betrayed.

He is said to have died in 1415,

But glyndwr is still revered

As one of wales's most heroic figures.

♪

In 1970, two young musicians came here

To the 18th-century cottage of golden hill,

Or bron yr aur.

They weren't just visiting;

They'd come to work on one of the most famous rock albums

Of all time.

At the time,

This was the holiday home of the plant family.

Robert plant and his bandmate jimmy page

Had just completed a long north american tour.

Here they would write and partly record

"led zeppelin iii."

The cottage, now in the hands of a new owner,

And the landscape around it

Would inspire songs such as "over the hills and far away"

And of course, "bron-yr-aur."

It remains a mecca for dedicated zeppelin fans.

♪

[gulls squawking]

Every year, thousands of golfers make the pilgrimage

To the first course

Specifically designed to host the ryder cup.

The tournament between the u.S. And europe

Is held every two years.

This course was built for the 2010 event,

At a cost of over $20 million.

Near the city of newport in south wales,

It forms part of the celtic manor resort--

A golf, spa, and hotel complex

Set in 2,000 acres of beautiful parkland.

This 395-foot-long suspension bridge

Across the river usk

Was specially built for the ryder cup.

Today, even amateur golfers can pit their skills

Against the challenging fairways and greens

Of the 2010 course.

♪

♪

The otherworldly skyline of port talbot

Could hardly offer a more striking contrast.

It would inspire

An american-born british director

To create one of hollywood's strangest movies.

The town on wales's south coast

Is home to one of the largest steel foundries in the world,

Employing one in ten of its population.

Visiting port talbot at sunset,

Director terry gilliam was overwhelmed

By the sight of fumes and vapor rising from the cooling towers,

Lit by plumes of ignited waste gas.

It would profoundly influence his own vision

For the dystopian sci-fi classic "brazil."

♪

And the movie connections don't end there.

Port talbot is also the hometown

Of two of wales's most iconic actors--

Sir anthony hopkins and sir richard burton.

Born richard jenkins at this modest terraced house

In the nearby village of pontrhydyfen in 1925,

Burton was the twelfth of thirteen children.

He lived here for two years

Before the family moved to port talbot

Following the death of his mother.

Years later, when burton visited the village

With his then-new wife elizabeth taylor,

Locals remember the occasion as something akin to a royal visit.

♪

The sport of lawn bowls,

Dating back to the 13th century,

Has a rich history in wales,

With hundreds of clubs across the country.

Today the inco vale club, 10 miles from port talbot,

Is hosting a mixed pairs competition.

Club chairman wyndham haines

Has played the sport for more than 50 years.

The goal for teams is to position their set of bowls

Closer than those of their opponents

To a small white ball called the jack.

One of the clubs most accomplished players,

Gaynor thomas,

Has won numerous titles over the years,

Including the national mixed pairs champion.

♪

These manicured lawns are the picture of civility--

A far cry from the landscapes

That greeted wales's first settlers.

♪

This evocative terrain of wild moors and grassland

In northern pembrokeshire

Is preseli hills,

A national park crossed by an ancient 8-mile track

Known as the golden road.

Dotted throughout the area

Are burial sites and ancient settlements

Dating back to the stone age.

For many years, it was said

That bluestones quarried here 4,500 years ago

Were used to build stonehenge.

In 2000, to prove the claim,

A local community group

Attempted to move a three-ton rock to stonehenge

By neolithic means.

When the 140-mile attempt failed,

The group blamed modern health and safety obstacles

That would not have stopped the original engineers.

As it turned out, they were right.

In 2015, a team of geologists and archaeologists

Confirmed that the great pillars

Were indeed quarried here at preseli

And transported east to stonehenge.

♪

In 1066,

Around 4,000 years after that monumental achievement,

William the conqueror invaded britain

From what is now northern France.

Within six years, he controlled all of England,

But the fierce welsh tribes would resist

For a further 200 years.

At the end of the 13th century,

William's descendent, edward I,

Launched a full-scale war of conquest.

His goal--

To place wales firmly under english control.

Harlech castle,

On a spur of rock near the irish sea in north wales,

Is one of a ring of fortresses he built

To stamp his authority on the land.

In the centuries that followed,

Harlech gained a reputation as a near impregnable stronghold.

In the 15th century,

When the houses of york and lancaster

Battled for the throne of England,

The castle resisted siege for seven years.

In 1642, the fortress was besieged again

During the english civil war

When the forces of the king and the parliamentary government

Struggled for control of britain.

After holding out for five years,

Harlech was the last royalist castle on the british mainland

To surrender to the parliamentary forces.

♪

♪

Unlike the other castles of edward I's iron ring,

This one, caernarfon,

Was less a defensive fortress

And more an expression of english dominance.

Modeled on the walls of constantinople,

The castle has a series of polygonal towers.

The ten-sided eagle tower was once decorated with stone eagles

That have since weathered away.

Its fearsome gatehouses are peppered with murder-holes,

From where the castle's defenders

Poured boiling oil and water

Down on anyone foolhardy enough to attack.

It was here, in 1284,

That edward's queen eleanor gave birth to their first son,

The very first welsh-born, but english, prince of wales.

And it was here, in 1969,

That the present prince of wales, prince charles,

Was invested by his mother queen elizabeth.

♪

Northeast of caernarfon

On a coastal ridge overlooking the river conwy

Stands what is arguably the most magnificent

Of edward I's welsh fortresses.

Designed by the master architect james of st. George,

Conwy is defended by eight towers

And two fortified gateways...

All of which counted for little in 1401

When, during the last war of independence,

Two welsh rebel brothers surprised the watchmen

And seized control of the castle for three months.

They eventually surrendered

In exchange for a full pardon by the king.

Near the castle, attached to conwy's town walls,

Is britain's smallest house.

It was inhabited from the 16th century

Right up to 1900.

Its last tenant was a 6-foot 3-inch fisherman.

Visitors can view the property, but only at ground level.

The upper floor is taken up

By a single bed and a small cabinet.

Downstairs there's just enough room

For a stove and a seat...For one.

♪

On the north coast of wales,

A narrow 16-mile-long stretch of tidal water

Known as the menai strait

Separates the mainland from its largest island,

Anglesey.

Covering an area of 276 square miles,

The island is home to around 70,000 people,

Most of whom are welsh speakers.

This great span linking to the mainland

Is the 1,400-foot-long menai suspension bridge.

It was designed by master engineer thomas telford

And completed in 1826,

Replacing a hazardous ferry journey

Across the treacherous, fast-flowing waters

Of the strait.

♪

This ghostly collection of industrial buildings

On anglesey's north coast

Is the abandoned ruin of porth wen brickworks.

Once a hive of activity,

Now a monument to a long-dead industry.

This was where the quartzite bricks

That lined the furnaces of the victorian steel industry

Were made.

The quartzite was crushed by workers

Wearing iron-covered gloves

Before being hand-molded and fired in domed kilns.

Finished bricks were dispatched

To the forges of a new industrial age

From this quay...

Now crumbling into ruins like the rest of the site,

Weathered by sea and salt for more than a century.

♪

Anglesey is just one of over 50 islands off the welsh coast.

Many, like the tiny island of caldey in carmarthen bay,

Were the site of early monastic settlements,

Remote havens of contemplation and prayer,

Safe from attack.

Today, a small community of cistercian trappist monks,

Based here since the 1920s,

Continues that tradition.

Although home to only around 40 permanent residents,

The island issues its own stamps,

And has its own currency known as the "dab."

During the spring and summer months,

The monks welcome visitors on spiritual retreat,

As well as those who come

To enjoy the island's rich wildlife.

[birds calling]

Caldey may be a place of the soul,

But the heart of wales lies deep below the ground.

A great treasure is buried

Beneath the valleys of south wales.

Hundreds of feet below the ground

Lies one of britain's most extensive coalfields.

During the industrial revolution,

That same coal was a vital and precious commodity.

By the early 20th century,

Over a quarter of a million men

Were working in wales's coal mines.

This mine, called big pit at blaenavon in monmouthshire,

Was one of the most productive.

Coal mined here fueled the steel industry,

Powered steamships,

And fed the locomotive engines

Of america's great western railway.

Since 1983, big pit has been a world heritage site.

Today, brave souls can descend 300 feet

In the original pit cage

To the dark coalface where miners once toiled.

But there's a much darker side to wales's mining history.

♪

This is the peaceful former mining town of aberfan,

In the taff valley.

Here at 9:15 on the morning of October 21, 1966,

As the children of a local junior school

Gathered for lessons,

The ground suddenly began to shake.

[rumbling]

Over many years, huge piles of mining debris

Had been deposited on the hillside

Above the village.

Loosened by heavy rain,

The great mass of coal, shale, and water

Began to slide downhill,

Consuming everything in its path,

Including the school.

Despite the desperate efforts

Of thousands of volunteers and mine workers,

116 children and 28 adults were killed.

Today the victims are remembered at a memorial garden

At the cemetery where many of them are buried.

♪

♪

With a population of nearly quarter of a million,

Swansea is wales's second city.

A major industrial center in the 19th century,

Its forges smelted so much copper,

The town became known as "copperopolis."

It's hard to believe that less than 80 years ago,

Much of this city lay in ruins.

Over the course of three nights in 1941,

German long-range bombers wiped out entire streets,

Turning the city center into a blazing inferno.

Rebuilt and expanded in the years that followed,

Today the town's centerpiece

Is the residential tower of meridian quay,

Wales's tallest building.

Down on the beach,

The uk's largest beach yoga class is underway,

Led by annapurna helen wilson.

These weekly summer sessions are open to all

And attract dozens of locals,

Calming bodies and minds

As they breathe the sea air flowing in from swansea bay.

♪

Of course, yoga is not for everyone.

♪

Mountain biker simon wilson gets all the fresh air he needs

Speeding along sections of the wales coast path.

Opened in 2012,

It was the first of its kind in the world.

Following the entire welsh coastline,

It extends over 880 miles through breath-taking scenery,

Skirting a series of hair-raising sheer drops.

♪

The fossil-rich limestone cliffs

Of nash point in the vale of glamorgan

Mark a spectacular end to simon's journey...

A chance to catch his breath

And take in the stunning view.

♪

About 60 miles inland,

Hidden in the quiet welsh countryside,

A collection of old farm buildings

Give little hint of their pivotal role

In the history of rock music.

This is rockfield studios,

The world's first residential recording facility.

For years,

Artists from motorhead to the pixies and coldplay

Have come here to live, write, and record.

The facility has two studios--

The coach house,

Where in 1996 oasis recorded their iconic album

"what's the story, morning glory?"

And the quadrangle studio,

Where, in 1975,

Queen recorded one of the greatest rock anthems

Of all time,

"bohemian rhapsody."

If the legendary musicians who came here

Ever tired of rockfield's peaceful charms,

They had only to venture 10 miles west

To find inspiration.

The extraordinary landscape of the brecon beacons

Has inspired many things over the years,

Not least the misty mountains

Of j.R.R. Tolkien's "the lord of the rings."

Extending east to west over 500 square miles,

The region includes several mountain ranges,

But is known by the chain of six peaks at its center,

Dominated by the brooding silhouette of pen-y-fan.

The beacons were named after the ancient practice

Of lighting signal fires on the mountaintops

To warn of invasion,

And their role in defense of the realm

Continues to this day.

For more than a century,

These remote and exposed uplands

Have been a training ground for british special forces.

♪

This is the fishing village of laugharne in carmarthenshire,

West of the brecon beacons.

Once home to wales's greatest poet, dylan thomas,

Author of "do not go gentle into that good night."

Born in swansea,

Thomas first came to fame

With the publication in 1934 of the poem

"light breaks where no sun shines."

He spent most of his life in laugharne

And his last four years at this boathouse

Overlooking the taf estuary,

Struggling with the alcoholism that would destroy his health.

Here he wrote his famous radio play

"under milk wood,"

Whose fictional town of llareggub

Was based on laugharne.

After thomas died at new york's historic chelsea hotel in 1953

At the age of 39,

His remains were brought home to his beloved laugharne.

♪

Another of wales's great literary heroes

Was the renowned children's writer roald dahl.

The author of "james and the giant peach,"

"matilda"

And "charlie and the chocolate factory"

Was born at this house

In the north cardiff suburb of llandaff in 1916.

His parents were among the immigrants from norway

Who settled in cardiff during the 19th century,

And dahl's first language was norwegian.

Growing up in llandaff greatly influenced dahl.

As a student at the town's cathedral school,

He and four classmates were punished

For placing a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers

To torment the local sweet shop owner,

Mrs. Pratchett.

With typical literary flair,

Dahl called it "the great mouse plot of 1924."

♪

In 2017, cardiff held a three-day festival

Called "city of the unexpected,"

Celebrating the centenary of the author's birth.

♪

♪

A few miles north of cardiff,

A castle that would grace any children's story

Towers above the village of tongwynlais.

This is red castle,

Or as it's known in welsh,

Castell coch.

It was built for the owner of cardiff castle,

William crichton-stuart,

As a rural retreat,

But he rarely used it.

Although he died before its completion in 1891,

The eccentric architect james burges

Recreated an authentic medieval fortress

With three dramatic stone towers

And a formidable gatehouse complete with drawbridge.

♪

English architectural historian joseph mordaunt crook

Described it as

"the learned dream world of a great patron

And his favorite architect...

A fairy-tale castle

Which seems almost to have materialized

From the margins of a medieval manuscript."

♪

Cardiff may be wales's first city,

But the mainly welsh-speaking town of aberystwyth

Is regarded as its cultural capital.

This isolated town on the country's west coast

Became a popular victorian seaside resort

After it was connected to the rest of the country by rail

In the 19th century.

The tourism boom

Saw the building of fine hotels and guesthouses,

As well as the elegant seafront homes

That remain one of aberystwyth's most distinctive features.

The town's mile-long promenade stretches from the harbor

To the headland of constitution hill,

Where a cable-drawn railway ascends to the summit.

A victorian theme park was built here in 1896,

With arcades,

A restaurant at the foot of the hill,

And a park at the top.

The railway was originally powered by water weights,

Then electrified in 1921.

The tilted carriages

Are designed to keep passengers in an upright position

As they make the 45-degree climb.

Aberystwyth came to even further prominence

When wales's first university was established here.

This building welcomed its first 26 students in 1872,

And soon became known as "the people's university."

♪

On the far side of the country,

Near the southeastern border with England,

Lie the ruins of an earlier center

Of culture and learning.

Tintern abbey was founded in 1131

On the banks of the river wye

By monks of the cistercian order.

Over 400 years later,

When henry viii broke with the roman catholic church

And ordered the dissolution of the monasteries,

Tintern slowly fell into a state of decay.

What remains is still an awe-inspiring sight...

The decorated gothic architecture

Of its great church

Elegantly expressed in its elaborate arched windows.

This abbey was painted

By the great english masters gainsborough and turner,

And would also fire the imagination of poets

From wordsworth to tennyson.

As the 19th-century scottish writer

Catherine sinclair once wrote,

"descriptions of tintern abbey should be written on ivy leaves,

And with a poet's pen,

For no other do justice to the air of solemn grandeur

And religious melancholy

Reigning within its delicate cloisters."

♪

♪

In the far northeast of wales

Stands a very different cathedral of stone,

Attracting climbers keen to pit their skills

Against its angular rock faces.

♪

In 1995, mark reeves came to this area to study,

And never left.

He has since established himself

As a climbing coach and mountaineering instructor.

When he's not scaling

Dinorwic quarry's dramatic slate cliffs,

He writes rock climbing guides to north wales and beyond.

♪

Slate from these quarries

Once roofed the houses of the world.

During the late 19th century,

A workforce of over 3,000 labored here--

Gangs of men blasting the rock,

Before splitting it with hammer and chisel.

It was dangerous work--

Even more deadly than mining.

Those lucky enough not to be killed

Often had their lungs destroyed by slate dust.

The tram lines used to transport the slate

Still run like veins through the rock.

The mine closed in 1969,

Leaving a landscape that bears the legacy

Of its industrial past with pride.

The bedrock of a nation defined by the character of its people.

Timeless, monumental, indomitable.

Wales.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪