The Willey Travel Guide:   United Kingdom (Part 2) - Coronation Street to Betws-y-Coed, Wales

I have been a regular viewer of Coronation Street since about 1982 so when the opportunity presented itself to visit "the Street" in person, I jumped at it.  When I told Christopher that we were going to Granada Studios he quickly replied that Coronation Street was my show and that it wouldn't be fun for him.  As it turned out, he had as much fun as I did.

The Granada Studios tour is very similar to the MGM Studios tour at Disney World in Florida, though on a much smaller scale.  There were sound and special effects shows, visits to sound stages (where Christopher volunteered me as a Morning Show host) as well as some rides like the UFO Zone.  The difference here was that it was all done with the typical British sense of humour.  The sound show host was a comedian who fed off of the audience volunteers and the House of Commons show was held on the set with comedians placed in the crowd asking funny questions.  Seeing the Sherlock Holmes Baker Street sound stage was a treat.  Even though this is an indoor set you get a sense of being in an old London street. 

Leaving the Baker Street set you suddenly turn a corner and there it is...the Street... the famous cobblestones, the hair salon, the Kabin and of course the Rovers Return.  In the photo at right you can see the Kabin looking towards Rosamund Street.  The three storey building with bricked in windows is actually the Baker Street set.

What immediately strikes you is the smallness of the set.  We were told that the set and the buildings are built about 80% normal size because the camera will make them seem bigger.  There is barely enough room on the two cross streets to park a car so now whenever I watch the program and see the cars and buses race by I keep listening for the sound of brakes before they hit the walls!

Behind the famous Rovers Return is the back alley.  On one side are the backyards of the houses while on the other is a wall overlooking the Granada Studios offices and car park.  Whenever the show has a scene looking out from one of the backyards there is always somebody's bedsheets drying on a clothesline.  There has to be to hide the office tower.   The old "Graffiti Club" is actually the Coronation Street Experience show and gift shop.

An hour north of Lancaster is Windemere and Bowness (photo at right) in the heart of the Lake District.  The scenery here is spectacular with a wide variety of old homes surrounded by the lakes and the mountains.  It was unusually cold when we visited and there was even a light sprinkling of snow on some of the higher mountains, which added to the beauty.

I have always loved the scenery and history of North Wales so we packed the car once again, hit the road and headed towards Betws-y-Coed.  We were looking for an appropriate farm bed and breakfast to use as our base for several days.  We chanced upon a 300 year old stone and beam farmhouse (Hendre Wen, Betws Road, Llanrwst, Gwynedd (0690 710339)) located on the A470 about 2 miles south of Llanrwst.  The house was immaculate but it had character!  The walls, ceilings and floors were naturally twisted and uneven.  The ceilings, particularly the doorways, were built for a time when people were shorter (so I had to duck).

Our host, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, made us most welcome.  This was a dairy farm and we enjoyed watching the afternoon milking (the morning one was too early for someone on vacation).  The Robert's first language was Welsh which is used by a relatively large, and growing, number of people, particularly in the north.

At the mouth of the Afon (River) Conwy is the walled town and castle of Conwy.  The wall is largely intact and runs in a circle from the river on one side to the Castle on the other.  There were many old buildings in the town, including what is billed as the "smallest house in the UK".  This house, located in the port area near the north wall, is basically the width of a door and a small window and is two stories high.

Travelling south towards Harlech and its famous castle you suddenly leave the mountainous beauty and enter the barren-looking slate mining area of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Continued on the next page.