HERIAN News

The mere thought of having to occupy the children for more than 40 days and 40 nights can fill the calmest person with dread.

Add to that the battering your finances could take, and what you get is a family feeling the pressure as school summer holidays approach.

Although a two week break abroad will certainly provide a nice sun tan, what you can also be certain of is a bigger credit card bill plus another four weeks of entertaining left to be done.

One way to make sure you'll always have plenty of activities up your sleeve is to look closer to home for inspiration.

South Wales is teeming with wonderful legacies and stories of our industrial past, which many of us are yet to explore even though it's right on our doorstep. What's more according to the latest Rough Guide to Wales, the South Wales valleys are the places to be seen at the moment so spending just a few days discovering your surroundings can be a real eye opener for everyone, regardless of age.

Holiday makers and day-trippers the world over have happily visited the old stomping grounds of Roman legions, medieval warriors or Wild West gunslingers to soak up the excitement of those legendary times, and discover what it was like to live in a bygone age.

Less well recognised is Wales' generous share of the history's adventures – particularly the glorious era when larger than life characters made their name in world industry – the inventors, the steel barons, heroic miners and so on.

Make no mistake, Wales was a kingpin in the days when coal, steel, copper and tinplate were changing the world. It was an era that created legends which still have the power to fascinate and entertain.

To help families enjoy the stories on their own 'doorstep' this summer holiday a new map has been published by HERIAN, the heritage in action partnership, that reveals the treasures of old industrial south Wales' through a story-led trail.

By plotting 49 locations across South Wales from Carmarthen to Chepstow, taking in the Brecon Beacons and coastal areas it highlights the extraordinary stories of the men, women and children, who shaped South Wales' industrial past and today's landscape. It is provides 49 separate ideas for fun, inexpensive day trips, or long weekends away.

Complete with brief insights into the history of each site featured, the map is packed with sign posts to activities, projects, artefacts and drama that helps bring to life this period in our history and the great thing is it's not all dusty books and objects in glass cases.

Jeff Pride, HERIAN's director said: “Some sites will be better known than others, but what the trail allows you to do is pick and choose where and when to go, and even make a family pact to visit them all. It's up to you where you start and finish, but along the way you'll find yourself walking in the footsteps of heroes and heroines of bygone days and even come across stories of a Pontypool man found guilty of treason, the hanging of Abaeravon-born Dic Penderyn that some say should never have happened, and many more.

“It's becoming trendy these days to delve in to history and this could be your opportunity to take a trip down memory lane or a new beginning for the whole family. Summer holidays are meant to be a break for adults as well as children so the more opportunities to get involved the better!”

Three of the sites on the HERIAN map are named in the Top 10 Rough Guide to Wales, as well as Blaenavon, a World Heritage Site, numerous canals, museums and parks. Also featured are attractions telling our region's more surprising stories such as the Japanware made in Pontypool that later appeared on the tables of King Louis XVIII of France; the viaduct houses built haphazardly beneath the railway lines and the worlds first steam locomotive invented by Richard Trevithick in 1804. An added bonus is that many of these attractions are free for children

If you do manage to do the whole trail by the end of the summer you will have filled the 40 days in no time. If you don't however, just think, you'll still have plenty of ideas up your sleeve for the half term holiday, which as you know is only about seven weeks after the start of next term!

You could also become part of history by logging on and taking part in a national campaign to celebrate our heritage at www.historymatters.org.uk and tell other people about where you've been and what you've seen.