From Conway in the north down to Aberdovey in mid Wales, the Snowdonia National Park covers 823 miles of the most beautiful and unspoilt countryside in North Wales.
75% of the Park is farmland, 19% is woodland and the remainder made up of open water & other land. The majority of the Park, 71%, is privately owned and farmed, while the balance is owned by The Forestry Commission, The National Trust, Welsh Water and The Snowdonia National Park Authority. Over half the land in Snowdonia is over 300m and the highest point in the Park is Snowdon Mountain at 1085m. There is over 800km of rivers & coastline as well as over 100 lakes bigger than an acre. Llyn Tegid at Bala is the largest freshwater lake in Wales.
The natural history of the Snowdonia National Park is highlighted through the landscape with Stone Age burial chambers, castles, keeps, forts & pallisades, ancient churches, slate quarries & industrial works. The geology of the Park is internationally renowned with investigations into some of the world’s oldest rocks taking place in Snowdonia.
The population of Snowdonia is just under 25,500 and the largest towns are Dolgellau, Bala, Harlech, Aberdovey & Betws y Coed. Welsh is the mother tongue in Snowdonia and is used daily by the majority of its population. Children, including incomers, are taught Welsh as a first language from their early days at school.
Snowdonia National Park has about 8 million visitors every year. Most visitors come to walk & enjoy the countryside and others come to travel around the area taking in the sights of the Welsh countryside. Tourism is nothing new for Snowdonia. Since the 17th Century visitors have been coming to Snowdonia to paint & write. As the visitors came so various centres of tourism grew around them. Guides were hired to escort them up into the mountains, new roads were built to accommodate the traffic & railways were built to take people further into the countryside. And so, in order to protect & preserve the area, the Snowdonia National Park was formed.
Snowdonia was designated a National Park in 1951; the third in Britain and a first for Wales. Today Snowdonia National Park is one of 14 parks in Britain. A team of people that included Clough Williams Ellis, of Portmeirion fame, recommended the boundary we have today. The criterion for inclusion into the Snowdonia National Park were outstanding scenic beauty which led to certain slate production areas & urban developments being excluded.
Goals of the Park are:
- Conserve & enhance the natural beauty, wildlife & cultural heritage of the area.
- Promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the Park by the public.
- To seek to foster the economic and social well-being of local communities within the Park.
