Caernarfon Castle 

Anglesey, just off the Gwynedd coast in north Wales has a population of about 70,000. The island is also known as Ynys Mon and is the largest island in either Wales or England. Anglesey covers about 300 square miles and is connected across the Menai Strait to mainland Wales by Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge, the first suspension bridge of its kind. To the north is Puffin Island and no trip to Anglesey is complete without a boat trip to look at its feathered inhabitants. Anglesey was known as Mam Cymru ('Mother of Wales') during the middle ages because its fertile fields were a great resource for the north of Wales.

There are many remains of Iron Age settlements, burial mounds, stone circles and dolmens on Anglesey indicating its religious importance to the ancient celts. Its modern day inhabitants' main income now comes from quarrying, farming and fishing and of course the tourist trade. Most visitors to Anglesey tend to be on their way to or from the Dublin ferry which sails from Holyhead. This is their loss however as the coast and countryside of Anglesey are well worth exploring in its own right.

Anglesey has the village with the longest place name in Britain:- Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Which translated into English, means "The church of St. Mary in a hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and near St. Tysilio's church by the red cave" and was coined in the nineteenth century to attract tourists to the Island. Not surprisingly, it is abbreviated to Llanfairpwll or Llanfair P.G. by the locals.

Anglesey has several thriving towns. The town of Beaumaris is the site of historic Beaumaris castle, built by Edward I after his defeat of the Welsh Princes, and historic Henllys Hall, which is now a hotel. The town of Holyhead is the main ferry port for travel across the Irish Sea to Dublin. Llangefni, in the centre of the island, is Anglesey's county town.