E-travelguide To Aberystwyth
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Aberystwyth and Lampeter, Wales
Aberystwyth and Lampeter in Wales with e-travelguide.info
Welcome To the e-travelguide to Hotels, guest houses and attractions in Aberystwyth and Lampeter.
Make the most of your time in Aberystwyth and Lampeter, use the information provided on this web site by clicking on the links above to plan your visit.
The West Wales county of Ceredigion has quite an impressive academic heritage, homing not one but two highly respected institutions: Aberystwyth University and the University of Wales Lampeter.
The University and town of Lampeter sit along the southern border of Ceredigion. Lampeter is the smallest university town in Britain, and the student demographic boosts its population substantially. At the same time Lampeter is one of the oldest universities in the UK, and argued to be the oldest in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge. It has a good standing for arts degrees, and is also expanding, merging with Trinity University College in Carmarthen to become the University of Wales Trinity St. David’s. Lampeter itself is a traditional market town set into the Welsh countryside. The university buildings reflect the town’s history, which include the remains of a Norman castle. In terms of location, Lampeter is east of the Cardigan coast and an hour’s drive north of Swansea. Furthermore, 25miles to the south lies Carmarthan, and 25 miles north is Aberystwyth.
Aberystwyth is an attractive town on the west coast of Wales. It is situated on Cardigan Bay, at the confluence of the Rivers Ystwyth (from which it derives its name) and Rheidol. It is one of Wales’ most historic towns, having been a mining town, a bustling port and, like Lampeter, a prosperous market town. Today much of the town’s traditional industry has disappeared, but the town is still a popular holiday destination. Aberystwyth is very much a traditional Victorian seaside town. The Victorians enjoyed seaside holidays in the town, and many people today still come to visit the town’s unique attractions (Aberystwyth boasts the largest Camera Obscura in the world) and revel in the unhurried pace of life.
The characteristic handsome architecture from this era is joined by examples of Gothic and Classical Revival buildings, giving the town an appearance vaguely similar to that of Oxford. The links with the Dreaming Spires are more than just visual – the A44 road runs between Aberystwyth and Oxford and, like Oxford, Aberystwyth is also home to one of the UK’s most famous universities. There are some buildings from the old University College of Wales near the town’s Norman castle, but a very much larger campus has been built towards the east of the town. It sits in a good position above the centre, alongside the National Library of Wales. Originally founded in the 1800s Prifysgol Aberystwyth offers a range of arts and science degrees, and today is rated by students as one of the most highly regarded universities in the UK. An important part of the area, the university swells the population of Aberystwyth from approximately 12,000 to over 20,000 inhabitants.