BUSYBUS. Snowdonia sightseeing Bus Tours from Chester.

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SNOWDONIA...

Eryri (meaning Place Of The Eagles in Welsh) is more familiarly known as Snowdonia National Park and was designated a National park in 1951. It was the third National Park to be created in England and Wales under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the countryside Act.

It is the second largest National park in England and Wales, covering over 838 square miles (2,171 square Kms) of North West Wales, and includes the Carneddau and Glyderau mountain ranges.

The 1949 Act defined the purposes of British national parks as:

* ...preserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the areas,
* ...promoting their enjoyment by the public

Eryri National Park attempts to reconcile landscape and nature conservation with recreational needs, tourism, and the local economy whilst maintaining traditional land uses and cultural heritage.

Eryri contains not only some of the most beautiful scenery in Britain but also hosts a variety of landscapes and habitats for animals, birds and plants. It has 23 miles (37km) of coastline with sand dunes, estuaries, glacial valleys and the remnants of oak, ash, rowan and hazel woodlands that once covered the mountain slopes and banks of the lakes and streams.

There are more National Nature Reserves in Eryri than any other National Park in Britain and it is home to many nationally and internationally rare species such as the Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, and the Snowdon Lily (Lloydia Serotina) an arctic / alpine plant only present in the park. If you are really licky you might experience a brief encounter with the beautiful rainbow-coloured Snowdon Beetle (chrysolina cerealis) found only around Yr Wyddfa.

The Highest mountain in England and Wales towers above Snowdonia National Park at 1,085m / 3,560ft. It is called Yr Wyddfa (meaning The Tomb in Welsh), or better known as Mount Snowdon, from which the Park takes its English name.

Mount Snowdon Over Lake

In Eryri 69.9% of the land is in private ownership, 15.8% is owned by the Forestry Commission, 0.9% by water companies, 8.9 by the National Trust, 1.7% by the Countryside Council for Wales, 1.65 by other groups,and 1.25 by the Park authority itself.

This type of land-ownership arrangement is very rare in British National Parks but has proven success and benefit for many years and is now under consideration of expansion.

Eryri, unlike many National Parks in Europe and the US, is not a wilderness area, rather a landscape where 27,500 people live and work. It is also positioned within the heartland of Welsh-speaking Wales where an estimated 65% of the parks inhabitants speak Welsh (much higher than the National average). Furthermore, for many of these people, Welsh is their first chosen language used in everyday conversation, commerce, business and government.

View Of Snowdonia

National Parks in Britain are 'national' in the sense that they are of a national value and importance, but they are not nationally owned. The designation of an area as a National park does not affect the ownership of the land, neither does it remove the rights of local communities or infer special rights to the public. Most of the land remains in private ownership, although there are significant areas that are in public ownership, most notably the Ministry Of Defence (MoD) and the Forestry Commission.

BUSYBUS looks forward to being part of your holiday memories!!