Enter the dragon

The Scottish Highlands and Cornwall may buzz with tourists hungry for Celtic culture, but Rebecca Ford travels to Wales and discovers that all's quiet on the western front

WHEN Charles Rolls, of Rolls Royce fame began driving, his vehicle had to be preceded by a man waving a red flag. Drive through his home county of Monmouthshire today and you find country lanes so narrow that a revival of the custom wouldn't be a bad idea.

Several walkers have to squeeze uncomfortably into banks of bramble to let me pass, but they don't seem at all put out: instead they smile and offer cheery waves. It's as if, just by being on the byways of the Welsh Marches, we've joined an exclusive club, one whose members have discovered a largely forgotten corner of Britain.

Given that it has the oldest living language in Europe, dramatic countryside, romantic ruins, imposing castles and a rich Celtic heritage, you'd think that there would be no stopping tourists from visiting Wales. Yet it somehow it fails to exert the same pull as other Celtic areas like the Scottish Highlands or Cornwall. The 1999 Frommers Europe, an American travel guide, has chapters on England, Scotland and Ireland but no mention of Wales. And when the writer AA Gill described the Welsh as savage little trolls, nobody - except of course the Welsh - seemed particularly concerned.

When people do visit Wales they generally make for the beaches of the Gower Peninsula or the mountains of Snowdonia. This leaves great stretches of the Marches - the old name for the much fought-over border area - relatively free from crowds, and seemingly full of secrets. I can see why the wartime government judged Monmouthshire the ideal place in which to hide Rudolf Hess. He was held at Maindiss Court, a mental institution near Abergavenny, between 1942-45. The authorities felt confident enough to allow him out under escort and he became quite a regular at the local pub.

Like all border lands, Monmouthshire has a distinctively jumbled identity. The town of Monmouth is, quite literally, within spitting distance of the border, and at first sight looks mellow and English. But the cashpoint machines offer instructions in Welsh; the delicatessen sells unpronounceable cheeses, and the surrounding countryside seems to stretch endlessly westward.

If the town appears peaceful today, it wasn't always so. Its strategic position on the border meant that it attracted invaders and settlers for hundreds of years: Romans, Normans, Bretons and English all made their mark and over the years the cultural influences merged. Today it is a sort of nationalistic no-man's land, with local people referring to themselves as neither Welsh nor English (although they all support Wales when it comes to the rugby).

The most visible reminders of Monmouth's early history are the town's gated bridge, which dates back to the 13th century, and the castle. Built soon after the Norman invasion, this was the birthplace of Henry V, who was later helped to victory at Agincourt by Welsh archers. The castle is a ruin now, but you can still catch a faint whiff of the power it once was among the crumbling stones.

But the first thing that catches my attention in the town isn't a building but a statue - a memorial to Charles Rolls, who died at the early age of 33. He's depicted as an energetic figure, wearing a flat cap and admiring a model aircraft. This might seem an odd memorial to someone whose name is immediately associated with motoring but, although he is now remembered for co-founding Rolls-Royce, Rolls was also an experienced balloonist and a pioneer aviator. If anything, he loved flying more than driving and as early as 1908 said: "The power of flight is destined to work great changes in human life as we know it today."

In 1910 he became the first person to make a double crossing of the English Channel and a month later he was killed when, due to a faulty tail-plane, his aircraft crashed at a Bournemouth air show. In the Nelson Museum in Monmouth I find some of his little black log books. On the last page of the Bournemouth log he has scribbled a list of tasks. One, which was never completed, read: "sell tail".

The Rolls exhibits form only a small part of the museum, which is largely devoted to a collection of Lord Nelson memorabilia bequeathed by Charles Rolls' mother Lady Llangattock, a distant relative of the naval hero. Among the usual pictures, weapons, and letters I notice a case full of fake personal effects, manufactured in order to profit from the cult of Nelson that developed after his death. Most bizarre is the glass eye, which I suppose was once highly prized by its owners. I can't help wondering where they kept it: locked in a drawer to be brought out on special occasions, or on display to impress unfortunate guests? Whoever they were, they must have been gullible: Nelson had a detached retina - he never lost the eye itself.

After exploring the town, I make the most of some unexpected sunshine and drive along the River Wye to Tintern Abbey. This well preserved gothic ruin was ounded in 1131 by Cistercian monks, inspired both William Wordsworth and JMW Turner, and looks satisfyingly mystical when viewed through an early morning mist, with only the smell of burgers from a nearby van spoiling the otherwise perfect atmosphere.

Still, the tourist hotspots can easily be avoided and I know I have most of the rest of Monmouthshire to myself, even if I do get stuck behind a caravan on the way back. It's going so slowly, I swear there's a guy out front waving a red flag Where to stay: Rebecca Ford stayed at Allt Yr Ynys Country House Hotel, Walterstone, nr Abergavenny.

Tel. 01873 890307 Getting there: The nearest station to Monmouth is Abergavenny. Virgin Trains run from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Crewe, where you change to Wales and West Trains for Abergavenny. The journey takes around 6 hours. Information and booking from Virgin Trainline 0345 222333. Wales and West Trains 0870 9000773.

For information on Monmouth contact: Monmouth Tourist Information Centre.

Tel 01600 713899.

General information on Wales is available from the Wales Tourist Board. Tel. 01222 499909 or visit their website: www.visitwales.com

Copyright 1999
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