Launched yesterday was Special Places in Denbighshire, a rather novel way of promoting parts of the county. It's a bilingual website but in book form and you can leaf through a number of suggestions of places to visit, some mainstream, some not. There are three books in all.
The interesting thing is that the "special places" come over as special to those who tell the story, via a video film on each double page. This gives it authenticity. Those in the Bro Rhuthun book are all from the Bro Rhuthun/Ruthin marketing group.
Their individual choices seemingly reflect their personal views. As such, you’ll find the unusual or overlooked alongside the obvious in either a serendipitous or carefully selected blend, depending upon your view. Each page acts as a taster to explore more information. For example, the page showing Llyn Brenig and Derwen Cross offers links to the Hiraethog website reviewed here in February 2007 and to the Medieval Denbighshire website.
I found it very strange to hear Elfed (of Siop Elfair fame) referring to Fynnon Sara (near Derwen) as “Sarah’s Well”. This, no doubt, is for the visitor's benefit. The videos are in English on both language versions. We begin to understand why Ffynnon Sara may be special to him. It's very similar to Llanrhaeadr and the holy well there (indeed, Llanrhaeadr church gets a mention in the Clwydian book (but not the well). Llanrhaeadr is somewhere I would chose).
The Bro Rhuthun book also includes the record office and farmers' mart, too other areas not immediately associated with visitors. Photography seemed bang up to date: lots of autumnal leaves at Ffynnon Sara, for example. In his video, Gavin Harris refers to himself as mayor. Presumably, this was shot before May for he no longer holds that office.
This is a great, unusual and useful idea. It complements existing publicity and websites. It does something that you rarely see: it allows you both to see and hear those secret places the selected members of the group have chosen. Book Two is by the Clwydian Range tourist group and includes Nantclwyd y Dre and Bwlch Penbarras. Dinbych/Denbigh is also featured in the third and final book.
May be it was my computer or may be it was because of net congestion owing to the popularity of the launch but IE in particular struggled with the site.
Special Places in Denbighshire
The interesting thing is that the "special places" come over as special to those who tell the story, via a video film on each double page. This gives it authenticity. Those in the Bro Rhuthun book are all from the Bro Rhuthun/Ruthin marketing group.Their individual choices seemingly reflect their personal views. As such, you’ll find the unusual or overlooked alongside the obvious in either a serendipitous or carefully selected blend, depending upon your view. Each page acts as a taster to explore more information. For example, the page showing Llyn Brenig and Derwen Cross offers links to the Hiraethog website reviewed here in February 2007 and to the Medieval Denbighshire website.
I found it very strange to hear Elfed (of Siop Elfair fame) referring to Fynnon Sara (near Derwen) as “Sarah’s Well”. This, no doubt, is for the visitor's benefit. The videos are in English on both language versions. We begin to understand why Ffynnon Sara may be special to him. It's very similar to Llanrhaeadr and the holy well there (indeed, Llanrhaeadr church gets a mention in the Clwydian book (but not the well). Llanrhaeadr is somewhere I would chose).The Bro Rhuthun book also includes the record office and farmers' mart, too other areas not immediately associated with visitors. Photography seemed bang up to date: lots of autumnal leaves at Ffynnon Sara, for example. In his video, Gavin Harris refers to himself as mayor. Presumably, this was shot before May for he no longer holds that office.
This is a great, unusual and useful idea. It complements existing publicity and websites. It does something that you rarely see: it allows you both to see and hear those secret places the selected members of the group have chosen. Book Two is by the Clwydian Range tourist group and includes Nantclwyd y Dre and Bwlch Penbarras. Dinbych/Denbigh is also featured in the third and final book.May be it was my computer or may be it was because of net congestion owing to the popularity of the launch but IE in particular struggled with the site.
Special Places in Denbighshire