The gardens at Nannau are very extensive, and laid out with excellent taste: they contain a number of choice exotics, and an inspection of them proves a source of never-failing gratification to every lover of horticultural pursuits.
_Distances from Dolgelley_. _Miles_. Traws-vynydd, on the Bychan 12 Llanvachreth 3½ Hendre Llwyngwr, (S. W.) 11 Pont Dolgefiliau, on the Mawddach, (N.) 8 Dol-y-gamedd, on the Wnion 3½ Llyn Cregenan, (S. W.) 4 Llyn Gader 1½ Llyn Geirw, (S. W.) 5 Tal-y-llyn, Cader Idris 8
Caernarvon 25 Capel Curig 20 Bala 19 Maentwrog 2½ Tan-y-Bwlch 2½ Tremadoc 13
Ffestiniog is a small but increasing village, standing on eminence at the head of the beautiful vale of Maentwrog. The population amounts to 1648, principally employed in the slate quarries, about four miles from the village. The church is built in the ancient style of English architecture, and dedicated to St. Michael. A gallery has recently been erected at the west end, containing seventy-two free sittings. There are also several dissenting places of worship, with Sunday schools attached. A national school for the parishes of Ffestiniog and Maentwrog, was opened in 1830, in a neat building erected a short distance from the village on the Maentwrog road. Mrs. Oakeley, of Tan-y-Bwlch, has lately built and endowed a chapel of ease near the quarries. It is intended for the convenience of the inhabitants of the houses that have been built in the vicinity of the quarries, which are upwards of four miles distant from the parish church.
There are two good inns, the Pengwern Arms, and the Newborough Arms; at the former, cars and post horses may be obtained; there is likewise attached to it a very comfortable boarding-house, kept by Miss Owen. There is a branch of the North and South Wales bank here. The roads in this neighbourhood have, of late, been much improved. A rail road it now completed for the conveyance of slates to Port Madoc, a distance of about fourteen miles.
The scenery of Ffestiniog closely resembles that of St. Helena, and particularly Sandy Hook Cove. The vale which gives celebrity to this village has been eulogized by many distinguished travellers. Mr. Pennant calls it the “Tempê of the country.” Mr. Warner observes, “that it comprehends every object that can enrich or diversify a landscape.” Mr. Wyndham affirms, that “it affords as rich studies for the painter, as the neighbourhood of Tivoli or Frascati.” And Lord Lyttelton, who visited the place about the year 1756, is still more lavish in his encomiums. More recent travellers have been equally enthusiastic in their admiration of this pleasant locality.—About half a mile from Ffestiniog are the