A Victorian mine awaits visitors brave enough to conduct Paranormal Investigations at The Silver Mountain Experience this summer. The Silver Mountain Experience, a popular Victorian mine visitor attraction based just outside Aberystwyth, is putting participants at the centre of its famous Paranormal Investigations events this year. In a completely unique and thrilling experience, visitors who feel brave enough will conduct a Paranormal Investigation themselves by exploring one of the most haunted mines in the country in the dead of night! There will be no one to hide behind, as each visitor will be given the tools, equipment and guidance to undertake various investigations. Participants will have access to various areas during the experience, from the historic buildings to the depths of the Victorian mine. There will be a team of paranormal experts on hand to direct and guide visitors through the experience, but it will be down to participants to do the investigating. Those partaking will be able to utilise a range of scientific equipment, as well as more traditional methods to prove beyond doubt that it’s not just the living that exist at the mine and buildings. The attraction has welcomed many visitors to Paranormal Investigations in its Victorian mine over the past few years. Tickets for this summer’s dates, June 18 and July 2, are extremely limited and must be pre-booked in advance. For more information and to book tickets visit www.silvermountainexperience.co.uk/paranormal/.
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The Quarry Pottery is offering a one-to-one pottery throwing workshop with a special behind the scenes tour. A Mid Wales attraction has launched a luxury draw offering prizes that money just can’t buy, as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations.
The exclusive prizes are one-off, tailored experiences offered by the independent craft studios at Corris Craft Centre, near Machynlleth, which opens daily from 10am to 5pm. Amongst the top prizes, the Quarry Pottery studio, which is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is offering an exclusive one-to-one pottery throwing workshop with a special behind the scenes tour with the potters themselves. Lahn Hinchliffe, owner of the Quarry Pottery, said: “My parents established the Quarry Pottery back in 1982 when the Corris Craft Centre first opened. “This year we have launched pottery throwing workshops but our one-off prize also includes an exclusive behind the scenes tour to view the kiln where our pottery is fired, the glazing area and so much more.” Visitors to the craft centre this year who make a purchase in the studios will be given a free entry into the luxury prize draw. Other exclusive prizes include a one-to-one candle carving workshop offered by The Candle Studio, a chocolate pizza making workshop for four plus a chocolate tasting session in the Chocablock studio and a private tasting and cocktail class for up to six people at the Dyfi Distillery. The remaining prizes are a print or photography tutorial for one with Sammi Wilson Art, a pyrography course for one with Taran Eco Designs, a leather tooling workshop for one with Hyde & Sheep and £75 each from Delyn Glass and Agau Jewellery to spend on the companies’ glass sculptures and jewellery collection, respectively. The nine winners will be drawn at random at the beginning of November. Hannah Quincey, the craft centre’s general manager, said: “Our 40th anniversary is a real milestone. Over the years, the craft centre has evolved and changed enormously and, during this time, received lots of support from local residents and visitors to the area. “The luxury prize draw is our way of saying thank you to everyone for their support. We’re looking forward to the next 40 years.” Voluntary donations are encouraged to the Wales Air Ambulance and the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue, charities which assist local people and visitors alike to make Mid Wales a much safer area. Tarran Mackenzie (far right) with (from left) Dylan and Rowan Jones, Glyn Fletcher from the NRW, Councillor Gareth Morgan, MS Russell George and Geraint Jones at the opening of the Yamaha Off-Road Experience Welcome Centre. British Superbike champion Tarran Mackenzie has officially opened a new £200,000 Welcome Centre at the Yamaha Off-Road Experience in the Cambrian Mountains near Llanidloes. The business, which attracts around 2,000 visitors annually and generates around £600,000 for the local economy, is run by former 10-time British Enduro champion Geraint Jones, his wife Jane and their sons Rowan and Dylan, who are also both former British Enduro champions. The Welcome Centre, which has a range of quality facilities, including a VIP shower and changing rooms, toilets and kit and drying room, features timber cladding and a porch constructed from larch trees grown on the Jones family’s 300-acre farm. Built in partnership with Yamaha over the past year, the centre is heated by a woodchip biomass boiler and powered by electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels. Yamaha’s latest enduro and adventure motorbike models, casual clothing and accessory range were displayed at the opening ceremony. Members of the extended Jones family at the opening of the Yamaha Off-Road Experience Welcome Centre. Tarran Mackenzie said it was his first visit to the Yamaha Off-Road Experience. “I had heard about this place but I didn’t realise just how big it was,” he added. “I definitely want to come back with my family.” Harry McKenzie, marketing co-ordinator for Yamaha Motor, said the new Welcome Centre had been built to provide customers with the ultimate experience in off-road riding and training. The centre exclusively uses Yamaha motorbikes and he added that he was excited to see the new building now open after a lot of hard work by the Jones family. Geraint explained that his family’s farm was first used for off-road motorcycling in 1965 by a group of local riders. He was allowed to have a go on the bikes and he was soon hooked, going on to ride his first ‘scramble’ in 1967. He rode his first enduro, the Welsh Two-Day Enduro in Llandrindod Wells, in 1977 where he finished sixth. The following year, he finished fourth and, in 1979, he won the first of his 10 British Enduro Championships. In 1991, he began riding for Yamaha, a relationship that is still going strong 31 years later. Geraint represented Great Britain 11 times and rode for Wales once. Yamaha motorbikes lined up outside the new Yamaha Off-Road Experience Welcome Centre. Launched in 1994, Yamaha Offroad Experience is the longest established motorcycle experience and training centre in the UK. It evolved from the Geraint Jones Enduro School which began in the mid-1980.
Yamaha provides the motorbikes and the Jones family provides the coaches and land to ride on. The NRW also allows the business to use some of its land. The family farm backs onto the 10,000-acre Hafren Forest and Sweet Lamb motorsport complex. Dylan explained: “We have trained thousands of people over the last 28 years, from complete beginners to international riders. We have a variety of terrain, from farmland and open hill to the vast forests, including the motorsport mecca Hafren Forest. “This is enduro heaven and has staged British, European and World Enduro Championship events over the past 20 years.” Rowan explained that the new Welcome Centre was built because the business had outgrown its previous facilities in terms of capacity and customer expectation. The family’s ethos is to support local hospitality businesses. He thanked Yamaha for its continued support and partnership, the NRW for allowing some of its land to be used and the business’ “great staff” and suppliers. Montgomeryshire’s Member of the Senedd Russell George said: “It’s great to see this investment by the Jones family who have been running this business for many years. We need more attractions like this in Montgomeryshire for visitors who generate money for the local economy.” Councillor Gareth Morgan said: “Mid Wales in general and Llanidloes in particular should be very proud of what the Jones family has achieved with this successful business over the years. “This business attracts quality visitors who contribute to the local economy throughout the year by supporting hotels, restaurants, guest houses, pubs and B&Bs.” The Yamaha Off-Road Experience is a member of MWT Cymru, a membership organisation that represents more than 600 tourism and hospitality businesses across Powys, Ceredigion and Southern Snowdonia. Lorena Wiebes wins during the 2021 Women's Tour. Image: SWpix. Former champions Kasia Niewiadoma and Coryn Labecki will be joined by past stage winners Lorena Wiebes, Christine Majerus and Chloe Hosking on the start line of this year’s Women’s Tour which heads into Mid Wales next Thursday, June 9. Britain’s leading women’s stage race has once again attracted a world-class field for its eighth edition, which begins in Colchester on Monday. Niewiadoma, who triumphed in 2017 and finished second two years later, will start among the favourites for this year’s title. The Polish rider, who competes for the Canyon//SRAM Racing team, is also two-time Women’s Tour stage winner. One of the best climbers in the peloton, Niewiadoma will be one to watch on stage five, which finishes atop the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire on Friday. Labecki succeeded Niewiadoma as overall champion and will lead a Team Jumbo – Visma squad that also features British star Anna Henderson. A former American national champion, the 29-year-old has previously won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour of Flanders, as well as stage in the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile. Returning to compete in her second Women’s Tour is Team DSM’s Lorena Wiebes. The Dutch sprinter claimed back-to-back victories in last year’s race and will be among the favourites for the opening day victory in Bury St Edmunds. Wiebes has already won four races in 2022, including the prestigious Ronde van Drenthe one-day race in her native country in March, and a clean sweep at last weekend’s RideLondon. Twelve-time Luxembourg road race champion Christine Majerus, who has two Women’s Tour stage wins to her name (in Kettering, 2015, and Norwich, 2016), forms part of an impressive Team SD Worx provisional line-up that also includes 2016 runner-up Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and 2017 UCI road world champion Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak. Hosking was one of the most consistent riders in last year’s race, finishing second in Banbury, third in both Southend and Felixstowe, and fourth in Clacton. A stage winner in the race five years ago in Royal Leamington Spa, Hosking (Trek – Segafredo) is also the reigning Commonwealth Games road race champion. Thirteen of the 14 UCI Women’s WorldTour squads will compete in this year’s race as the Women’s Tour gets set for its joint largest field ever: 102 riders across 17 teams. Stages four and five of this year’s Women’s Tour on Thursday and Friday will be in Wales. Stage four starts from the heart of Wrexham before entering Powys at Rhydycroesau. The 148-kilometre route will take in Llansilin and Penybontfawr before an unforgettable, anti-clockwise loop of Lake Vyrnwy near Llanwddyn. It then winds its way towards the finish line in Broad Street, Welshpool, via Llanfihangel, Dolanog, Castle Caereinion, Berriew, Montgomery, Forden and Leighton. Stage five will see riders will roll out from sea level at Pembrey Country Park before heading north to Llandovery via Pontyberem, Nantgaredig and Brechfa. The stage features 2,065m of elevation gain, the most of any stage in this year’s race, finishing atop Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Follow the Women’s Tour on Twitter (#WomensTour), Facebook, and Instagram or via the event’s official website at womenstour.co.uk. |
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