Corris Craft Centre is a craft and leisure complex in Corris, on the A487 near Machynlleth, mid-Wales. It is sometimes referred to as King Arthur's Labyrinth, one of the attractions on the site. Celebrating 40 years in 2022.
Corris Craft Centre is a craft and leisure complex in Corris, on the A487 near Machynlleth, mid-Wales. It is sometimes referred to as King Arthur's Labyrinth, one of the attractions on the site. Celebrating 40 years in 2022.
Winter opening:The Corris Cafe and Welsh Deli open daily 10am to 4pm. The Dyfi Distillery opens Wednesdays to Sundays 11am to 4pm and the Delyn Glass studio opens Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 11am to 4pm. The Chocablock studio is taking bookings for Christmas chocolate making workshops. The Corris Craft Centre, which opened in 1982, comprises 9 workshops, with resident craftspeople: [1]
Some of the studios also offer hands-on sessions, for visitors to have a go at making their own crafts, such as painting pottery, making chocolates, and dipping candles. [3]
The centre is built on a landscaped part of the old Braichgoch Slate Mine, and the underground workings are used by three of the attractions at the Craft Centre:
The Upper Corris Tramway, a 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) gauge horse-worked tramway connected the slate quarries around the villages of Corris and Corris Uchaf with the Corris Railway at Maespoeth Junction. It passed along the edge of the current site. [7]
The Craft Centre cafe serves a delicious all day menu where locally sourced fresh produce is used across the menu. As part of the centre's 30th Anniversary, a new Welsh food and drink shop was opened adjacent to the café, called The Welsh Deli [8]
There is a children's play area, next to outdoor seating and picnic tables.
All of the Craft Centre Studios open daily from Easter to November, although some are open all year round. [9] Access to the site is free.
The Corris Café and Welsh Deli open daily from Easter to the end of October. Opening times vary at other times of the year.
Corris Mine Explorers is open all year round, although during particularly quiet times, trips may only run if there is sufficient demand.
King Arthur's Labyrinth and The Welsh Legends Maze open every day during the main season.
Snowdonia, or Eryri, is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon, which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The shorter Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.
The Corris Railway is a narrow gauge railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire in Mid-Wales.
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,000 at the peak development of the slate industry, but fell with the decline in demand for slate. The population of the community, including the nearby village Llan Ffestiniog, was 4,875 at the 2011 census: the fourth most populous in Gwynedd after Bangor, Caernarfon and Llandeiniolen. The population not including Llan is now only about 4,000.
Until 1974, Merionethshire or Merioneth was an administrative county in the north-west of Wales, later classed as one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales.
The A487, officially the Fishguard to Bangor Trunk Road, is a trunk road in Wales that follows the coast from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in the south, to Bangor, Gwynedd, in the north.
The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) is an eco-centre in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales dedicated to demonstrating and teaching sustainable development. CAT, despite its name, no longer concentrates its efforts exclusively on alternative technology, but provides information on all aspects of sustainable living. It is open to visitors, offers postgraduate degrees as well as shorter residential and one day courses, and publishes information on renewable energy, sustainable architecture, organic farming, gardening, and sustainable living. CAT also runs education programmes for schools and sells environmentally friendly items through its on-site shop, restaurant and mail order department.
Pennal is a village and community on the A493 road in southern Gwynedd, Wales, on the north bank of the River Dyfi, near Machynlleth.
Aberllefenni quarry is the collective name of three slate quarries, Foel Grochan, Hen Gloddfa and Ceunant Ddu, located in Cwm Hengae, just to the west of Aberllefenni, Gwynedd, North Wales. It was the longest continually operated slate mine in the world until its closure in 2003. Foel Grochan is the quarry on the north side of the valley, facing Ceunant Ddu and Hen Gloddfa on the south; all three were worked as a single concern throughout their history. Rock was mainly extracted underground, though all three quarries had open pits as well.
Esgairgeiliog is a village in Powys, Wales, UK. It is situated at the junction of the Afon Glesyrch's and Afon Dulas' valleys.
Corris Uchaf, also known as Upper Corris, is a village in the south of Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. The slate quarries that surround Corris Uchaf are its most prominent feature. It lies about 1.5 miles north of Corris.
The slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a slate quarry or reached by tunneling in a slate mine. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring material, gravestones and memorial tablets, and electrical insulation.
Braichgoch slate mine was a large slate mine located in Corris Uchaf, north Wales. It operated continuously from 1787 until its closure in 1970, apart from a hiatus in the 1900s. Most of the surface workings of the quarry were removed as part of a road widening and landscaping scheme in 1983.
The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then rapidly during the Industrial Revolution in Wales until the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in northwest Wales. These sites included the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, the Dinorwic Quarry near Llanberis, the Nantlle Valley quarries, and Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the slate was mined rather than quarried. Penrhyn and Dinorwig were the two largest slate quarries in the world, and the Oakeley mine at Blaenau Ffestiniog was the largest slate mine in the world. Slate is mainly used for roofing, but is also produced as thicker slab for a variety of uses including flooring, worktops and headstones.
Derwenlas is a hamlet in northern Powys, Wales. It is part of the community of Cadfarch.
The Mawddwy Railway was a rural line in the Dyfi Valley in mid-Wales that connected Dinas Mawddwy with a junction at Cemmaes Road railway station on the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway section of the Cambrian Railways.
Garneddwen is a hamlet in the south of the county of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire/Sir Feirionnydd, in the valley of the Afon Dulas.
Corris is a station on the Corris Railway in Merioneth, Wales. It was built in 1859 when the railway was first opened as the Corris, Machynlleth and River Dovey Tramroad and was briefly the northern terminus of the line. It closed to passengers in 1931, and to all traffic in 1948.
The Upper Corris Tramway was a 2 ft 3 in gauge horse-worked tramway that connected the slate quarries around the villages of Corris and Corris Uchaf with the Corris Railway at Maespoeth Junction. It was just over 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long.
The Abercwmeiddaw quarry was a slate quarry that operated between the 1840s and 1938. It was located at Corris Uchaf about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Machynlleth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The quarry was connected to the Corris Railway via the Upper Corris Tramway which carried its products to the Cambrian Railways at Machynlleth for distribution.
The Llwyngwern quarry was a slate quarry in Wales that opened by 1828 and continued working until about 1950. The quarry is located on the western flank of Mynydd Llwyn-gwern.