Motor Tours in Wales & the Border Counties

In 1908, when motoring was still a daring adventure and the open road belonged only to the adventurous, Mrs. Rodolph Stawell invites readers into the passenger seat for a series of tours through Wales and England's border country. This is travel writing before GPS, before motorways, when every village lane promised discovery and ancient castles still loomed over roadsides as lived-in mysteries rather than tourist attractions. Stawell weaves together personal reflection, local history, and the particular joy of discovering England's less-visited corners by automobile, the Wye Valley's romantic ruins, Shropshire's rolling hills, the heart of Wales with its mining towns and mountain passages. She populates these routes with the ghosts of historical figures who shaped each county, offering short biographies that bring stone monuments and forgotten graves back to vivid life. The book captures a specific historical moment when the motorcar had opened new possibilities for exploration while the old England of coaching inns, market towns, and castle ruins remained largely intact.