Set on a low isthmus, across the river and a couple of miles north of Conwy, LLANDUDNO has an undeniably dignified air, its older set of promenading devotees often huddled in the glassed frontages of once-grand hotels, content to sit and watch the more rumbustious younger visitors. Almost invariably, the wind funnels between the limestone hummocks of the 680-foot Great Orme and its southern cousin the Little Orme , which flank the gently curving Victorian frontage; but don't let that put you off visiting this archetype of the genteel British seaside town.

Llandudno's early history revolves around the Great Orme, where St Tudno, who brought Christianity to the region in the sixth century, built the monastic cell that gives the town its name. When the early Victorian copper mines looked about to be worked out, in the mid-nineteenth century, local landowner Edward Mostyn exploited the growing craze for sea bathing and set about a speculative venture to create a seaside resort for the upper middle classes. Work got under way around 1854 and the town rapidly gained popularity over the next fifty years, becoming synonymous with the Victorian ideal of a respectable resort