Tongwynlais may be a small village but it made a big splash in 2014. Here are 15 things that put Tongwynlais on the map this year.
- NATO Summit – Welcome to Wales
- Lego Castell Coch
- School Power Cut
- Films at Castell Coch
- Holiday Inn Opening
- Castell Coch Vineyard
- Cardiff in Bloom Success
- Castell Coch in the Telegraph
- Robot of Sherwood
- Castell Coch on Bing
- Merthyr Road
- Castell Coch on Restoration Man
- Da Vinci’s Demons Filming
- Castell Coch from the Clouds
- Wales Blog Awards
September saw the world’s attention focus on Wales and Castell Coch was featured in a brilliant video by Visit Wales.
Our photo of Castell Coch was used in the #MyWales gallery at the summit.
Our Castell Coch photo is featured in the #MyWales display at @NATOWales. Thanks to @squirrelrhiw for submitting it. pic.twitter.com/hRkFxemeRe
— Tongwynlais.com (@mytongwynlais) September 3, 2014
In August, we published an interview with Robert Carney, who’s built several Welsh castles out of Lego. Wales Online picked up the story and featured it on their site.
Tongwynlais Primary School hit the news in January when a power cut closed the school.
Castell Coch staged two film screenings this year. We were lucky enough to attend the first one.
Film Nights at Castell Coch http://t.co/0rlVEsK8Eb #storify #walesgoesdark #walesafterdark
— Tongwynlais.com (@mytongwynlais) February 2, 2014
The Lord Mayor of Cardiff officially opened the new Holiday Inn at the end of September.
Phil Carradice wrote a brilliant article about the history of the Castell Coch vineyard.
Great article on the BBC blogs about Castell Coch's vineyard. http://t.co/KPqU2wmrNL. Photo from @myjollytweets too. #loveton @cadwwales
— Tongwynlais.com (@mytongwynlais) September 5, 2014
Merthyr Road won the “Best Commercial Street” category at this year’s Cardiff in Bloom awards.
Castell Coch was featured in the Telegraph article, “Where to see autumn colours around the UK”.
Where to see autumn colours around the UK by @Telegraph. Featuring Castell Coch of course! http://t.co/GGMGmeMx3r pic.twitter.com/AEQM3IiIaF
— Tongwynlais.com (@mytongwynlais) September 16, 2014
New Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, was in Tongwynlais filming scenes for “Robot of Sherwood” in April.
Next week's Doctor Who episode, "Robot of Sherwood" was filmed in Fforest Fawr, Tongwynlais.
https://t.co/9rSciQxslK
http://t.co/lUgcaBMc0h
— Tongwynlais.com (@mytongwynlais) September 1, 2014
Castell Coch was the Bing search engine background in June. Bing’s homepage is viewed by millions of users.
The Merthyr Road planning application story was on the BBC News website.
Castell Coch was in an episode of Channel 4’s Restoration Man.
Scenes from popular TV series, Da Vinci’s Demons, were filmed around Castell Coch in October.
Da Vinci's Demons Filming at Castell Coch. http://t.co/ZpVJvO60CV pic.twitter.com/QuTEwWrg0k
— Tongwynlais.com (@mytongwynlais) October 13, 2014
Cadw produced a series of videos this year called “Castles from the Clouds”, which included Castell Coch.
Lastly, Tongwynlais.com was a finalist in the Wales Blog Awards. The awards celebrate the best blogs in Wales and we were thrilled to make the final three in the “Best Community Blog” category.
