Symonds Yat
Symonds Yat is a village divided into East and West by the River Wye. The only direct connection between the two is a hand pulled ferry by which the ferryman pulls people across the river using an overhead rope for a small charge. A 17th Century Sheriff of Herefordshire, Robert Symonds, gave his name to the ‘Yat' being a local name for gate or pass.
High above towers Yat Rock, a limestone outcrop 500 feet high. One of the most featured views in England extends in almost every direction as the river winds through a heavily-wooded gorge in a horseshoe bend around the rock. Peregrines have nested on the cliffs for many years until the population was decimated by the effects of pesticides and robbery from the nests. Since 1982, the RSBP & the Forestry Commission, with the help of volunteers, re-introduced the birds under a protection scheme and powerful telescopes are available during the breeding season (April and August) for visitors to look right into the nests. Goshawks, ravens and jackdaws, barn owls and bustards can also be seen as well as fallow deer, badgers and foxes.
Below Yat Rock are the Symonds Yat Rapids on the River Wye. Iron mining was one of the predominating industries of the Forest of Dean and the ore smelting works were sited at the bottom of the rapids. The slag was put in the river and now forms the island in the centre of the rapids.
Popular tourist activities include canoeing, kayaking and white water training down the rapids, boat trips, climbing on Yat Rock and walking the numerous paths that wind through the woods, including the Wye Valley Walk, beautiful in springtime with bluebells and wild garlic and ablaze with colour in the autumn.
Places to visit encompass the Museum of Mazes and the Butterfly Zoo, a leisure park on the banks of the Wye, nearby ‘King Arthur's Cave' on Great Doward, where archaeological discoveries include the bones of sabre-toothed tiger and the remains of a hyena family. Goodrich Castle is close at hand and Ross-on-Wye is the nearest Herefordshire market town.