The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations are well underway, and the whole of the UK is gearing up for the final celebrations in June.
The Queen has already embarked on her Jubilee tour, visiting towns and cities up and down the country before the extended weekend celebrations in early June.
The Jubilee is good news for all of us, as we’ll be getting an extra day off work(!), but the celebrations are especially good news for three towns that have just become cities.
As part of the Jubilee, towns were given the chance to apply for city status. And Chelmsford in Essex, Perth in Perthshire and St Asaph in Denbighshire beat off competition from 22 others to receive the honours.
The accolade brings with it no additional powers or funding, but the new cities will be hoping for a boost in tourism as a result. So what are the top tourist sights of these new cities?
Chelmsford
Set in the heart of Essex, there’s more to Chelmsford than the V Festival – held in Hylands Park each year. For a start, there’s plenty of shopping to be had, with two shopping centres and a market.
Another big draw for visitors is the Cathedral. Despite its fairly large size, Chelmsford Cathedral is the second-smallest Cathedral in England. It looks fairly humble from the outside, but has beautiful interiors.
Perth
One town from Scotland, Wales and England was chosen for city status, and Perth won it for Scotland. Situated north of Edinburgh, Perth is full of history.
With churches, monasteries and castles making up this former market town, there’s plenty to keep you busy. Perth Museum is also a great place to take in local and national history.
St Asaph
St Asaph sits on the River Elwy in North Wales. It is a fairly sleepy place that offers plenty in the way of churches and cathedrals. But the new city is located in the heart of some of the best countryside that Wales has to offer, and is worth a visit for this reason alone.
(Images: dudesleeper, stuart166axe, snapshotofthepast)
