Some historical facts
Aaron: "We did a project on the population of Betws. In 1881, 654 people were living here. In 2001 it was 1187."

Emily: "Betws-y-Coed means safe place, or sanctuary in the trees. People used to come and hide here because it was a safe place, they used to hide in the trees. When the English were keeping the Welsh out of towns like Conwy they'd come and hide out here.

If you were on the run, you'd normally come here. Imagine if you're a gangster or something, and someone was trying to shoot you because you'd done something wrong, you'd come to Betws to try and escape from them for a bit because you couldn't be found in the trees because there are so many of them and no one can be seen. Not many people knew about Betws."

But is it still a safe place to live? Well, one from the class decided that it was - especially compared to Llanrwst!

Where can you go for a walk?
There were lots of suggestions, including through Gwydir Forest, up to Llyn Elsi and a walk beside the river to Miner's Bridge and back along the road to Betws.

Haunted Betws
Aaron: "Pentre Du used to be an Army camp and on the triangle near our school, a soldier got shot by a German. Every New Year's Eve at twelve o'clock, people think they've seen him walking round the triangle."

Another story was that of Sir John Wynne who was said to be really evil. He was an MP in the 1600s and lived in Gwydir Castle. He's spirit is supposed to be trapped in Swallow Falls, in the whirlpool underneath the waterfall. You can tell by the movement of the water that he's there.

Naomi: "There is also a tale about a massive monster called the Afanc who lived in a lake near Betws which they wanted to get rid of, so they got some pretty women to sing him to sleep and they used some oxen to pull the monster up to Llyn Glaslyn. Every time you go there, you can see bubbles coming up to the surface - maybe it's him breathing."

We went there and they said the story as we were eating our lunch beside the water, and we saw bubbles!"

Someone's grandfather had seen a green tail above the surface of the lake - so beware!

There was also a tale about a horse and coach being seen crossing Waterloo Bridge which mysteriously disappeared...

So to sum up Betws...
The whole class: "Peaceful, beautiful, cars, people, coaches, hikers, hotels, shops, visitors, fun, walks."