Down a short path from the hostel at Idwal Cottage, in a grove of trees, is a piece of YHA history. In the grounds of one of YHA's longest serving hostels, it's also a link with the days when architects designed hostels for YHA. Today there's a boom in designer hostels but the idea isn't... Continue Reading →

The miracle has been achieved “A hostel where each night will gather nearly 200 young people from all parts of the world who are exploring Britain, or on their way abroad to explore some other country…” The Youth Hosteller of June 1959 crowed with pleasure at the opening of a new youth hostel in London,... Continue Reading →

The youth hostels at Maeshafn and Holmbury St Mary had proved too expensive for the new YHA, and its executive committee determined it would lease or buy property rather than build from scratch. The experience and expense did not end architect-designed, purpose-built hostels, not for a few years anyway. But those that followed haven't always... Continue Reading →

Purpose built hostels showed that the youth hostel movement was new, bold and contemporary, aligning its supporters with other modern movements. But a movement is a coalition that relies on many different supporters and when the costs of purpose built hostels became obvious, against the cheapness of using existing empty properties, the desire for new,... Continue Reading →

Maeshafn from an early postcard (courtesy John Martin collection). "I think that Beauty, The Strange Necessity - as Rebecca West once called it - is something that matters profoundly to humanity, and that unless the race of man perishes from the earth, it will increasingly value that Grace, will seek it, and will ultimately attain... Continue Reading →