Wales

Strategically, Flat Holm, five miles from Cardiff and Barry, has always held an enviable position – in the Bristol Channel with views to the coasts of both Wales and England. It has led to a varied past as a smuggler's haunt, isolation hospital for victims of cholera and the bubonic plague (the ruins of the building still visible today), and a fortress in Victorian times as well as the Second World War. It also received the first ever radio message across water by Italian inventor Marconi in 1897. Guided tours tell more and, on a day trip here, there's also time to have a drink at Wales' most southerly pub – The Gull and Leek. The name gives a clue to the island's most prolific residents – wild leeks and lesser black-backed gulls. There's also a lighthouse dating back to 1737. The light here, once coal powered, is now solar powered – very eco-friendly!