Fun facts about Wales - enter fantasyland

• The country is about half the size of Västerbotten but has 100 times the population.
• The majority of the inhabitants live in southern Wales, in cities like Cardiff and Swansea.
• Northern Wales is sparsely populated. Bangor, the biggest town in Gwynedd has 17 600 inhabitants. They have a university where you, among other things, can study mindfulness.
• Three national parks, Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire coast, cover large areas in Wales.
• The climate is maritime, but the mountains in Snowdonia often get snow.
• Wales has three symbols: Dragon, daffodil and leek.
• There are four times as many sheep as people in Wales.
• The town with the worlds second longest name is to be found in Wales: Llanfair­pwllgwyn­gyllgo­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llanty­silio­gogo­goch. Translated from welsh to english it means "St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilo with a red cave" - according to Wikipedia.
• The smallest house in Britain can be found in Conwy in northern Wales. It's only 3,05 by 1,8 metres, it's got two floors but is still only 3,1 metres tall.

Sean turned an old slate mine into an adventure park

Västerbotten in northern Sweden and the mountainous area of Snowdonia in Wales, UK, are similar in many ways. We've got reindeer herding, they herd sheep. The nature and scenery is spectacular and the area is remote. They speak welsh, a minority language that's spoken by 580 000 people (slightly more than the 25 000 who speak the sami language).

As opposed to southern Wales there were never any coal mining in the north, people have mainly made a living out of agriculture. But mining slate has been one source of income in the area. Most of the slate quarries are now closed, but that doesn't stop entrepreneurs in the tourism business from developing the area. Now tourism is the main employer in the area. In some parts of Gwynedd 25 percent of the income comes from tourism.
When visiting Wales I had the pleasure of meeting with Sean Taylor, an ex-military who has changed an old slate museum into an adventure park. See more in the clip above, or at Västerbottensnytt.

Gravida Marika bor i tältläger

På senaste tiden har allt fler tiggare dykt upp i Umeå, men de syns också på mindre ställen som utanför Ica i Vännäs. Västerbottensnytt har träffat några av dem i ett tältläger utanför Umeå.

Läs mer på Västerbottensnytt.