A pioneering project from California's Stanford University is helping Pembrokeshire discover new ways of promoting its historic castles and buildings.

Stanford graduate Dr. Lesley Ann Taylor has worked with Pembrokeshire County Council's tourism team to develop a new Kindle guide to the county's castles and historic buildings.

The new guide is the latest in a series of hi-tech initiatives for the council's tourism department, which is tasked with promoting Pembrokeshire around the world.

In addition to the traditional holiday brochure, its website visitpembrokeshire.com is now an important part of tourism marketing, while the team has also recently developed a version of the holiday guide of iPhone app.

Clr. Rob Lewis, cabinet spokesperson for leisure and tourism, said it was wonderful that a project instigated by Stanford University in California had resulted in a direct benefit for Pembrokeshire.

"With an annual visitor spend of around £500m, our tourism team is always looking for new ways to reach prospective visitors," he said.

"We are very grateful to Lesley and her husband Dave for offering to help us market the wealth of historic buildings we have in our county. The experience gained in creating this guide for Kindle will be a big help to our tourism team as they explore new ways of promoting Pembrokeshire to a global audience."

Lesley's offer of help is part of Stanford's 'Beyond the Farm' project, which seeks to extend the spirit of the university's founding principle - 'a desire to render the greatest possible service to mankind' - to communities around the world through the volunteer efforts of Stanford alumni.

The university is affectionately known as The Farm as it is built on the site of the founder's family home.

With over 200,000 of the university's alumini living all over the world, Lesley wanted to play her part in making this year's Beyond the Farm project, which began on May 14, a success.

"The project pushed me to do just a little bit more and get involved in the well-being of tourism in Pembrokeshire," she said.

"It is exciting that of the 143 projects listed, ours is the only one in the UK, and one of only two in Europe, the other being in Italy".

Dr. Taylor, along with her husband Dave have been involved in pioneering hi tech projects for some time.

The author of the Count Yourself In series, she has been advisory editor of the American academic journal Home School Researcher for many years, and has written several papers on education and training.

Pembrokeshire Castles and Historic Buildings can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.VisitPembrokeshire.com">www.VisitPembrokeshire.com. For further details, contact Mark Horner on 01437 775629 or email [email protected]">[email protected].

More details on Stanford University's Beyond The Farm project available at http://www.stanford.edu">www.stanford.edu