Best wellbeing and creative holiday experiences in the Brecon Beacons & Cambrian Mountains

Website Editor • 11 August 2019

Eating wild, creating, exploring, adventuring, star gazing and chilling - our tips to immerse yourself in local experiences and culture away from the crowds

1. Go starry eyed

When you’re in the vicinity of the Brecon Beacons, just the fifth place in the world to gain International Designated Dark Sky Reserve status, it would be rude not to wrap up, head out and look up.

You’ll see the Milky Way, planets, meteors and shooting stars. There’s lots of events that take place in the Brecon Beacons, at the Elan Valley Dark Sky Park and Dark Sky Wales can take you out to observe and create bespoke star gazing experiences for you. Find out about discovery sites in the Cambrian Mountains and for a good selection of events locally, visit Go Stargazing

2. Get creative


Felting & Cyanotypes

Try your hand at felting with Jane Evans in her beautiful riverside studio in the Upper Tywi Valley. Jane loves to work with colour and you will learn wet felting and nuno felting, which combines silk and wool together. You can also try cobweb and wild felting. No experience necessary.   More information  



3. Adventures in the great outdoors 

Guided walks
Explore the stunning Cambrian Mountains and learn about the myths, legends and history of this extraordinary landscape. Choose from day time trail walking or, if you are interested in the starscape of the Cambrian Mountains, grab your camera and enjoy walks to the best night sky viewing spots imaginable. Full details of the walks and trails can be found on Dafydd’s website If you are looking for something in particular please contact Dafydd directly.

Canyoning and gorge scrambling
These action-packed experiences involve walking, climbing, jumping, abseiling and swimming to navigate your way through rivers, gorges and waterfalls in remote and rugged locations. It’s suitable for all ages and abilities as the route and challenges can be tailored to suit with the emphasis on aesthetics and fun rather than pure difficulty. The canyoning and gorge walking experiences take place in the waterfall country of the Brecon Beacons National Park. 

Cambrian Safaris
Tours in a Land Rover Discovery run deep into the Cambrian Mountains for whole day or a half day. Discover the Wild Tranquillity, the areas covered are beautifully diverse and you will enjoy spectacular landscapes, views, scenery, local history and wildlife. Cambrian Safaris aim to show you places you will want to go back to again and again. The tours are designed to be flexible, we customise every tour depending upon your interests and prior knowledge of the area. Come for a relaxing day out with no pressure of time and no rushing from place to place, we can pick you up from your accommodation if you wish. Cambrian Safaris 

4. Go foraging

Foraging sessions in West Wales

  Brecon Beacons Foraging

Go foraging with author of The Hedgerow Handbook Adele Nozedar who runs a variety of courses including:

• Half-day courses for adults and kids 

• Once-a-month seasonal half-day midweek courses, 'Wild Wednesday!' 

• Botanical Gin Workshops 

During foraging walks you’ll be encouraged to observe, using all of your senses to guide you in finding and recognising the plants, fungi and wildlife around us. Recognition of plants is a wonderfully sensory experience; squeezing and smelling leaves, rubbing them between your fingers to get a sense of their juices and oils, and tasting nectar is all a part of the adventure. There will be lots of leaning on fences, one foot on the bottom bar, looking at the horizon.


Coastal Foraging with Craig Evans

Craig has a life-long passion for sea life and its environment; and his knowledge of the wild food of the West Wales coast will have you engrossed and inspired.He offers a number of different experiences including the classic where you learn about sea vegetables and shell fish and the extreme low tide course where you will forage more of the deep water species.

5. And chill out...

Yoga and holistic therapies

If you’re looking to unwind and relax on your holiday, book a treatment or a yoga session at Holistic Heaven just down the road from us here in the Tywi Valley. Treatments with Claire include aromatherapy, massage, reflexology, deep tissue therapy and hot stone massage, and many others. Just imagine a wonderful walk out in the wilderness, followed by a rejuvenating session with Claire.

treatments in the Tywi Valley

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