The Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales was established in 1957.  It is a mountainous area covering 519 square miles (1344 square kilometres).  In fact, the Brecon Beacons includes four distinct mountain ranges, the Black Mountain range in the west, the Brecon Beacons themselves, often referred to as the Central Beacons, where the highest mountain, Pen-y-Fan, is located (2907 feet/886 metres), the Fforest Fawr upland area and, just to confuse everyone, the Black Mountains in the east - which include a peak called Black Mountain.

Brecon Beacons National Park is famed for its waterfalls (like Henrhyd Waterfall and Ystradfellte), caves and forests; you can lose yourself in its wilder parts.  It is proud to be an International Dark Sky Reserve and, like many of Britain’s National Parks, the Brecon Beacons are used for military training, including by elite special forces.  The area is also packed with ancient sites, castles and industrial heritage.  There is even a narrow-gauge heritage railway, the Brecon Mountain Railway, which runs about 5 miles between Pant and Torpantau.

Principal settlements in the Brecon Beacons National Park are Brecon, Crickhowell, Gilwern and Hay-on-Wye – famous for its bookshops and literary festival.

Enormous medieval castle, with iconic polygonal towers, constructed from the late 13th century on the orders of Edward I as part of his strategy to subjugate the Welsh. It was built on the site of an earlier Norman castle and close to where a Roman fortress had once stood. The castle and town then became the English administrative HQ for North Wales and was besieged many times - and captured too.

Caernarfon Castle is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd".

The formidable looking Chepstow Castle dates from 1067 - building began less than a year after William the Conqueror became king. It was constructed in stone from the very start - not wood, as was the case with many Norman castles, in a strategic position overlooking an established crossing point over the River Wye. Building continued through its life right up to the 17th century. It was besieged twice during the English Civil War, eventually falling to Parliamentary troops. By the 18th century, Chepstow Castle was in a state of decay and becoming a tourist attraction.

With a dramatic background and probably built by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth ('the Great') early in the thirteenth century, the ruins of Dolbadarn Castle are dominated by a massive round-towered keep, still standing up to 50 feet (15.2m) high, with walls up to 8 feet (2.4m) thick. Access to the keep was via a removable staircase at first floor level. The castle occupies a strategic location guarding the Llanberis Pass and was seized by an English army under the Earl of Pembroke in 1282, following which it was abandoned and pillaged for building materials. It is possible it was used again during the revolt under Owain Glyndwr in the late 14th/early 15th century.

The small, peaceful, town of Montgomery sits just inside the Welsh border, looked over by its medieval castle and surrounded by lovely countryside. It is mostly Georgian, but was once a walled medieval frontier town. There are few shops or pubs, but, in addition to the castle, there is an interesting church, St Nicholas’, a wonderful museum, the Old Bell, a surprising number of other fascinating features and a decent hotel, the Dragon. The church includes an astonishing Elizabethan canopied tomb and in the churchyard is the Robber’s Grave – where the grass was alleged not to have grown for a hundred years. The museum has a fascinating collection and features exhibitions about the town, castle and the Battle of Montgomery that took place during the Civil War. One not to be missed shop is Bunners, a traditional ironmonger that stocks almost everything and which is a warren of rooms and displays. The Castle Cafe in Broad Street is recommended too. Visit Montgomery to relax and walk in the countryside with red kites soaring overhead. Offa’s Dyke, the eighth century defensive earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales today, is a very short distance to the east of town.