National Parks Week is the National Parks family's annual celebration of everything that is unique and wonderful about Britain's breathing spaces. It runs from Monday 24 to Sunday 30 July 2017. With diverse landscapes, activities and events there's an adventure waiting for you here in the Brecon Beacons!

Here our some of our top facts you may not know about the Brecon Beacons National Park...

1. Established in 1957, the Brecon Beacons National Park is the youngest of the three national parks in Wales. The other two Welsh national parks, Snowdonia and the Pembrokeshire Coast, were created earlier in the 1950s, along with important English national parks such as the Peak District, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

   

2. The Brecon Beacons National Park covers a staggering 520 square miles!
3. The BBNP is home to the worlds largest single span glasshouse-The National Botanic Gardens of Wales 
4. ...and a 11mile long cave system-Dan Yr Ogof Caves
5. Pen Y Fan is the highest point in Southern Britain
6. Hiring a car, bike or twizy (electric car) is the best way to get around-details on how to hire here
7. There really are sheep everywhere-with around 1250 farms within the park
8. Prince Charles has his Wales residence at the western edge of the park near Myddfai
9. The SAS hold selection training excersises including the Fan Dance-a
   gruelling 24km non-navigational race over two sides of Pen Y Fan
10. Britain's largest breeding population of lesser horseshoe bats can be found in the Usk Valley.
11. Eight places on Cadw’s Register of Landscapes of Outstanding and Special Historic Interest in Wales lie, at least partly, within the Brecon Beacons National Park. These include the Black Mountain and Mynydd Myddfai, the Middle Wye Valley, East Fforest Fawr and Mynydd-y-Glog and the Middle Usk Valley.
12. In 2005 the Fforest Fawr Geopark was established, the first European Geopark in Wales. The area has been proudly recognised for its scientific quality, spectacular landscapes, educational value and historical and cultural interest. The geology tells the story of ancient climate change, mountain building as well as sea level changes. Impressively the hills and valleys are marked by glaciers from the Ice Ages
13. The batcave in the 2012 Batman film The Dark Knight Rises,  was hidden behind Henrhyd Falls, the tallest of dozens of cascades in the western Brecons Beacons, the bit of Wales known as ‘Waterfall Country’.
14. There are so many popular events held in the Brecon Beacons-such as Green Man Festival, Abergavenny Food Festival and Hay Literary Festival- this years Royal Welsh Show attracted tens and thousands of people. Events listings here

Plan your adventure to the Brecon Beacons National Park here. How will you #FindYourEpic?