Natural Beauty

Most of our visitors come here to enjoy the stunning scenery. It’s both beautiful and diverse, with rolling countryside and valleys, wide open hillsides and wildly beautiful forests, lakes, waterfalls and caves.

Our flora and fauna are remarkable. Our park is one of the last outposts for Welsh mountain ponies. They live, breed and run wild across our rugged and remote uplands. The skies above are home to a once endangered but now thriving population of red kites. Our heathlands provide Britain's most southerly home for red grouse. Britain's largest breeding population of lesser horseshoe bats can be found in the Usk Valley. And our grasslands and woodlands harbour many species of fungi, mosses, grasses, flowers and trees, some of which are unique to our region.

Inspiring archaeology

You may think that the landscape of the Brecon Beacons is unspoilt and natural, but in fact people have shaped and changed it over many thousands of years. Without them, it would not be the beautiful, diverse place it is today.

We can see the legacy that past peoples have left to us in our rich archaeological heritage and our historic buildings and settlements. Within the National Park are over 250 ancient monuments including prehistoric and Roman sites including stone circles, burial chambers, hillforts and camps. Our hills and villages are also dotted with medieval castles, ancient churches and reminders of our industrial heritage. To find out more, visit Places to visit.

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.

Architecture that tells our story

The built heritage of the Brecon Beacons National Park helps make it a special and distin
ctive place. Our fine rural buildings and historic townscapes bear witness to our important cultural inheritance and provide a unique window on the past. They can tell us about old construction techniques, what everyday life was like for our ancestors and how fashions and styles changed.

Historic buildings are often at the heart of our communities and contribute to local character and our sense of identity; they also demonstrate local and traditional crafts and skills, which may be dying arts today. There are thousands of architecturally significant buildings in the park, nearly 2000 of which are listed.

Contemporary culture and green ideas

From the world famous Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts and the Brecon Jazz Festival to our buzzing gourmet food scene, there’s always something going on in the Brecon Beacons National Park. To find out more, visit Things to enjoy and Events.

Where is your special place in the Brecon Beacons?

How about the magical Sgwd yr Eira?

Or the historic and monumental Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal?

Make sure you vote for the Brecon Beacons as winner for the Special Place 2016 here