Machynlleth Travel Video Guide

Machynlleth Travel Itinerary

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A finger of Montgomeryshire poking out between Meirionydd and Ceredigion, the flat river plain and rolling hills of Dyfi Valley lay justifiable claim to being one of the greenest corners of Europe, an area replete with B&Bs and other businesses started up by idealistic New Agers who have flocked to this corner of Wales since the late 1960s. The focal point is the genial town of MACHYNLLETH (pronounced "ma-hun-thleth"), eighteen miles northeast of Aberystwyth, a candidate for the Welsh capital in the 1950s and site of Owain Glyndwr's embryonic fifteenth-century Welsh parliament. In the hills to the north, the renowned, self-contained Centre for Alternative Technology runs on co-operative lines and makes for one of the most interesting days out in Wales.

The town that might have been the nation's capital consists essentially of just two streets. The wide main street, Heol Maengwyn , is busiest on Wednesdays, when a lively market springs up out of nowhere; Heol Penrallt intersects at the fussy clocktower. Glyndwr's partly fifteenth-century Parliament House (Easter-Sept daily 10am-5pm; in winter, call 01654/702827 for an appointment; free) sits halfway along Heol Maengwyn, a modest looking black and white fronted building, concealing a large interior. Displays chart the course of Glyndwr's life, his military campaign, his downfall and the 1404 parliament, when he controlled almost all of what we now know as Wales. The sorriest tales are from 1405 onwards when tactical errors and the sheer brute might of the English forced a swift retreat and an ignominious end to the greatest Welsh uprising.

On the Aberystwyth road, at Y Plas, the Celtica exhibition (daily 10am-6pm; last admission 4.40pm; GBP4.95) combines audiovisual trickery with tales of the Celtic peoples in a thunderous romp through history. The overall effect is certainly impressive, even if the old Welsh addiction to sentimentality is evident on occasion. Upstairs are more detailed exhibitions relating to Celtic history and language. On the other side of the central clocktower, on Heol Penrallt, is Y Tabernacl (Mon-Sat

10am-4pm; free), a serene old chapel whose spectacular new sculpted entrance by David Thomas is an audacious addition to the Machynlleth streetscape. The chapel has now been converted into a cultural centre, with a programme of temporary exhibitions augmenting the small collection of the Wales Museum of Modern Art . It also hosts films, theatre and the annual Gwyl Machynlleth festival in mid- to late August, with a combination of classical music, debate, theatre and some folk music.

Your Tips For Machynlleth

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