Brecon Beacons National Park

The Brecon Beacons National Park in mid-Wales contains some of the most spectacular and distinctive upland landscape in southern Britain.

People

The Brecon Beacons National Park is not a wilderness. It is a 'cultural' landscape, which is the product of human activity over thousands of years. There is a rich industrial archaeology to be found to the south and east of the Park, including coal and mineral mining, charcoal burning and iron making. The towns of Brecon, Crickhowell, Gilwern and Hay are all within the Park boundary and, in 2001, there were about 32,600 people living within the National Park.

Walking, cycling, horseriding, potholing, hang-gliding and canoeing are amongst the most popular activities for visitors. The waterfalls at the southern end of the Park are amongst the most popular attractions.

Landscape and geology

Two-thirds of this area is made up of old red sandstone rock which forms four distinct blocks of hills cut through by major river valleys. In the centre of the Park, dominating the skyline beyond the town of Brecon, are the Brecon Beacons proper, rising to 886m at Pen y Fan, the highest point in southern Britain.

There are outcrops of limestone and grit along the southern edge of the Park and underneath the surface are magnificent caves and passages often adorned with stalagmites and stalactites. The rocks within the western Brecon Beacons record 470 million years of geological history.

Wildlife

The red kite is the National Park’s iconic bird. Down to only two or three breeding pairs at the start of the 20th century, a concerted campaign has managed to revive the population and their distinctive forked tails are a common site in the western areas of the Park. Other rare upland birds include red grouse, golden plovers, curlews, ring ouzels and peregrine falcons.

Some of the rivers are rich in salmon and otters while lakes like Llangorse Lake are important habitats for waders and wintering wildfowl.

As well as banks of heather, there are carpets of springtime flowers in the meadows and amazing insect-eating plants like sundew and butterwort.

Protected sites

The Park has a total of 75 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Wales’ only Geopark at Fforest Fawr – designated because of its distinctive geology. This covers the western part of the National Park and is one of only 24 Geoparks in a worldwide network established by UNESCO. It is the first Geopark in a National Park in the UK.

Visiting the Park

The main visitor centre is at Libanus, near Brecon, where there are exhibitions about various aspects of the National Park.