Machynlleth is a beautiful market town with a quirky side. It’s home to residents with a serious passion for all things eco-friendly. Come here and you’ll meet people with a passion for sustainable living, local food, nature and art.
Don’t come here expecting to find Starbucks and chain stores. The high street, known as Heol Maengwyn and dominated by a Victorian clocktower, is lined with antique shops, galleries and alternative lifestyle stores founded by locals passionate about the area in which they live.
It’s also incredibly popular with fans of the arts. There’s a lively arts scene here, as well as an annual comedy festival—the Machynlleth Comedy Festival—on the last weekend of April. For an art fix, head to the MOMA Machynlleth, a modern art museum tucked inside a Victorian town house and a former Wesleyan chapel. To learn about the area’s history, head to the Owain Glyndŵr Centre, a heritage centre inside the building where Owain Glyndŵr was crowned Prince of Wales in 1404.
The town is part of the UNESCO Dyfi Biosphere (one of only six in the UK), a wider region which has several nature reserves of huge importance, ranging from lowland wet grasslands and salt marshes to ancient woodlands and lakes. There’s a huge network of walking routes in the local area. Visit Dyfi Biosphere to download a selection of walking routes and audio guides.
The passion for sustainability makes Machynlleth a fantastic place to learn more about how we can all play a role in reducing our footprint. One of the best places for budding eco-warriors is the Centre For Alternative Technology, or CAT, an educational charity which strives to find ways to reduce carbon emissions.
CAT runs a wide range of courses covering different subjects. Learn how to turn wooden pallets into furniture or how to build a pizza oven from clay. Other attractions include the Green Building, designed to demonstrate the importance of renewable and biodegradable building materials. There are also some brilliant interactive exhibits relating to wind, solar and hydropower.
Finally, for some feathered fun, consider a visit to the Dyfi Osprey Project, although it’s worth noting that the centre is closed until March 2022. The project, which was founded to safeguard osprey numbers in Wales, is based at Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve, which is a brilliant place to spot these beautiful birds, thanks to feeding platforms dotted across the site.
Ceredigion