Crickhowell

Crickhowell sits in the Usk Valley where the eastern Brecon Beacons give way to the Black Mountains, a small Georgian market town that regularly wins praise for having one of the best high streets in Britain. Handsome stone and stucco buildings, many dating from the eighteenth century, line a main street of independent bakers, butchers, bookshops and cafes rather than chain stores, and the whole town has the settled, unhurried feel of a place that has never needed to reinvent itself for visitors. It works because the setting does much of the work: the River Usk curls around the southern edge of town, crossed by a distinctive stone bridge with more arches on one side than the other, while the flat-topped hill known as Table Mountain rises directly behind, its summit crowned by the Iron Age hillfort of Crug Hywel that gave the town its Welsh name, Crughywel.

The town grew up around a Norman castle, now a grassy ruin behind the main street, and later prospered as a coaching stop and small industrial centre, with limestone quarrying and a tannery among the trades that funded its Georgian rebuilding. That prosperity is still visible in the width of the high street and the quality of its buildings, and it left Crickhowell well placed when tourism to the Brecon Beacons began to grow in the twentieth century. Today the town functions as a comfortable base for walkers and cyclists heading into the Black Mountains and the Beacons proper, and as a destination in its own right for anyone who wants good food, decent shops and a slower pace without sacrificing polish.

What makes Crickhowell distinctive within the National Park is the combination of accessible lowland scenery and serious upland walking within a few minutes of each other. The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal runs along the valley just north of town, offering level towpath walking and canal boat hire, while a short climb from the centre gets you onto Table Mountain and, beyond it, the open ridges of the Black Mountains proper. Few towns of this size manage to feel both cosmopolitan and properly rural at once, and that balance is Crickhowell's chief appeal.

Top things to do in Crickhowell

Crickhowell rewards both a lazy afternoon on the high street and a full day out on the hills. These are the highlights worth building a visit around.

• Crickhowell Castle a Norman motte-and-bailey ruin just off the high street, free to explore and a good introduction to the town's medieval origins.
• Table Mountain and Crug Hywel hillfort a steep but short climb from town to a flat summit with an Iron Age fort and sweeping views over the Usk Valley.
• Crickhowell Bridge the eighteenth-century stone bridge over the Usk, notable for its mismatched arches and a good spot to watch canoeists and anglers.
• The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal a level towpath a short walk from town, with narrowboat and self-drive electric boat hire from Beacon Park Day Boats at nearby Llangynidr.
• St Edmund's Church a thirteenth-century parish church with later additions, worth a look for its medieval effigies and quiet churchyard.
• The Georgian high street itself independent bookshops, delis, outdoor shops and galleries, plus the Crickhowell Resource and Information Centre for local advice and maps.
• Llangattock Escarpment across the river from town, a limestone scarp riddled with cave systems including Agen Allwedd, one of the longest cave networks in Britain.
• Table Mountain to Pen Cerrig-calch circular walk a longer route for confident walkers that links Crickhowell's hill with higher Black Mountains summits and drops back via Llangattock.

Getting to Crickhowell

Crickhowell has no railway station of its own; the nearest is Abergavenny, about six miles east, on the line between Newport and Shrewsbury that also carries services to Hereford. From London, the quickest rail route is usually via Newport: take a GWR service from London Paddington to Newport, around two hours, then change onto a Transport for Wales train to Abergavenny, a further twenty minutes or so. From Cardiff Central, direct Transport for Wales services to Abergavenny take around forty minutes. From Abergavenny station, Crickhowell is reached by local bus or a fifteen-minute taxi ride; there is no direct rail link into the town itself.

By road, Crickhowell sits just off the A40, the main route linking Abergavenny with Brecon, and is well connected to the motorway network via the A449 and M4 at Newport, roughly forty minutes' drive away. From the Midlands and north, the A40 can be joined via Hereford and the A465 Heads of the Valleys road. There is pay-and-display parking in the town centre and a larger car park just off the high street; spaces fill quickly on market days and in peak summer weekends, so arriving early is worthwhile. Coming from further afield, Cardiff Airport is about an hour's drive south, making it the most practical air option for overseas visitors, and Bristol Airport is a similar distance across the Severn crossings. There are no ferry services relevant to Crickhowell itself, though the town makes a feasible stop for visitors arriving into south Wales via the Pembrokeshire ferry ports, roughly two hours' drive west.

Best time to visit Crickhowell

Spring brings fresh green to the Usk Valley and the Black Mountains, with lambing in the surrounding fields and generally quieter trails than summer; it is a good season for walkers who want cooler conditions on the climb up Table Mountain. Summer is the busiest period, when long days suit canal boating, riverside picnics and the full run of the higher Black Mountains ridges, and the town's cafes and pub gardens are at their liveliest; book accommodation well ahead for July and August weekends. Autumn is arguably the town's best season for many visitors, with the Black Mountains turning bronze and gold, cooler air for hill walking, and Crickhowell's food-focused calendar in full swing, including produce markets and seasonal menus built around game and local cheese. Winter is quiet and atmospheric, with log fires in the pubs and inns along the high street and short, crisp walks up to Table Mountain rewarded with clear views on the right day, though the higher Black Mountains ridges demand proper hillwalking experience and equipment once snow arrives.

Where to stay in Crickhowell

The high street and its immediate surrounds suit visitors who want to walk everywhere, with historic inns and B&Bs putting shops, pubs and the castle ruin within a few minutes on foot. Llangattock, just across the river bridge, is quieter and slightly elevated, with views back over the town and easy access to the canal towpath and the limestone escarpment above, good for anyone who wants a short stroll rather than a drive into the centre. The Gilwern and Llangynidr direction, a few miles along the canal towards Abergavenny, suits those keen on canal boating or cycling the towpath, with a handful of characterful pubs along the way. For a more rural, countryside base, the villages and farms scattered along the Usk Valley towards Tretower and Bwlch offer greater seclusion and views of the wider Black Mountains, at the cost of needing a car to reach Crickhowell itself.

Food and drink in Crickhowell

Crickhowell has built a reputation well beyond its size for food, helped by the surrounding farmland and a run of long-established, independently run pubs and inns along the high street. The Bear Hotel, a coaching inn that has been trading for five centuries, is the best-known name in town, serving a menu built on Welsh lamb, beef and local game alongside a well-stocked bar. The Dragon Inn on the high street offers a similar coaching-inn atmosphere with a large garden and traditional Welsh dishes, while the Nantyffin Cider Mill Inn, just outside town on the Brecon road, occupies a converted sixteenth-century drovers' inn and cider mill and has long been recognised as one of the more serious food destinations in this part of Wales. Local specialities worth seeking out include Welsh lamb and beef from farms in the Usk Valley, seasonal game from the surrounding hills in autumn and winter, and cheeses and charcuterie from small Monmouthshire producers that regularly appear on menus around the town. The high street itself has independent bakers, delicatessens and a well-regarded bookshop with a cafe, useful for provisions if you are self-catering or planning a picnic on Table Mountain, and Crickhowell's food festival, held over a weekend each autumn, brings together local producers, cookery demonstrations and pop-up stalls that showcase the valley's produce at its best.