Elan Valley

The Elan Valley is mid Wales at its most dramatic — a chain of five Victorian reservoirs in a vast, empty landscape of moorland, mountains, and oak woodland west of Rhayader. The dams are spectacular feats of engineering — massive masonry structures that look like something from a Cecil B. DeMille film. When the reservoirs are full and water cascades over the dam walls, the sight and sound are extraordinary. The valley was flooded in the 1890s to supply water to Birmingham (the Welsh villages drowned beneath the reservoirs remain a sensitive subject). The visitor centre at the bottom of the valley tells the engineering and human story well. The road along the chain of reservoirs is one of the most scenic drives in Wales. The area is a designated International Dark Sky Park — the light pollution is virtually nil, and on a clear night the Milky Way is astonishing. Red kites are everywhere (this is where they were saved from extinction in the 1960s), and the moorland flora is superb. It's wild, empty, and beautiful — mid Wales at its most elemental. The nearest town is Rhayader, which has a good local butcher and the kind of community feel that's increasingly rare.