Wild about Wales
The Brecon Beacons offer the perfect mix of culture and countryside, says
this part of the world is not for softies. The 520 sq mile National Park on the Welsh border with England, with its looming mountains, caves and waterfalls, is where the sAs car-ry out their training.
Yet today it is attracting a growing number of incomers and not just for holidays — they make their homes here, too.
‘We are the nearest expanse of really wild countryside to London and the south East,’ says Darren Thomas, of McCartneys estate agents. ‘so we get a lot of lovers of the outdoors from the region looking to buy weekend cottages and permanent homes.’
There is a premium to be paid for homes towards the eastern edge of the National Park close to the M4. The quaint market town of Abergavenny, has seen prices soar with the booming popularity of Bristol.
The two places are only 41 miles apart and being able to buy a four-bedroom detached house in Abergavenny for the price of a two-bedroom house in Bristol is tempting many to commute.
Brecon, despite its river walks and 13th cen-tury fortified cathedral, lies deeper in the hills and is too far from the motorways for some, hence the average sold price of a house there last year being a modest £196,000, com-pared to Crickhowell’s average price of
£292,000. A four-bedroom modern house with three bathrooms and an outdoor swimming pool is for sale at £350,000 with holters.co.uk.
Crickhowell, with its Georgian houses, 18th century bridge over the River Usk, and its independent shops, is popular with retirees and full of spirit.
Three years ago a chain store planned to take over the site of an old pub, The Corn Exchange, in the high street. The locals protested to the planning officers then formed a group of 300 shareholders and raised £600,000 to transform the premises into three community-run shops with three apartments above. F
estivals have also helped to put the Brecon Beacons on the map. Abergavenny attracts foodies every september while the Green Man festival in The Glanusk Estate is for folk music lovers. Jazz fans have Brecon Jazz Festival.
‘Yet we are never over-run by tourists,’ says Gez Richards, a volunteer miller at Talgarth Mill who moved to the area from North London more than 20 years ago.’
The biggest crowd-puller is the hay-on-Wye literary festival, which attracts 80,000 people each year. some of the bookish visitors have bought homes in the town. hay now has a year-round artsy feel with music and poetry readings and off-beat events in the Globe theatre.
Average price of a terrace house in the town, with its charming tangle of lanes and splendid mountain views, was £225,000 last year, according to Rightmove. The average detached cost £332,000.
There is a demand for high-end homes, too. ‘Desire for more expensive homes is London- driven,’ says Anthony Clay, of Knight Frank in hereford. ‘We also sell well to British people working abroad who want a substantial property for their return.’
The best value homes are found in the most isolated places, but you have to be a certain type of person to live outside a settlement in these parts. Farms — of which there are about 1,250 in the National Park — also frequently come on the market and often sell to lifestyle buyers.
Danny Grimes, 45 and his family — wife, Melanie and their two children, aged 15 and 12 — swapped their suburban house in Romsey, hampshire, for a five-bedroom converted barn in six acres near Brecon, last August. Danny runs his southamp-ton-based company largely from home and he believes the whole family have benefited from the move.
‘i go jogging in the hills, which has done wonders for my fitness,’ says Danny, who takes part in the Fan Dance, a race up Pen Y Fan mountain. ‘The children love keeping their horses in the field and they have set-tled in brilliantly at Brecon high school.’
The area is not without its drawbacks. Winters can be harsh, wet and grey. And what is the welcome like for townies?
‘We’ve made more friends than we did living in the south-east,’ says Danny. ‘As for the weather — that’s a small price to pay for this beautiful landscape.’