SUMMER 2021 A WARM WELCOME TO STEPHANIE EVANS BRECON BUZZ DRINKING IN THE VIEW GEOTOURS APP VISITOR CENTRE RE-OPENS SECRETS OF THE A470 CRIC CENTRE NATIONAL LIDO OF WALES TALYBONT TOURISM ABERGAVENNY FOOD FEST NEW BBT DIGITAL GUIDE MEET & GREET CAR PARK CLOSED CANAL NEWS DARK SKIES FEST WATERFALLS CAR PARK CHARGES INDEPENDENT VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRES TOP TENS GRANTS COVER PICTURE: TIM JONES INTERACTIVE TOURISM NEWS A warm welcome to STEPHANIE EVANS Brecon is set to be BUZZING! As Brecon town begins to emerge from the Covid restrictions Brecon Buzz has their sights set on positivity and enthusiasm. There are a good number of new business opening in the town and there is a sense of excitement about the large Visit Brecon parasols that have been sourced by Brecon Town Council to enable an improved outdoor café culture. To add to the vibrant street scene Buzz members have also been working with The Chamber of Trade to put in a funding application to source 140 flowering hanging baskets to Stephanie started on March 8th as Transition Director brighten up the high street and shop following the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Julian frontages. Atkins. Stephanie is taking the reins of the Authority until newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Catherine The Buzz team are working on Mealing-Jones takes up post on 18th July. Following an indie guide for visitors which Catherine’s appointment the decision to delay recruitment highlights twenty or so small of the Head of Landscape and Nature Recovery and businesses that are the best places Head of People and Communities was taken to allow a for a coffee, a piece of local art review of the structure of the senior leadership team at the and craft, a beautiful book or gift. National Park Authority, to enable Catherine to deliver the The map includes the main town Authority’s ambitions. attractions. Much of the marketing copy for Brecon has been very Stephanie says, “I am delighted to be joining the Brecon outdated, Buzz has been in touch Beacons National Park Authority for the next few months with colleagues at Powys and as the Transition Director. I’m being seconded from my Visit Wales to refresh how the town permanent role as Head of Placemaking, Design and is talked about on destination Specialist Advice for the National Trust where I have websites. The Brecon Story project worked for the last 19 years; ever since, in fact, I left my is doing much to help build a great role as the Head of Development Control for the Authority profile of the town’s cultural assets in 2003. I’ve lived with my family just to the south of the and is involving many people from Beacons or within the Park for 32 years. There will be across the community – from 26 more change and challenges ahead but as we begin to year olds to 80 year olds! emerge into the sunshine this summer, I’m confident the Brecon Beacons will have renewed meaning for people in a changed world. With the beauty and grandeur of the landscape offering real benefits to the health and wellbeing of communities in the Park, South Wales and beyond. I will be working closely with Authority staff, partners, stakeholders, residents and visitors for the benefit of this wonderful place and its communities.” DRINKING IN THE VIEW Visitors to Craig y nos Country Park can now delve into the stories that have shaped the surrounding landscape as they enjoy their al fresco lunch on the new interpretation tables. Craig y nos Country Park is in the heart of the ‘Fforest Fawr UNESCO Global Geopark’ and a great place to start exploration of this exciting destination. The tables are the latest development in the creation of a Geopark Discovery Point where you can find out more about our Geopark, what makes it special and where to go. There are three tables to enjoy. You can journey from the Big Bang to present day at the timeline game table where you will encounter millions of years of adventure! If that’s too exciting you can enjoy the stunning reconstruction illustrations explaining how the local hill, Cribarth, was reshaped by industry. The third table explores how people have explored, lived and worked in the Swansea Valley over time. These are the first interpretation tables in the National Park and we hope they will prove popular however we would like to remind visitors to keep a 2m distance between each other whilst on the site. GEOTOURS APP GOES LIVE! A new Geotours app, featuring four walking Fforest Fawr Geopark, which covers the western half of tours in Fforest Fawr UNESCO Global Geopark, the Brecon Beacons National Park, has 470 million years is now available for download from Google Play of stories to tell. Discover Cribarth and Penwyllt to see how exploitation of rocks has shaped the landscape, Garn and the App Store. The App is being launched as Goch, an Iron Age Hill Fort and Mynydd Iltud, where you’ll part of European Geoparks Week celebrations, experience panoramic views of both the Geopark and 22 May - 6 June, and users can choose from National Park. Each tour was written by Alan Bowring, Cribarth, Garn Goch, Mynydd Illtud or Penwyllt Geopark Development Officer, and there are plans to add before heading out on a self-led discovery tour of more Geopark tours at a later date. the Geopark. The Geotours, aimed at families with older children and adults looking for an introduction to the Geopark, lead you on walks that each take around 2-3hours to complete. All four Fforest Fawr Geotours are available in Welsh too and feature spectacular aerial imagery, photography, and videos by Neil Mansfield of Landscapes Uncovered and Huw James of James Media. The Geotours App was created using funding through Atlantic Geoparks, an EU Interreg project that Fforest Fawr participated in. The App has another 10 collections of Atlantic Area Geoparks tours which gives an opportunity for virtual visits and together they make up the European Atlantic Geotourism Route. *Please visit the Geopark safely: Be Adventure Smart and keep within the latest Welsh Government restrictions* shop will also be open. The craft shop run by Platform One BRECON BEACONS Crafts cooperative will also be open with 12 local craftspeople NATIONAL PARK selling and displaying their products within the shop. VISITOR CENTRE RE-OPENS The Brecon Beacons National Park Visitor Centre is looking forward to reopening after the latest round of lockdowns. The Visitor Centre has taken the opportunity of lockdown to refurbish and improve the accessibility of its building, and has welcomed visitors again from Monday April 26th 2021. Visitors will find the information centre, the craft shop, and the tea rooms will all be open from Monday the 26th. There will of course be full COVID-19 precautions in place. The tea rooms will be open for outdoor seating only, but we do have plenty of outdoor seating available, and we are awaiting the installation of a new covered area to enable visitors to sit outside, whatever the weather. Our toilet facilities will be open The Information Centre will also have its new digital wall in as usual. operation, where visitors can see an interactive map of the Our Information Assistants are ready to welcome back National Park, along with other interpretive features. visitors, and to give them all the advice they need to enjoy The Centre will be open from 9.30am till 4.30pm their stay within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The craft seven days a week. REVEALING THE SECRETS OF THE A470 As we slowly emerge from winter hibernation and the latest lockdown more and more of us will be exploring the Park. Before long we hope to reacquaint ourselves with favourite haunts and discover new ones, some of which can be accessed from the A470. As you venture on that familiar road trip south to Cardiff you may notice new interpretation panels along the way. There will shortly be 7 new panels at various locations telling those who stop off a little about the local heritage and landscape and a walk they can go on from that spot. These panels are the culmination of the Wales Way project which has also seen 4 poetry stones installed at other roadside locations and the kinetic Red Kite sculpture, which adorns the outside of the National Park Visitor Centre. The Centre is a natural place from where to start a visit to CRICKHOWELL the area. It is not only well placed to provide information on what to do, where to stay, eat or visit, but is a destination in its own right. Celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year, RESOURCE & it offers a true taste of Wales and Crickhowell in a carefully INFORMATION selected range of guides, maps, books, cards and gifts. The oriel CRiC gallery upstairs has resumed its exhibition CENTRE programme with an exhibition that pays homage to the eternal joys of spring. Colour, light and variety all “Independent visitor information centres like CRiC contribute to an uplifting exhibition which includes painting, (Crickhowell Resource & Information Centre) operating in the printmaking, ceramics, sculpture and jewellery. The heart of a tourist area, Crickhowell and the Brecon Beacons enjoyment and appeal of art and beautifully crafted items have alongside other Tourism businesses been hit hard by for the home has been more evident than ever since the re- local lockdowns and other restrictions. Once restrictions were opening of the gallery. gradually lifted, we were very grateful that the support of volunteers enabled us to reopen the Centre safely Monday For those planning their staycations, CRiC has invested to Saturday 10am till 4pm.