We have wonderfully dark skies here – around the cottages on a clear night it is stunning. And we also have lots of Dark Sky Discovery sites within easy reach of the cottages around the Cambrian Mountains and Cardigan Bay if you want to experience truly epic stargazing. 🤩
Leigh has become pretty good at Astro Photography, capturing pictures around the cottages and our meadows.
Red Kite Cottage Starlapse image.
The Milky Way taken in Picnic Meadow.
Another shot of the Milky Way from the cottages’ Picnic Meadow. The best seasons for stargazing are Spring, Autumn & Winter.
Venturing further afield, Leigh went on a night time expedition up Drygarn Fawr in the Cambrian Mountains near Tregaron for even darker skies.
Dark Sky Discovery Sites
There are plenty of great designated Dark Sky Discovery sites within easy reach of the cottages. From the map above the three easiest to get to are:
Since Carmarthenshire hosted the start of the 2018 Tour of Britain it has become known as the “cycling hub of Wales”. Cycling is on the rise as the county has invested in the activity so that more visitors can saddle up and enjoy the breathtaking views. To coincide with the Tour of Britain, the county launched new cycle routes to give visitors the opportunity to explore the big hills and bigger views.
One of the most spectacular routes is the Big Wilderness Adventure. This is a circular route that actually passes just a 5 minute cycle ride from our door! The route is plotted to start and finish at Llandovery, but if you stay with us you can start and finish right from your cottage. It takes you to Llyn Brianne – there is challenging climb up to the lake followed by an incredible road around the perimeter with fantastic views.
https://vimeo.com/287218462
This ride is not for the faint-hearted – it is 65 miles with a difficulty rating of 7/10 but the scenery makes the ride worthwhile (the journey to Llyn Brianne one of our favourite drives). The road follows the reservoir around the edge, constantly changing in elevation with incredible views and sweeping descends around every corner.
After Llyn Brianne the route starts to feel more remote as it skirts the Cambrian Mountains. There is barely a house or car in sight, but with this emptiness comes incredible beauty that is seen nowhere else short of the Scottish border.
The route takes in a large portion of wild, uninhabited terrain so it is worth taking what you think you will need with you and not relying on shops along the route.
There is an abbreviated version of the route if you want to shorten it – it still takes in the best bits up to Llyn Brianne but is 8 miles shorter and there is also the option to not go all the way to Llandovery to save even more miles.
If this route is too much of an adventure, then there are lots of other routes in the area to check out starting at just 10 miles – see them all here: Road Cycling in Carmarthenshire.
