The Brecon Beacons National Park – Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog – was designated such in 1957, making it the third National Park in Wales after Snowdonia and the Pembrokeshire Coast. The Brecon Beacons describes just one of the mountain ranges in the region. There are actually several peaked areas in the park, including the Black Mountains, a high ridge of rounded peaks in the east of the region that abut the Welsh-English border; the Fforest Fawr range to the west; and The Black Mountain itself (not to be confused with The Black Mountains!), which is a wilderness of chiselled peaks and dramatic escarpments in the far west of the national park. Each of the four mountain ranges has their own unique character and present different challenges and conquests.

The highest peaks can be found in the Brecon Beacons – Pen-Y-Fan and Corn Du are the two highest mountains in Southern Britain. The Brecon Beacons National Park also defines a physical border between the largely agricultural Mid Wales and the heavily industrialised South Wales. Much of the park is still involved with agriculture, with sheep grazing the dramatic mountainsides. Many of the reservoirs that stored the vast quantities of water required by the Welsh iron and steel industries are to be found here, as are the sources of most of South Wales’ principal rivers, including the Tawe, Usk and Taff, which flow to Swansea, Newport and Cardiff respectively. Sailing, canoeing and watersports are popular pastimes in the Brecon Beacons National Park, and there are dramatic waterfalls and beautiful caves waiting to be discovered.

In addition to the spectacular scenery carved out by giant glacial activity during the last Ice Age, the Brecon Beacons National Park also holds treasures from past inhabitants. The region is liberally peppered with Iron Age hill forts and burial cairns, as well as a considerable number of Roman roads and sites. The abundance of castles and fortifications alludes to the contest between the English and Welsh to hold this important border region. Industrial relics such as the Blaenavon World Heritage Site to the south of the National Park tell about the unique contribution made during the Industrial Revolution.