Berriew

Berriew is where the Rhiw joins the Severn, and it is regularly described as one of the prettiest villages in Wales, which is true and slightly misses the point.

The black-and-white timber-framed cottages round the church and the bridge are genuine, but the way they sit together — matched, tidy, arranged round a green — is the work of an estate. Berriew was substantially remodelled by the Vaynor estate, and what you are looking at is a nineteenth-century idea of what a village should look like, applied to buildings that were already there.

That is not a criticism. It is one of the most legible estate villages in Powys, and knowing that is what makes it interesting rather than merely photogenic.

The buildings

Timber framing this far into Wales is a border phenomenon, continuous with Shropshire and fading out west of here. Berriew is near the western limit of it.

St Beuno's church was rebuilt in 1803 and again in the 1870s. The dedication is early — Beuno is a seventh-century saint associated with north Wales — which suggests the site is a great deal older than anything standing on it.

The bridge over the Rhiw is late eighteenth century.

Glansevern

A mile south, Glansevern Hall is a Greek Revival house of about 1801 by Joseph Bromfield, with grounds running down to the Severn. The gardens have opened to the public at various points; check current arrangements before travelling.

Andrew Logan

There is a Museum of Sculpture in the village dedicated to the work of Andrew Logan, the artist who founded the Alternative Miss World. It is glittery, entirely unlike everything round it, and it has been there since 1991.

The contrast between a mirrored sculpture museum and a black-and-white estate village is not something anybody planned, and it is one of the more enjoyable things about visiting.

Around

The Montgomery Canal runs a mile east. Powis Castle and Welshpool are five miles north; Montgomery is six miles south, and the country between the two is the lowland Vale of Montgomery with Offa's Dyke running through it.