Regions
Powys is an administrative county stitched together in 1974 from three older ones. These regions follow the ground instead: river valleys, uplands and border country. Where an area matches one used on Wales Walks, the region page links across to it.
Region
Berwyn and Tanat
The north-eastern corner: deep valleys running off the Berwyn range, a drowned village, and the place where Welsh got its Bible.
Region
Black Mountains
Long parallel ridges, deep dry valleys, and a border that has moved so often nobody is entirely sure where the culture line runs.
Region
Dyfi and the Western Hills
Where Powys runs out westward into Gwynedd and Ceredigion, and the mountains take over from the farms.
Region
Epynt and Irfon
A cleared upland, a string of small spa villages, and the sharpest surviving edge of the Welsh language in the south of the county.
Region
Fforest Fawr and the Swansea Valley
The south-western corner that most accounts of Powys leave out: limestone, caves, waterfalls, anthracite, and the county's second largest town.
Region
Radnor Hills and the Border
Old Radnorshire east of the Forest: quiet, thinly settled, and the part of Wales where the language went first.
Region
Severn Valley
The river that made three towns, one canal, and most of the industrial history Powys has.
Region
Upper Wye and Elan
Empty on the map and not empty at all. Reservoirs, drove roads, lead workings, and the farms that were moved to make room for Birmingham.
Region
Usk Valley
Old red sandstone, wide flat-bottomed valley, and the only part of Powys where the towns sit comfortably rather than clinging on.
Region
Vale of Montgomery
Lowland, English-facing, and stitched with more earthworks per square mile than anywhere else in Wales.
Region
Wye, Ithon and the Wells
The middle of the county, where Victorian spa water built a town from nothing and the county administration eventually followed it.