Brecon, United Kingdom

BRECON (Aberhonddu) is a sturdy county town at the northern edge of the central Beacons. The proliferation of handsome Georgian buildings and its proximity to the hills and lakes of the national park make it a popular stopping-off place and a good base for day-walks in the well-waymarked hills to the south.

Running east, The Bulwark becomes The Watton, where the foreboding frontage of the South Wales Borderers' barracks glares across the street to its museum (April– Sept Mon– Fri 10am–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; Oct– March Mon– Fri 10am–5pm; £3), packed with mementos from the regiment's three-hundred-year existence.

From the town-centre crossroads, northwest of The Bulwark, High Street Superior goes north, becoming The Struet, running alongside the rushing waters of the Honddu. Off to the left, a footpath climbs up to the cathedral. The building's dumpy external appearance belies its lofty interior, graced with a few Norman features from the eleventh century, including a hulking font. The mid-sixteenth-century Games Monument, in the southern aisle, is made of three oak beds and depicts an unknown woman whose hands, clasped in prayer, remain intact, but whose arms and nose have been unceremoniously hacked off.