Brecon is a small town that many pass by when travelling on the A470 between North and South Wales. But it is a lovely little town that is well worth a visit. We, that is me Bernard and my wife Eira Wyn, decided to make a break in our journey from Cardiff to North Wales by having a ten minute stop in Brecon. This became two hours and we will definitely visit again, next time staying for a few nights.

We parked in a car park along side the river and crossed the bridge into the town noting the riverside walk for when we had more time. The Castle and Church tower were visible above the old town roofs, but we made our way up the hill past the fish and chip shop and pub to the centre of the town.

The narrow bustling streets and small shops create a great ambience and luckily the "developers" have missed old Brecon town. It was a Saturday morning when we visited and fortunately for us the Farmers' Market was on in the Market Hall, complete with Town Crier!

There was a great choice of produce at the Market from colourful displays of fruit and vedge to bottles of locally made beers. I had to pass on the beers and settled on a good selection of delicious olives and spices. Shopping is not my favourite pastime but this was much more fun than usual with background music supplied by the fiddlers two, and boy scouts selling raffle tickets.The Market was even busier than the streets outside but we managed to squeeze into two seats in the busy cafe section and enjoyed the best bacon butties we have had in a long time.

Time was short however and I left Eira Wyn to the pleasures of the Farmers' Market while I left to take pictures of the Cathedral and Castle. As Brecon is so compact it only took me five minutes to walk back across the river and up the hill to the cathedral. I am afraid there was no time to enter the Cathedral but I noted that there is a "Pilgrim's Visitor Centre" in the grounds that presents information and history of the Cathedral.

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Brecon Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales, and seat of the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, and it was 1923 before the church was granted Cathedral status. The origins of the Cathedral date back to Bernard de Neufmarche, the half brother of William the Conqueror, who defeated the local chieftain in battle near the town in 1094 and built a castle and priory where the rivers Usk and Honddhu converge. A walled town grew up around these buildings and that marked the beginning of the market town of Brecon. 300 years later the priory he established was developed into the fortified Priory Church of St John the Evangelist 'half Church of God and half castle against the Welsh' as it was then described. So it's another monument to the stubborness of the Welsh nation and to the inability of the Anglo Normans to conquer the Welsh after 300 years of trying. (It only took the Normans two days to defeat the English at Hastings in 1066). This explains why the Cathedral looks to me more like a Castle than a Church.

On leaving the Cathedral I took a detour en route to the Market Hall and found more quaint and interesting old houses near to the river, and I actually managed to take a picture of a nicely proportioned row of terrace houses that was void of any cars !

We were due to leave Brecon by now but the narrow streets invite further investigation and we strolled into Wellington Square. Here we found several delightful buildings including the Wellington Hotel pleasantly decked out in flowers, the Brecknock Museum, a statue of the Duke of Wellington himself, and an unusually proportioned Church (long tiled roof) St Mary's.

The church of St. Mary's is in the centre of Brecon and the dominating height of its splendid 16th century tower make it one of the most prominent buildings in the town. St Mary's began as a chapel of ease to the priory but most of the building is dated to later medieval times. The magnificent West Tower was built in 1510 by Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham at a cost of two thousand pounds. In the tower there are 8 bells, the heaviest of which is 16 cwt, which are rung regularly. At 90ft high the tower is visible from all over the town. (Latest news on the Bells of St Mary's... In March 2007 the Bells, which have rung out since 1750, have been removed from the church tower to be taken away and refurbished. They will be missing for a few months but once refurbished will be returned to their position some 80 feet above the streets of Brecon Town and will hopefully ring out for another 250 years.)

Tracking back we ventured down another side street to find a pleasant covered gallery of shops (similar to the arcades in Cardiff), which lead to a shopping courtyard, Bethel Square. I suspect the "developers" have been at work here but they have developed in a sympathetic manner and in a style that retains the character of the town of Brecon. If only more market towns, or should I say Town Planners, could learn from Brecon's example.

By now we had to return to the car but we noted the good number of pubs and small hotels in the town for our next visit to Brecon.