Crickhowell Accommodation

More About Crickhowell

It is a handsome, well-kept place of Georgian fronts, set deep in the Black Mountains. The walking starts at the end of the street, and the ruined castle sits in its own green in the middle of town.

The bridge is long and low and has a different number of arches on each side. Three miles west at Tretower a ruined keep and the manor house that replaced it stand side by side in one field.

The highest mountain on earth is named after a man from this town. George Everest grew up at Gwernvale, on the western edge of Crickhowell, and spent his working life surveying India from one end to the other.

In 1865 the Royal Geographical Society put his name on the mountain. He never saw it, and he objected to the idea on the grounds that his name could not be written in Hindi.

Crug Hywel is an hour up from the end of the street and an hour back down. The top is ringed by an Iron Age bank and ditch, and on a clear day you see the length of the Usk valley.

Count the arches as you cross the bridge over the Usk. There are thirteen on one side and twelve on the other, and nobody has ever quite squared it up.

The shops are the other reason people stop. There are almost no chains, and in 2018 the high street was named the best in the United Kingdom at the Great British High Street Awards.

That is why people still drive here for lunch and end up carrying a bag home. Book-ish is the bookshop everyone mentions, a shop and café together at 18 High Street. The butcher, the delicatessen and the outdoor shop are all on the same short stretch of High Street.

Tretower, three miles west on the A479, is worth the short drive out. There is an admission charge and the parking is free, and its café is closed at the moment, so take a flask and something to eat.

The town fills every March for the Crickhowell Walking Festival, which puts on more than eighty guided walks over nine days. The one in March 2026 was the eighteenth. Beds go months ahead, so book early for next March.