Caersws

Roman soldiers once marched through these valleys, and you can still feel their ghost trails along the modern A470. Caersws sits where ancient roads converged in the Severn Valley, a proper Welsh market town that's managed to keep its feet firmly planted despite the tourist trail rushing past to Snowdonia.

The River Severn curves lazily around the town's edges, with the surrounding hills rolling away in gentle green waves. It's proper walking country here - Foel y Belan and Mynydd Garth offer cracking views across mid-Wales without requiring mountaineering skills. The peaks aren't dramatic, but that's rather the point. This is landscape that invites long afternoon rambles rather than Instagram heroics.

St John the Baptist stands sentinel over the town centre, though you'll find more atmospheric worship at St Michael Church Trefeglwys if you fancy a short drive. The Methodist chapels scattered about - Trefeglwys Methodist Chapel and Peniel Chapel among them - tell the story of nonconformist Wales better than any museum.

Coed y Castell provides decent woodland walking when the weather turns, which it will. This is Wales, after all. The forest paths are well-maintained and offer shelter from the wind that can whip down these valleys.

Newtown lies just eight miles east along the A489 for proper shops and restaurants, though Caersws has enough to keep you going for a few days. The train station connects directly to Birmingham and the coast, making this surprisingly accessible for a place that feels genuinely rural.

Staying at one of the nearby parks makes perfect sense - you're central for exploring both the Cambrian Mountains and the Severn Valley, with Machynlleth and its alternative scene just half an hour north.