Ride the Black Mountain Pass west and you arrive beneath Carreg Cennen: a ruined medieval castle balanced on a three-hundred-foot limestone crag, regularly called the most dramatically sited castle in Wales.
The best bit is under it. A vaulted passage in the cliff leads to a natural cave beneath the fortress — bring a torch (or buy one at the farm shop) and feel your way in by lamplight.
The castle sits on a working farm with rare breeds, tearooms and a gift shop, and the walk up from the farmyard earns you enormous views over the Tywi valley. Pair it with the Black Mountain drive and lunch in Llandeilo for a full west-country day.
Worth knowing
- The cliff-top site has been fortified since at least the 13th century; the cave beneath predates it all.
- Open 364 days a year — only closed on Christmas Day.
- The tearooms at the farm are free to enter and serve lunches till mid-afternoon.
- Twenty minutes further on, Llandeilo’s Georgian streets hide some of Wales’s best independent shops — including a deli with a 240-gin wall.