#SaveOurTywiValley
The Tywi Valley
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
National Landscape
Gaze down from the ramparts of Dynefwr or Dryswlyn Castles, or from the top of Paxton’s Tower, sweep your eyes across the Tywi Valley as it spreads out around you from the East to the West. Watch the sunlight play with cloud shadows over the floodplain, and you’ll be forgiven if you:
a) hold your breath in wonder (a perfectly suitable reaction for the introverts) or
b) shout out (with your lungs full of that wonderful pure Welsh air that allows lichens to cover the trees, thus transforming this part of the world into a magical fairy tale land) across the Valley “How? How is such beauty possible?” (an equally suitable reaction for the extroverts) or
c) just do what those of us “in between” do, every single time, inevitably and involuntarily: whisper under your breath, so as not to disturb the Universe, “Oh My!!!” and then follow this with an intake of breath, and a widening of eyes in astonishment….
Because this really, truly, is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
At dawn, at midday, at dusk, by the light of the full moon, at every moment of the day, and every day of the year; no two moments are the same, because our inimitable Welsh skies are also never the same.
Shadows and light dance over the valley in infinite variations, and colours change with the Seasons, making this Tywi Valley one of the most astonishingly, breathtakingly beautiful natural landscapes in Wales.
It is as if, at the beginning of time, a giant amphora had been tipped upside down from the skies, and spilled out a river, the longest inland river in Wales, which has, over millennia, carved out oxbow lakes through the valley, and dropped historical and cultural gems, like the castles that dot its route.
Our Valley is also a haven for wildlife:
Spring sees the return of the swallows and swifts, who dive and flit along the river as they build their nests and feed their chicks.
Winter sees the return of migrating geese and swans.
And there are the sand martins, sandpipers, dippers, kingfishers and grey wagtails. And always there are the buzzards and kites soaring up over the river valley. There are the otters and, further up the Valley, closer to the Tywi’s source, there have been even been sightings of pine martins and red squirrels.
Those of us who live here by the Valley, and have the privilege of driving along the valley floor, know. Those of us who gaze out of our houses onto the Valley, those of us who love nature, and the birds, and the outlines of the iconic hills that line the valley floor and make this landscape, this “Garden of Wales”, all know, that our Tywi Valley IS a national landscape of unrivalled natural beauty.
There really is no debate!
Now let’s let everyone else know!