Cut off from the rest of Wales by the lofty spine of the Cambrian Hills, Ceredigion is a county often forgotten. Yet it has much to occupy both the walker and the casual visitor, with some wonderfully remote hills and mountains, a plethora of magical and mystical historic sites, some of principality’s best wildlife watching and, within the giant sweep of Cardigan Bay, some magnificent and generally unspoilt coastline. 

The casual walker is well catered for, with a coast path that runs almost the full length of the county’s coastline and a few enchanting forestry centres bristling with waymarked trails – the finest of which, Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian, in the hills above Aberystwyth, offers views of mountains and coast as well as many historical treasures from standing stones to disused mines. Devil’s Bridge provides almost alpine ambience at the heart of the county, and Tregaron makes a good base for the atmospheric ruins of Strata Florida Abbey as well as the isolated Teifi Pools.

Those that like their walking on the wild side need look no further than Plynlimon: Mid Wales’s mountain and the highest ground in the county. Its eastern and southern flanks are easily penetrated by good tracks but the western and northern reaches are about as remote as it gets in Wales and reward the discerning pioneer with the kind of solitude they could only dream of within the country’s national parks.

Sparse population makes Ceredigion a great place to see wildlife, with red kite feeding at Bwlch Nant-yr-Arian and a whole visitor centre devoted to the national bird in Tregaron; off the coast, Cardigan Bay is home to a resident population of bottlenose dolphins that can be seen from dolphin watching boat trips starting at Newquay.