The Dyfi Valley

Near Wales's west coast exists a land where myth meets modernity, ospreys swoop and independent spirit shines. Semele Assinder takes us on a tour of the UNESCO Dyfi Valley Biosphere

- Semele Assinder

There can’t be many railway station platforms from which it’s possible to look a passing pilot in the eye.

That really is what it feels like as you alight at Machynlleth in West Wales: every so often, just across the valley, you see a plane speeding along its scenic route. Today, the conductor and ticket inspector pause to speculate on the plane’s identity for a moment, before reverting to shepherding passengers off the train.

This spotting isn’t a rare occurrence. For the Dyfi Valley is home to the ‘Mach Loop’: an RAF training lap. The nearby Corris Craft Centre has information panels about it, and it has a great viewing area. But that’s not where I’m heading on this occasion; I’m here for a Mach Loop of my own, an exploration of this curious town. I stride out from the station, past the former school, the war memorial, and past MoMA (not that one, but an art gallery housed in a former chapel). As I do so, I can’t resist popping into Penrallt Gallery Bookshop, which has a beautifully curated selection of new and secondhand books. It’s just the place to buy a local guidebook.

I’ve known the Dyfi Valley for some 30 years, familiar with the sweep of the hills and the dramatic plunge of the valleys. As a teenager I used to gravitate towards Machynlleth’s Ian Snow, an emporium rich in trinkets and heady with the mysterious smell of incense. And the former wholefood café I remember lives on in Tŷ Medi, an award-winning vegetarian destination. Later, when bringing friends to the area, I sought out the postcard perfection of the candy-coloured houses on the Aberdyfi seafront and the coast certainly remains a hotspot. Machynlleth - as the seat of Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Parliament in 1404, it claims to be the ancient 'capital of Wales' - offers a deeper magic. And these days it's the sense of history that pulls me back to this place, where myth meets modernity.