BRECON (Aberhonddu) is a sturdy county town at the northern edge of the central Beacons. The proliferation of well-proportioned Georgian buildings and its proximity to the hills and lakes of the National Park make it a popular stopping-off place and a good base for day walks in the well-waymarked hills to the south.

The town's highlight is the Brecknock Museum (April-Sept Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-1pm & 2-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; Oct-March Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-1pm & 2-4pm; £1), at the junction of the Bulwark and Glamorgan Street. Displays include agricultural implements unique to the area, a nineteenth-century assize court last used in 1971, and an antique collection of painstakingly carved Welsh "love spoons"- betrothal gifts for courting Welsh lovers. Running east from the Bulwark is the Watton, where you'll find the diverting Oriel Jazz gallery (daily 1-4pm; free). Capitalizing on the town's astonishingly successful annual jazz festival , held over a long weekend in mid-August, the gallery presents an entertaining romp through the archives of twentieth-century music, with rare video footage of some of the jazz greats.

From the town-centre crossroads, northwest of the Bulwark, High Street Superior goes north, becoming The Struet, running alongside the rushing waters of the Honddu. Off to the left, a footpath climbs up to the cathedral . The building's dumpy external appearance belies its lofty interior, graced with a few Norman features from the eleventh century, including a hulking font. The mid-sixteenth-century Games Monument , in the southern aisle, is made of three oak beds and depicts an unknown woman whose hands, clasped in prayer, remain intact, but whose arms and nose have been unceremoniously hacked off.