Abergavenny

One weekend every September a market town at the edge of the Bannau Brycheiniog in south Wales gives itself over entirely to food, and for the other fifty-one weeks Abergavenny lives up to the reputation the festival made. Three mountains stand over it, one of them a jagged ridge called the Skirrid that a child can climb, and a Michelin-starred restaurant sits in the fields a few miles out.

Y Fenni, as the town is in Welsh, is known for three things, its food scene, its walks and its position on the park's edge. The Walnut Tree at Llanddewi Skirrid, run by Shaun Hill and William Griffiths, is the serious table; the Angel in the centre does an award-winning afternoon tea; the Market Hall repays a wander; and independent shops hide down the back streets. The walks start from the town itself: Mynydd Pen-y-fâl, the Sugar Loaf, can be climbed from the centre, Blorens rises to the south, and Ysgyryd Fawr, the Skirrid, is small, dramatic and easy. Abergavenny Museum sits in the castle grounds, Llanthony Priory's ruins lie up the Vale of Ewyas, Blaenavon's World Heritage landscape of ironworks and coal is a short trip south, and the canal towpath passes Goytre Wharf. The Brecon Beacons Bus links the town to the park's walking routes without a car, and a writing festival in April is the other date in the calendar; it is the food town of Wales, but the point is that you can walk it off up a mountain before lunch.