A real Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Clwydian Range is one of those places that seems almost too beautiful to be true, a secret tucked away in the north of Wales, just beyond the reach of most tourists at the moment, but some may become a National Park. With its rolling hills and jagged ridges, it’s a place where you can step out onto the path and feel the weight of the world drop away, a place where the only thing to worry about is how to catch your breath.
The first thing to know about the Clwydian Range is that it isn’t quite as famous as some of the other Welsh mountains. While Snowdonia gets all the headlines with its towering peaks and stunning vistas, the Clwydians are quieter, more modest—though no less magnificent for it. These hills are old. They date back some 400 million years, and as you wander through them, you can’t help but get the sense that they’ve been there forever. They've seen it all—wars, empires, the rise and fall of civilizations—and yet, they remain, unruffled by the passing centuries.
One of the best places to start your exploration is from the base of Moel Famau, the highest peak in the range, which rises to a humble 1,821 feet. It’s an easy enough climb, one that offers both stunning views and the perfect introduction to the landscape. The path winds its way through a patchwork of heath and scrub, each step bringing you closer to a sense of calm, as if the very earth here is quieter, more content with itself. The higher you go, the more you start to understand the beauty of the Clwydian Range—not in grandiose, sweeping views, but in the gentle curve of the land, the way the fields below are divided into neat, green squares, and the stillness that stretches to the horizon.
At the summit of Moel Famau, there’s a monument, a crumbling tower that’s little more than a pile of stone. It was erected in the early 19th century as a tribute to the 13th Earl of Derby, but now, it’s a quirky relic, half a ruin and half a landmark, standing proud in defiance of time. From here, you can look out over the Vale of Clwyd and, on a clear day, all the way to the mountains of Snowdonia in the distance. It’s one of those views that makes you feel you’re standing on top of the world—albeit, a small, windswept world that only a few people seem to know about.
But the Clwydian Range isn’t just about Moel Famau. For the more adventurous, the entire range offers a network of paths, each more charming than the last. The Offa’s Dyke Path, a 177-mile trail that stretches along the Welsh-English border, snakes through the Clwydians, and it’s a perfect way to spend a day—or several—wandering between the hills. Along the way, you’ll encounter the ancient earthwork that gives the path its name, a long and winding bank of earth and stone that marks the boundary between England and Wales. Walking along this historic divide, you feel the weight of centuries pressing in, as if the land itself is a living memory.
But perhaps the best thing about the Clwydian Range is its simplicity. It’s not the sort of place where you’ll find crowds or distractions. Instead, you get the space to think, to wander, to get lost in the landscape. Whether you’re standing atop a hill, looking out over the valley below, or quietly walking through a forest of birch and oak, there’s a peace here that’s hard to find elsewhere. It’s the sort of peace that sneaks up on you—subtle, unassuming—and leaves you feeling, in the end, just a little bit lighter.
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