Why it should be on your radar: No, not the old
industrial city in Monmouthshire, but the sleepy parish of the same
name in Pembrokeshire. We’ll frenetically pillage Newport’s
charming jumble stores while dangerously supercharged on artisanal
caffeine from PWNC cafe, before
stopping in at the oldest pottery kiln in Britain – a cruel
reminder of that virtual pottery course you flunked back in The
Quarantine Days.

Where we’re staying:
Llys Meddyg

Before you go: Follow ceramicist Adam Buick on
Instagram. His work is inspired by the Pembrokeshire landscape.
We’re mesmerised.

Why it should be on your radar: Since the
town’s Centre for Alternative Technology opened in the sixties,
Machynlleth, or ‘Mach’, has become a magnet for like-minded
eco-nuts and kooky, bohemian types. After we’ve popped into MOMA
(Machynlleth Museum of Modern Art) and slurped the dregs of an oat
milk cappuccino at one of the town’s vegan-friendly cafés we’ll
take an e-bike out into the surrounding hills. It’s part of the
UNESCO Dyfi Biosphere, don’t you know?

Where we’re staying: The Royston

Before you go: If you haven’t already, acquaint
yourself with
This is Not a Drill: The Extinction Rebellion Handbook. It’s on
the unofficial reading list for visitors to Mach.

Why it should be on your radar: Cardigan’s
lovely, but we’re roosting just a little out of town in one of
Fforest Farm‘s rustic
bell tents. It’s a weekend break so we’re tight on time, but a
canoe trip down the Teifi gorge, a Bushcraft class, sea kayaking
and rugged coastal hikes are all on the cards. For dinner each
night, we’ll frisbee stone-baked goodness into our mouths at
Pizzatipi and wash them down with Welsh craft ales at the crumbly
old pub, Y Bwythn.

Where we’re staying: A bell tent on Fforest
Farm, naturally.

Before you go: Carve out half an hour to watch
this
documentary on Hiut, the disruptive Cardigan-based denim brand
who’ve helped rejig the local economy since their founding in
2011.

Why it should be on your radar: Why can’t we
just live here, more like? This pocket-sized coastal village is
often ranked one of the best places to live in the UK. After we’re
done lazing on the beach – alternately braving the Atlantic and
drying off under the late-summer sun – we’re tackling the gaping
gorges of Snowdonia. Or perhaps we’ll take things easy and book
that evening waterside yoga class, instead.

Where we’re staying: Abersoch isn’t packing
many hot hotels so we’re hunkering down in
this seaside bolthole.

Before you go: Read
North Wales Scrambles, a dynamic round-up of 50 epic climbs in
Snowdonia and beyond.

Why it should be on your radar: Where better to
expunge those pent-up creative juices, than on a human-size canvas
out on the fuzzy Black Mountains? We’re booking ourselves onto a
class at The Welsh Academy
of Art – a retreat based in the nearby hamlet of Cwmydu where
classes in oil painting, anatomy, portraiture and more are taught
by professional artists both in the studio and out in the
surrounding countryside.

Where we’re staying: We’re bedding down
on-site.

Before you go: Get drafting some initial ideas
in here. Once
you’ve filled each page, send it back to whence it came and your
scrawls will be catalogued as part of an ongoing community art
project in Brooklyn, New York.