Work on a 3.5 mile Dragon Trail through Rhayader is starting after it received a £34,000 grant

The project will create a new uniquely branded trail accessible for wheelchair users and families with pushchairs.

It will make use of the existing Elan Valley footpath and will run from the Elan Valley Visitors Centre through the town and on to Community Art Rhayader And District’s Timescape Exhibition on East Street.

The new trail will act as a spine intersected by walks running through both town parks linking the attractive riverside walk with the Waun Capel Park Woodland Walk and picking up the town trail starting in the Dark Lane Car Park and encompassing the site of the Castle and other places of historic and cultural interest in the town.

Currently there are areas of the Woodland Walk in Waun Capel Park that become unusable in wet weather so part of the grant will be used to install wooden boardwalks

There will be new town information panels at key points. These are in turn supported with various forms of information and interpretation that the organisers hope will be fun and imaginative and offer different ways to engage, inspire, educate and inform people of all ages. 

Rhayader Town Clerk Julie Stephens said: “We want visitors to be immersed in all that Rhayader has to offer: the character, history, love of outdoors and easily accessible green spaces.

“Although the fund is aimed at attracting visitors, the improvements will make the walks more enjoyable for residents too.

“The signage, interpretation and information throughout the town will lead visitors to walk or cycle along the trails both within town and the new “Dragon Trail” from CARAD to the Elan Valley Visitor Centre and will help people find their way around, encourage exploration and interaction, persuade people to venture around town and beyond, engage adult visitors, sharing information along the trails on the towns heritage as well as its flora and fauna and engage and excite children of all ages, finding ways to invite interaction along the trails.”

The project is being undertaken by Rhayader Town Council working in partnership with Welsh Water (Elan Valley Visitor Centre), Rhayader 2000 LTD, Community Arts Rhayader and District and the Waun Capel Trust.

They have been awarded a grant from the Brilliant Basics Fund, which supports local authorities to make improvements to small scale tourism infrastructure and visitor facilities. 

The project will cost about £43,000 in total, with 80 per cent of it funded by the grant and the work must be completed by the end of March 2027.

Mrs Stephens recently told the town council that the project group had gone through all the proposals received and chose from Platform 1.

“The next stage is to wait for proposals on the actual designs of the information and ideas on the different forms of interpretation,” she said.