The walk begins in Talley, heading off first into the countryside and taking in the ruins at the end. Beyond the 18th-century Talley House, quiet country lanes lead up from the valley floor between ancient hedgerows of beech, oak, and holly, overhung with evergreen clumps of hart's-tongue fern.
You climb through shadowy woodland that attracts many butterflies, including the comma, speckled wood, and delightful silver-washed fritillary. The path emerges onto high, open farmland which throbs with insect life in summer — prey for countless spiders and the handsome golden-ringed dragonfly patrolling its territory along the woodland edge. Coarse mountain grasses are dotted with mountain pansies and harebells, with our vista of emerald fields stretching below.
A long, broad avenue of oaks stretching away to the north was once the drive to Edwinsford, which stands above a bend on the River Cothi. Edwinsford was the ancestral home of the Williams family, prominent figures in Carmarthenshire politics in the 18th and 19th centuries. Built partly in the style of an elegant French château, it was occupied during World War II by Polish refugees who grew mushrooms under the floorboards; today the old house lies abandoned.
A road leads above Talley's twin lakes — rich mineral pools formed in glacial hollows where one drains to the north and the other to the south. Between them, hidden by trees, is a motte whose origins are obscure.
The lower lake is a nature reserve. Archaeological studies of pollen deposits in the mud have given scientists an accurate picture of the change in vegetation at the dawning of the Bronze Age, when oak, ash, hazel, and elm were felled to provide farmland.
The lakes offer an ideal habitat for cormorant, great crested grebe, tufted duck, coot, and mute swan, their crystal-clear waters brightened by floating water lilies beneath which massive pike lurk.
You re-enter Talley close to the church, which dates from 1772. A classic bell-cote church with flagged floors, its simple, timeless beauty was augmented in the 1980s by a stained glass window donated by a local quarry owner.
Just to the south are the remains of the abbey, founded by Rhys ap Gruffydd, a powerful Welsh prince of the late 12th century. It was a splendid building, 300 feet long and 100 feet high, and was the only house in Wales belonging to the Premonstratensian Order (originating in Prémontré, France, in 1119). Known as the White Canons from their habits, they lived by the order's motto: "Devotion, learning and service."
Caring for the sick and fulfilling parochial duties in the parish, the White Canons both farmed and worshipped here for over 300 years. The abbey was badly damaged in Owain Glyndŵr's uprising, and by the time of the Dissolution only eight canons remained, leaving behind a place of haunting serenity with ancient walls steeped in prayer and thoughtful meditation.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
