Things you didn't know about... Powys

Come on in... there's lots of room for everyone

Powys is the largest of the Welsh counties, covering more than 5,000 sq km (2,000 sq mi). But while Powys makes up about a quarter of the landmass of Wales there is only an average of one person for every 10 acres.

We also speak English...

Powys is the most Welsh-speaking of the Welsh counties. According to government statistics just under a third of inhabitants can speak Welsh and the county's top-performing secondary school claims that 83 per cent of its pupils are bilingual.

Powys is paradise on Earth

The county's motto is "Powys—The Paradise of Wales" (Welsh: "Powys Pardwys Cymru"). This motto and theme appear repeatedly in Welsh literature from the Middle Ages through to the present day.

Powys is pagan country

The county of Powys takes its name from the Kingdom of Powys, an ancient Welsh state that emerged in the chaotic years following the Roman withdrawl from Britain. The name Powys is thought to derive from the Latin "pagus", one meaning of which is "Pagan".

A Stairway to Powys

According to rock folklore, Led Zeppelin spent much of 1970 at Bron-yr-Aur, a cottage near the Powys town of Machynlleth. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page retreated to the cottage to recuperate after a gruelling tour of the United States. Led Zeppelin songs that can be traced back to the cottage include Over the Hills and Far Away and The Rover.

Richard Nixon, President of Llynlloedd?

Disgraced US president Richard Nixon was descended from a 17th-century farm owner from Llynlloedd, Powys.

Powys is a mountaineer's paradise

Powys is home to the Brecon Beacons (Welsh: Bannau Brycheiniog), a wild and brooding mountain range in south-east Wales. The Brecon Beacons are so called because of the ancient practice of lighting beacon fires on the mountains to warn of attacks by the English.

Mount Everest's link to the Brecon Beacons

The tallest mountain on the planet has a Powys connection. The 8,848 m (29,029 ft) behemoth may be called Sagarmatha in Nepalese and Chomolungma in Tibetan. But to us it's best known as Mount Everest, after geographer and surveyor Colonel Sir George Everest, who came from Gwernvale Manor near Crughywel in Powys.

Powys is a paradise for red kites

Powys is home to some 400 to 500 breeding pairs of red kites, a beautiful bird of prey that was virtually extinct in the 1930s.