Strata Florida AbbeyAbaty Ystrad Fflur
Local highlightThe remote vale of flowers in the Cambrian hills, a Cistercian ruin bound up with the Welsh princes and famous for its great west doorway
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Out in the empty hill country east of Tregaron, Strata Florida means far more to Wales than its scattered ruins let on. The name is Latin for the vale of flowers — Ystrad Fflur in Welsh — and the abbey was founded in the 1160s as a Cistercian house, the order of monks who sought out remote country to live simply. It grew under the patronage of the Lord Rhys, the great prince of Deheubarth in south-west Wales, and became a burial place for the princes of his line and a centre of Welsh learning; the 14th-century poet Dafydd ap Gwilym is traditionally said to lie here, under a yew in the churchyard. Most of the abbey is now low walls, but its finest survival stands full height: the great west doorway, a round Romanesque arch with bold spiralling mouldings. Cadw looks after the site. It is a genuinely quiet spot; the nearest village is Pontrhydfendigaid, and the Teifi Pools and the Cambrian Way draw walkers up into the hills behind.
