Staylittle: Highlands, Water and History

Staylittle lies in the flat upland basin of the River Clywedog, near the upper end of Clywedog Reservoir. The landscape, water and traces from different centuries offer a range of themes for a trip. When looking for a holiday cottage, you can consider whether cycling and walking, activities on the water, or the history of the area are especially important to you.

Highlands, Routes and Water

National Cycle Route NCR 8 passes through Staylittle, giving it a direct connection to the village. There are numerous opportunities for walking and cycling in the surrounding area. This offers different starting points for planning your day: a named cycle route through the village on the one hand, and activities in the wider area on the other.

Hafren Forest is near Staylittle and offers picnic spots and woodland trails. These features make it an appealing choice for an outing combining exercise with a break in the forest. They add another point of interest in the landscape to the cycling and walking opportunities.

Clywedog Reservoir is also a destination for outdoor activities. Near Staylittle, sailing is available there through the Clywedog Sailing Club. The Clywedog Sailing and Paddlesports Club also runs a comprehensive racing programme on the reservoir. Sailing opportunities and a club racing programme therefore represent different aspects of the activities available on the water.

Prehistoric Traces and Local History

The scheduled monument group “Barrow Group W of Staylittle” comprises six prehistoric round barrows. They probably date from the Bronze Age, approximately 2300 to 800 BC. Their national significance lies in their potential to increase knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. There are several Bronze Age barrows in the area around Staylittle; the historic landscape also includes a concentration of earlier prehistoric burial sites.

Medieval use is also one of the historic landscape’s layers: it formed part of a monastic grange. A grange was an agricultural estate belonging to a monastery; here, the term points to an era of landscape history distinct from that of the prehistoric burial sites.

Staylittle existed as a dispersed settlement by the late 17th to early 18th century at the latest. Its name derives from a former inn on the drovers’ road, later a turnpike road, between Llanidloes and Machynlleth. It was first recorded as “Stay-a-little” in the first decade of the 19th century. The history of the place name thus leads from an inn to a road that was first used for droving livestock and later as a turnpike road.

Staylittle Baptist Chapel was built in 1805; the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Staylittle followed in 1806. In the 19th century, Staylittle played an important role in providing nearby farming and mining communities with places of Baptist and Methodist worship. Along with the prehistoric and medieval traces, the chapels reveal another aspect of the village’s history.

Accommodation and Getting There

The Lodge at Staylittle is mountain chalet-style accommodation in the Cambrian Mountains of Mid Wales. Check its availability directly before your trip. The recommended driving route to The Lodge is via the B4518 through Llanidloes or Llanbrynmair. Road conditions and navigation advice may change, so check the current route before setting off.

A useful distinction when choosing a location is that NCR 8 runs through Staylittle, while woodland trails and sailing are in the surrounding area. If you are looking for a holiday cottage, you can weigh this connection to the village against your plans for cycling, walking or activities on the water, and include cultural history as another focus.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Builth Wells, Meifod, Colva, Llangattock, Forden, Llanwern, Llanbrynmair, Mochdre.

For the wider travel overview: Powys.