The elegiac remains of this Cistercian abbey can't quite compete with Monmouthshire's famously picturesque Tintern Abbey, but you'll have Strata Florida ("Valley of the Flowers" in Latin) almost to yourself, which makes it as special. It holds a unique place in Welsh hearts too. Although founded in 1164 by a Norman lord, the Cistercians won the support of the Welsh princes, and their abbeys became a focus for Welsh literary activity and culture.
Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd (of Cardigan Castle and National Eisteddfod fame) was a powerful patron of Strata Florida, and various dignitaries from one-time South Wales superpower Deheubarth are interred here. The great 14th-century poet Dafydd ap Gwilym is said to be buried under the yew tree in the neighboring churchyard.
The best-preserved remnant of the abbey is the arched entrance portal, decorated with lines like knotted rope. Otherwise it's mainly just low foundations tracing the outline of the church, cloister and other buildings. Also, two chapels at the rear still retain some of their 14th-century tiling, with interesting depictions including one with a man admiring himself in a mirror.
Get a further sense of the wild surrounding countryside with the wonderful clamber up a lonely valley to the Teifi Pools, source of Wales' longest river. The walk starts behind the abbey.
This isolated abbey lies a mile down a rural road from Pontrhydfendigaid, which itself is 5.5 miles northeast of Tregaron along the B4343.
