What's going for it? The masochist in me loves a faded spa town, particularly of the Victorian variety. The looming gothic architecture! The great glum trees! The sad memory of all those visitors in times past, here to cure their lumbago or TB, soaked into the stones. Llandrindod Wells has it all in spades. You know the score: pump rooms, parks, ornamental lakes, boulevards, how-d'you-do hotels with house orchestras and Sunday afternoon tea dances, laid out by proudly bearded Victorians in sepia photographs. It's still all there, even if these days there's a touch of Miss Havisham's wedding dress about the place. Hippies moved into Llandrindod in the 1970s, and you'll still find a whiff of prog-rock artsiness, and the magnificent Vans Good Food Shop. Life's flotsam accumulates in this timewarp, as if it was making for the Welsh coast and gave up halfway.
The case against A little dour and stuffy. Wednesday is half-day closing, though it's a bit like that all week. Far from anywhere except Builth Wells. Heftily hit by the downturn. A small town, where I imagine the postman knows how many sugars you have in your cuppa. Cold, wet – and that's in August.
Well connected? On the delightful, if not speedy, Heart of Wales line from Swansea to Shrewsbury: four trains a day to Shrewsbury (90 minutes), or south to Llandovery (50-60 minutes) and, with a change, to Swansea (2hrs 45 minutes). But you didn't come here for the connections.
Schools Two primaries: Llandrindod Wells CIW is "improving" with many "good" features, says Estyn, with Llandrindod Wells Primary "very good" with some "outstanding" features. Llandrindod High is "good".
Hang out at... The Herb Garden Cafe for quiche and sandwiches; theMetropole for dickie-bowed waiters to impress your great-aunt.
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