The Elan Valley Trust in Mid Wales will host the first ever Elan Dark Sky Festival on March 27 and 28 at one of the world’s best stargazing sites.
The festival, held at locations across the Elan Valley and Rhayader, celebrates more than 10 years of International Dark Sky status in Cwm Elan and aims to raise awareness of the importance of dark skies for wildlife, conservation and wellbeing.
The full programme, which is available to view and book at https://elanvalley.org.uk/elan-dark-sky-festival-2026-full-programme/ , includes drop-in activities and ticketed events to suit different ages and interests.
The festival kicks off on Friday evening with a nocturnal creature walk and talk with Sorcha Lewis, a dark sky bike ride with Pippa Boss, a starlit concert with musicians Toby Hay and Holly Blackshaw, a light painting photography workshop with Dafydd Wyn Morgan of SERYDDA and drop-in stargazing at Claerwen car park with the Elan Valley Trust dark sky team.
On Saturday, March 28, audiences can drop-in to ‘Mission Control: Elan Dark Skies’ at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre for a dazzling array of free, family friendly activities. Activities include solar observing with First Light Optics and astro-archaeology craft activities from Timescape Archaeology, to name a few.
During the day, visitors will also be able to watch a livestream video link of the view through a telescope of the dark skies of New Zealand and listen to an astronomy talk from renowned New Zealand astronomer Gareth Davies.
Throughout Saturday, visitors can tour through the galaxy in one of three planetarium shows taking place in CARAD, Rhayader.
Young people from Radnorshire are also invited to take part in a lantern making workshop with artist Zoe Matthews to create spectacular structures which will form the basis of a lantern procession later that evening.
On Saturday evening, audiences can enjoy a nocturnal bats, birds and moths walk and talk at dusk, followed by the lantern procession.
Astronomer Rob Davies will give a talk over dinner at Tŷ Penbont and captivating storyteller Mair Tomos Ifans will share stories about the moon, stars and the night under the night sky.
To cap things off, Rob Davies and Sam Price will hold a stargazing workshop for a small group of people at the Cosmic Cwtch.
The Elan Valley was awarded International Dark Sky Park status and granted silver-tier status in June, 2015 by the International Dark Sky Association.
This status now means that the entire 45,000 acres of the Elan Valley are protected against light pollution for the benefit of those who live and work there, in addition to the thousands of visitors each year.
The status also provides sanctuary for the abundance of wildlife and nature which can be found by day or night on the estate. It is widely recognised as one of the best stargazing sites in the world.
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