Carregwiber Barn

Explorer Tom The National Cycle Museum in Llandrindod Wells can take you from an 1818 hobby horse to carbon-fibre machines without making you pedal a single mile. I would still bring a bell, because a room full of bicycle history deserves one cheerful ring before I begin talking nonsense. The independent museum fills the Automobile Palace on Temple Street with more than 260 cycles. Early hobby horses, boneshakers and penny-farthings sit in the story alongside lightweights, mountain bikes and newer frames. There are also club badges, jerseys, posters, lamps, tools and other riding keepsakes. Together they make the bicycle more than a parade of clever wheels: you can follow changes in sport, clothing, ordinary travel and the freedom a bike gave people who could ride away under their own power. Pause by an early machine and imagine the bravery required to trust its design on a rough road. Then compare it with later steering, tyres and frames. I am convinced some Victorian inventor looked at a dangerous-looking wheel and declared, 'Make it taller'; that is my imagined voice, not a museum quotation. The actual sequence of designs is strange enough. An 1884 Kangaroo cycle and a 1950s ice-cream cart are among the objects the museum highlights on its own site, proof that cycling's branches go in several entertaining directions. This is a museum for looking closely, not a race to the finish line. Its visitor days are seasonal and can change, so check the museum's own information before travelling to Llandrindod Wells. Find the machine you would dare to ride and the one you would politely decline. I suspect my imaginary bell will be loudest beside the second one.

Explorer Tom Radnorshire Museum has packed an old county into a former library in Llandrindod Wells, with fossils, old maps and human stories refusing to stay in separate boxes. Tom came hunting for one neat timeline and found a Welsh triple harp instead. The building seems delighted to have made his day more complicated. The museum occupies the former Carnegie Public Library and cares for collections from the old county of Radnorshire. Its geology and fossils reach far beyond any human record, while archaeology brings visitors back to settlements and objects made by people. Art, natural history and local photographs add different ways to see the same country. A log boat from Llandrindod and finds from Castell Collen are among the distinctive objects described by the museum. Give each item its own date and context rather than making one impossible procession across the room. The town's spa history deserves attention too. People came to Llandrindod for its waters, and later photographs and objects show how that trade changed streets and routines. Look from a specimen to an old image of the town, then ask what has survived outdoors. Tom claims the fossils are waiting for a spa treatment; they have endured rather longer than most visitors' patience. Powys Council runs the museum on Temple Street with free general admission. Check current opening and any temporary closure notice before setting out; displays can change. The collections reward a slow circuit even if you know little about the county. Leave with one object in mind and look for its link to the hills, buildings or people beyond the museum door.