Berriew: Art, Church History and Paddling

When looking for a hotel in Berriew, you can use specific interests as a guide: art at the Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture, the historic effigies at St Beuno’s Church, or paddling on the Montgomery Canal. The museum and church are in Berriew; the paddling route runs between Berriew and Welshpool. These themes differ in nature and scale: a collection, church art and a route on the water offer different focal points for planning your trip.

Art at the Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture

The Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture is the only museum in Europe dedicated to a living artist. It opened to the public in Berriew in 1991. The collection includes sculptures, mirror portraits, watercolours, jewellery and photographs dating from the mid-1960s to the present day.

The variety of media and the broad span of time offer two distinct ways to approach the collection: you can compare the different types of work or consider the period covered as the context for the artistic theme. This gives the museum a different focus from St Beuno’s Church, where three marble effigies from a particular period and their connection to the Devereux family shape the experience.

St Beuno’s Church: restoration and effigies

St Beuno’s Church in Berriew was restored by Edward Haycock in 1875. Inside are three white marble effigies from the Jacobean period, depicting members of the Devereux family. St Beuno’s Church therefore brings together two historical periods: the 19th-century restoration and the effigies from the Jacobean era. Their material, number and the family they depict make the figures a specific art-historical detail; the restoration date, by contrast, places the building’s history in context. For travellers interested in history, this makes it possible to distinguish between the history of the building and the older sculpture.

Glansevern Hall: house and garden landscape

Glansevern Hall is an early 19th-century house on the banks of the River Severn, with a park, gardens and pleasure gardens. The garden includes a 19th-century grotto. The park and garden landscape is laid out around a lake, with wooded walks and specimen trees. Here, the difference between architectural and garden history is easy to see: the house and grotto each have their own historical context, while the lake, paths and specimen trees describe the design of the landscape. This aspect complements art and church art with garden and landscape design.

Paddling on the Montgomery Canal

A 5-mile (8 km) paddling route runs along the Montgomery Canal between Berriew and Welshpool. Unlike the art and history themes, this activity is defined by a specific route length, allowing you to include paddling as a focus of its own in your trip planning. For your planning, the route length is a concrete point of reference, while the collection, restoration date and effigies take centre stage at the museum and church. Conditions and navigation restrictions can change, so check the latest guidance from the Canal & River Trust before setting out.

Discover more destinations: Bronllys, Brecon, Llangynidr, Talgarth, Llandrindod Wells, Vaynor, Cwmdu, Llanbrynmair.

For the broader travel overview: Powys.