While often confused with stargazing, the two aren’t the same. A dark sky is an environment free from light pollution, where the stars, planets, and galaxies are visible in their natural brilliance. Stargazing is the activity, the joy of looking up once you’re there.

Four miles from the market town of Rhayader, in the heart of Mid Wales, owner-operator Kerena Pugh’s Lon Lodges sits within working farmland at the edge of the Cambrian Mountains. Sheep outnumber people in this part of the country. The landscape is open, elevated, and largely uninterrupted by artificial light.