Centre for Alternative Technology

Place: Machynlleth, Wales
Official site: cat.org.uk
Themes: Countryside, Architecture
Listed in: in:100

Groups: Yes, conferences, meetings and training
Capacity: Groups of 2 to 130; catering for over 150
Beds: 24 en-suite twin and double rooms, sleeps 40
Meeting rooms: 8 rooms, including the Sheppard Theatre (130) and the Dulas Room (40)
Food: Vegetarian café: breakfast, lunch and evening meals; delegate packages
By train: Machynlleth station, about 3 miles away, then T2 bus or bike
Open: Pre-booked visits only (courses, events, B&B, groups)

Source: the venue’s website, checked on 31/10/2026.

In a disused slate quarry in Wales’s Dyfi valley, a group of pioneers settled in 1973 to test wind power, hydro and low-energy houses. The Centre for Alternative Technology, an educational charity, has become one of Britain’s leading environmental schools.

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Its Graduate School, opened in 2007, has produced more than 2,500 graduates in sustainable architecture, energy and food. The WISE building by Pat Borer and David Lea opened in 2010: 50 cm hemp and lime walls, and a circular lecture theatre with rammed earth walls 7.2 metres high, 320 tonnes of earth, the tallest in the UK.

WISE sleeps 40 in 24 en-suite twin rooms and caters for more than 150 delegates from its vegetarian kitchens; its rooms take 2 to 130 people. Since 2023 the site has been reserved for courses, groups and events. Machynlleth station, with direct trains from Birmingham, is 5 km away.

Photo credits : Rosser1954 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) ; Tom Parnell (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)

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