Myddfai is situated in an area of great natural beauty and is rich in legend and history. The village is particularly renowned as having been the home of the famous Physicians of Myddfai for some 600 years.
According to legend the Physicians were the descendants of the Lady of the Lake, a beautiful fairy who arose from the depths of the nearby Llyn y Fan Fach, married a local shepherd boy, and set up home on a farm near Myddfai. The Lady eventually returned to the depths of the Lake but before she disappeared forever she instructed her three sons in the arts of healing and medicine and showed them where to collect the herbs which then, as now, grew in profusion in the area.
Low cloud over Llyn y Fan Fach
The eldest son of the Lady, one Rhiwallon, was in the early 13th century the personal physician of Rhys Gryg (warrior son of the Welsh Prince Rhys ap Gruffydd) who was the Lord of Dynevor and Ystrad Towy. Rhiwallon was assisted by his three sons, Cadwgan, Gruffydd and Einion and they and their descendants were famed for their skill as doctors. The reputation and fame of the Physicians spread throughout Europe over the centuries. The last Physician of Myddfai died in 1842 and his tombstone is still to be seen in the porch of the village church.
The wisdom of the Physicians was recorded in the Red Book of Hergst, the text of which dates back to the 13th century. The original manuscripts are to be found in the British Museum and copies make up part of the Red Book at Oxford.
The Physicians of Myddfai drew upon a material medica of around 175 locally grown herbs. Herbs still flourish in the area and there is currently a renewed interest in their growth and potential use in modern life.
The National Garden of Wales is developing a garden containing the herbs which were grown and used by the Physicians and will mount an exhibition highlighting their work.