The Ceredigion Art Trail has been warmly praised by a leading travel writer and broadcaster.

Artists from all over Ceredigion were delighted to hear from well known travel writer and broadcaster Mike Parker at a special event to mark the start of the Art Trail, held at the Da Mhile distillery gallery near Llandysul on Friday 8th August.

Mike, who lives in mid Wales, has written several travel books and is well known for travelling round Wales in ITV’s Coast to Coast and Great Welsh Roads. He is also Ceredigion's Plaid Cymru candidate for the May 2015 Westminster Election.

“It’s phenomenal how the Trail has come together so well on a shoestring,” said Mike. “Artists are an important part of the longstanding tradition of entrepreneurial activity in west Wales. In Ceredigion, a quarter of those in work are self-employed - twice the national average.

“In my writing, everything starts with a ‘sense of place’, and it’s evidently the same for so many of the two hundred artists participating in the Trail. The Ceredigion coast and countryside is such a source of inspiration, as is the culture woven through a landscape that manages to be both bony and voluptuous.

“I wish the Trail every success. It’s going to be a cracking few weeks for residents and visitors alike. You can see high quality art for free at venues all over the county and visit artists and crafts people in their studios to see what goes on behind the scenes.”

Details of the Art Trail’s free exhibitions and open studios are available at http://ceredigionarttrail.org.uk/