Bron-Y-Aur Cottage — Led Zeppelin, Wales

Bron-Y-Aur is a small, remote cottage in the hills above Machynlleth in Powys, Wales — the place where Robert Plant and Jimmy Page retreated in the spring of 1970 with their families and a small circle of friends to write songs for what would become Led Zeppelin III. The cottage had no electricity; they wrote by candlelight and firelight, playing acoustic guitars and building the folk and acoustic material that would distinguish the third album from its predecessors' hard rock intensity. Songs written or developed at Bron-Y-Aur include 'Gallows Pole,' 'Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,' 'Tangerine,' and 'Friends,' as well as material that would later appear on IV and beyond.

The decision to retreat to a remote Welsh cottage was deliberate — a conscious rejection of the electric energy of the first two albums and the relentless touring of the previous two years, and a return to the acoustic and folk roots that both Plant and Page carried alongside their appetite for volume. Plant had a personal connection to Wales and to the landscape of the Welsh hills; the music that emerged from Bron-Y-Aur reflects that connection in its textures and its emotional quality. The cottage gave its name to two pieces: the acoustic instrumental 'Bron-Y-Aur' (released on Physical Graffiti in 1975) and the rollicking 'Bron-Y-Aur Stomp' on Led Zeppelin III.

Bron-Y-Aur cottage is in the Snowdonia foothills near Machynlleth and is accessible by foot. It is a privately owned property and is not open to visitors, but its location is known and it has become a pilgrimage destination for Led Zeppelin fans willing to walk to it. The surrounding landscape — dramatic, green, and remote — is unchanged from the spring of 1970. Machynlleth is approximately 30 miles north of Aberystwyth on the A487.