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A misunderstood mountain

The Sugar loaf is the lowest and most southern mountain in the Black Mountains range. It stands at 596m, where the summit offers glorious panoramic views of the surrounding hills, the Usk Valley and distant views of the Mendips.

The lower oak-clad slopes and valleys are spectacular to walk through at any time of the year. The broad rounded heather and bracken-clad shoulders of the summit ridges can be exhilarating on clear windy days.

The distinctive shape of the summit often provokes the question, is it volcanic? The hill isn't volcanic but part of the same old red sandstone that makes up all the Black Mountains.

Parc Lodge Farm nestles in one of the two valleys to the east of the summit. It's surrounded by a Medieval Park Pale and was once part of a deer park, probably for the priory in Abergavenny.