FORGET the spectacular scenery of north Wales, the beauty of the Gower and the lovely costal views in Pembrokeshire.

When it comes to top Welsh beauty spots, Lord Kinnock, the former Islwyn MP and Labour leader rejected the above for the countryside surrounding a tiny village in Blaenau Gwent.

He picked Trefil, just north of his hometown Tredegar, as his favourite place in Wales.

He was responding to a survey by the Countryside Council of Wales, which is attempting to raise the profile of the Welsh countryside by asking the nation to nominate their favourite places.

Explaining his decision, Mr Kinnock said his "special place" was the mountain ridge north of Trefil, looking eastwards towards Llangynidir.

"The valley seen from the ridge above the limestone quarry is simply called 'y Dyffryn'," he said.

"The green is so intense that it wraps itself around you and at dawn and dusk the long shadows and the huge sky make the idyll into a motion picture. All this is gripping beauty but there is much more that makes y Dyffryn exceptional.

"The Romans, the 19th century iron masters and the 20th century steelworks got their limestone for smelting metal from the quarry.

"The Chartists of the 1830s plotted their insurrection and practised their arms drill on this ridge. And they stored their weapons in the quarry caves."

He said: "The young Aneurin Bevan, the political genius of the National Health Service, walked these hills reciting Milton and Shakepeare to fight his stammer.

"And, for millennia, real lovers have pledged adoration in the sun and shade of these slopes."

It's a far cry from the reason the village has had a high-profile recently, after scenes for the new adaptation of Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy starring The Office's Martin Freeman were filmed there.

Trefil was picked to represent the home of the loathsome Vogons in the film.

Author Douglas Adams described Vogsphere as having "a fetid, fog-bound mud bank" with a monument on which is carved "an arrow which points away into the fog, under which are inscribed in plain, simple letters the words, 'The buck stops here'."