However rainfall in the upper end of the Ffestiniog valley can be very high all year around.

The nearby Ffestiniog power station, the high Stwlan Dam and Llyn Ystradau[citation needed], colloquially known as Tanygrisiau Reservoir, are part of a pumped storage hydroelectricity installation.

The closure of the slate mines during the late 1970s led to massive depopulation of the area from which it has only recently (2005) begun to recover.

Welsh is the predominant language of the area and the medium of instruction in all local schools.

As a result of the slate mining, when the Snowdonia National Park was created, Tanygrisiau, Manod and Blaenau Ffestiniog were left outside, thus creating a doughnut-shaped area excluded from the National Park.