A BRECON and Radnorshire by-election candidate has been accused of "not knowing the patch" after visiting a neighbouring constituency while campaigning.

Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds crossed into the Cynon Valley constituency when she visited Penderyn the village which is home to the famous whiskey of the same name and also Brecon Gin. The party has dismissed criticism from the Conservatives and scotched claims Ms Dodd was unware the distillery is in a neighbouring constituency.

The Welsh Lib Dem leader, who is standing in Brecon and Radnorshire for the first time after three unsuccessful attempts to win the northern Powys seat of Montgomeryshire, tweeted that she had visited the distillery with a Lib Dem Member of the European Parliament.

She shared on her @DoddsJane Twitter account: "Had a lovely day talking to residents in #Ynyswen and #Pontneddfechan yesterday with @amcarmichaelMP.

"The visit to @PenderynWhisky was fascinating. Great to hear how they used EU funding to grow their business and put our area on the map."

Though the distillery is based in the Brecon Beacons, and marketed as such, the village is in the Cynon Valley constituency and the Rhondda Cynon Taf local authority area. Cynon Valley is held by Labour and there is no by-election taking place there.

Ynyswen, near Ystrdgynlais, and Pontneddfechan are both in the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency,

But rounding the campaigning off with a visit to the whiskey distillery has led to criticism from the Conservatives who are at pains to point out Ms Dodds, who has a house in London where she works for a charity, isn’t local.

Conservative candidate Chris Davies, who had moved from his home in Swansea to the constituency some 20 years before becoming MP for Brecon and Radnorshire in 2015, took a shot at his opponent.

He said: "If Jane Dodds was more familiar with ‘our area’ she would have known that Penderyn Distillery is not even in Brecon and Radnorshire.

“However, I suppose it is an easy mistake to make if you don’t live in the constituency."

Powys Conservative councillor James Evans also criticised Ms Dodds on Facebook.

He wrote: "I think the Liberal Democrats need to get thier bearings. If their candidate was from Brecon and Radnorshire she might know where our area starts and ends. Penderyn is not in B&R!"

However a spokesman for the Lib Dems said the comments were just a "desperate" to criticise their candidate.The spokesman said: "Of course we know where Penderyn is. We also know that the business has strong roots from within the constituency, and helps put the area on the map with their fantastic Brecon gins that are sold around the world. Maybe if the Conservatives understood businesses like Penderyn and how much they'd be hurt by Tory plans for a no deal Brexit, they wouldn't need to resort to tactics like this in a desperate attempt to win votes."