Bodfari sits where the A541 threads through a gap in the Clwydian hills carved by the River Wheeler, a few miles north of Denbigh. The village has been settled for a very long time: Bronze Age and Roman finds hint at early activity, while Moel y Gaer, the Iron Age hillfort rising above the village, provides the first firm evidence of organised settlement. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Bodfari (recorded as 'Boteuuarul') was home to a small community of villagers, smallholders, slaves and a priest.
The village has a notable place in Welsh hagiography too, as the reputed home of Deifer the Recluse, said to have been visited here by St Winefride according to the medieval writer Robert of Shrewsbury.
For modern walkers, Bodfari has a different kind of significance: it's the usual final overnight stop for anyone walking the 177-mile Offa's Dyke Path from south to north, immediately before the trail climbs out of the valley and onto the high ridges of the Clwydian Range — the first of a chain of Iron Age hillforts, including Moel y Gaer itself and, further on, Foel Fenlli, that crown the hills above.
Bodfari sits where the Vale of Clwyd narrows and the River Wheeler joins the Clwyd, a position that has made it a natural staging point on routes through the valley since ancient times — the Iron Age hillfort of Moel y Gaer overlooks the village from the hills above. Its parish church of St Stephen has medieval origins, and the village's cluster of stone cottages reflects a long history as a small farming and staging community.
Bodfari also lies directly on the route of Offa's Dyke Path, making it a popular stop for long-distance walkers heading north towards the coast or south into the Clwydian Range, and its pub has long served as a welcome refuelling point on the trail.