Things to do in Cardiff

Barry Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales is one of the lesser-known medieval fortifications of the Welsh coastal lowlands, a site that speaks to the Anglo-Norman settlement of this fertile and strategically important area south of the Glamorgan uplands. The castle was associated with the Barry family, who took their name from the locality and were among the lesser Anglo-Norman lords who established themselves in South Wales following the conquest of Glamorgan in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. Though smaller and less well-preserved than the great Edwardian castles of north Wales, Barry Castle represents the local tier of Norman defensive architecture that made the conquest of Wales a reality on the ground. The Vale of Glamorgan is one of the most anglicised parts of Wales, its fertile limestone farmland having attracted dense Norman settlement from the earliest period of the conquest. A network of manor houses, small castles and fortified churches created a landscape of controlled agricultural territory extending from Cardiff to the coast, and Barry Castle was one node in that network. Its coastal position gave it some significance in relation to the Bristol Channel crossings and the maritime connections that were important to the Norman lords of Glamorgan throughout the medieval period. The castle's remains are fragmentary but the site retains enough to give a sense of its original form and the position it occupied within the medieval settlement pattern of the Vale. Barry has grown considerably as a town and resort since the Victorian period, when the development of Barry Docks as one of the principal coal exporting ports in the world transformed a small village into a major industrial settlement. The castle predates that transformation by many centuries and represents the much older history of this part of Glamorgan. Barry Island and the adjacent coastline provide good opportunities for combining a visit to the castle with the beaches, rock pools and coastal scenery that make Barry a popular destination from Cardiff and the surrounding valleys. The Vale of Glamorgan also contains the well-preserved Norman castle of Ogmore and the picturesque ruins of Ewenny Priory within easy reach.

Old Beaupre Castle is far from an easy castle to get to, so don't expect your SatNav to take you to this fabulous fortified manor. Access to this fortified manor house is from a poorly signposted public footpath across a field where there is limited parking for no more than 3 cars by the side of the road. As you walk across the field down the gentle valley of the river Thaw, this rustic medieval and then Tudor manor house, comes into view. The medieval part dates from about 1300, consisted of a group of buildings loosely arranged around the southernmost, or inner court. In the 16th century an extensive program of rebuilding was undertaken, started by Sir Rice Mansel, continued by William Bassett and finished by his son Richard. These are remarkably well preserved, despite the ruinous state of most of the buildings around them. They demonstrate the Bassetts' wealth and pretensions to grandeur, as was doubtless their intention at the time. The heraldic panels and inscriptions on each leave no doubt as to who built them. You will enter over a stile in the walled outer court and pass through a great wooden door in the gatehouse. Once inside there is plenty to explore with some fabulous noteworthy features, especially on the decorative porch, its fireplaces and windows. A terrific castle well worth the short walk.

The Brecon Beacons National Park covers approximately 1,344 square kilometres of upland and hill country in South Wales, encompassing the central Beacons sandstone massif, the Black Mountains to the east on the border with England, the Black Mountain to the west and the limestone country of the Fforest Fawr Geopark that links them. The park contains the highest ground in South Wales, with Pen y Fan reaching 886 metres as the highest point in the Brecon Beacons range, and the combination of accessible mountain walking, spectacular glaciated scenery, waterfalls, caves and the historic market towns and castles of the Usk valley makes it one of the most varied and rewarding national parks in Britain. The sandstone landscape of the central Beacons is characterised by the distinctive flat-topped summits and dramatic northern escarpments produced by the differential erosion of the Old Red Sandstone layers, the retreating ice of the last glacial period carving the cwms and corries that give the northern face of the main ridge its dramatic form. Pen y Fan, the highest summit, and its neighbour Corn Du are the most visited peaks in Wales after Snowdon, their relatively accessible ascent from the Storey Arms car park on the A470 making them achievable for a wide range of walkers. The western section of the park around the Fforest Fawr Geopark contains some of the most dramatic waterfall scenery in Wales. The Four Waterfalls Walk in the Vale of Neath passes a sequence of falls including Sgwd yr Eira, where it is possible to walk behind the curtain of water, in one of the finest short walking circuits in the park. The cave systems of the limestone country, including the Dan yr Ogof cave complex, are among the most extensive in Britain. The Brecon Beacons is also one of the darkest areas of sky in Wales and England and has been designated an International Dark Sky Reserve, making it one of the best places in the country for observing the night sky.

Bute Park is a large public park of over 56 hectares in the heart of Cardiff, occupying the west bank of the River Taff immediately north of Cardiff Castle and forming the green heart of the Welsh capital. Part of the historic Bute Estate developed by the Marquesses of Bute, the park contains an outstanding arboretum of over three thousand trees recognised as one of the most significant in Wales, formal gardens, riverside walks and open sports grounds. Adjacent to the Civic Centre, the National Museum Cardiff and Cardiff Castle, Bute Park sits at the centre of the city's cultural quarter and hosts major events including the annual Tafwyl Welsh-language festival. Admission is free and it is one of the most visited sites in Wales.

The name Candleston is probably derived from the de Cantelupe family who built a fortified manor house here in the later 14th century. Surrounded by the huge sand dune system of Merthyr Mawr, over time the lands of the manor later became covered with dunes and thus valueless. Candleston Castle was built upon a promontory of land overlooking the Merthyr Mawr sand dunes and it is probable that there was originally a small harbour near the site. It consisted of a D-shaped courtyard enclosed by a substantial curtain wall. A two storey hall range occupied the eastern side. A tower, consisting of a vault on the ground floor and a solar on the level above, were added shortly after on the southern end of the hall. This is a fabulous little castle, one of my favourite ruins in all of South Wales to explore. A walk round the interior discovering its fire places, kitchen area, windows and solar, you get a real sense this was a luxurious fortified home. It's very easy to imagine the hustle and bustle of a busy kitchen as the lords in their finery return home. Access to the castle is very easy as its located next to a pay and display car park, for walks in the woods and enormous sands dunes.

Cardiff Bay Barrage is a tidal barrage across the entrance of Cardiff Bay, completed in 1999 to create a freshwater lake of 200 hectares from what had previously been a tidal mudflat estuary. The barrage transformed the character of Cardiff Bay, enabling the extensive regeneration of the former docklands into a mixed residential, commercial and leisure waterfront that has become one of the most successful urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The barrage itself is approximately 1100 metres long, providing a pedestrian and cycling promenade with views over the bay and the historic Penarth Head. The transformation of Cardiff Bay attracted major cultural buildings including the Wales Millennium Centre and the Senedd as well as extensive residential development and visitor facilities, fundamentally changing the relationship between Cardiff and its waterfront.

The National Museum Cardiff, known locally as Cardiff Museum, is one of the finest museums and art galleries in the United Kingdom, housing collections of natural history, archaeology, geology and fine and applied art in an imposing neoclassical building in Cardiff's Civic Centre. The art collection is exceptional, including major Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Van Gogh acquired through the munificent bequest of the Davies sisters of Llandinam. The natural history galleries cover Welsh geology from the Precambrian to the present with important fossil collections and the world's largest preserved leatherback turtle. Admission is free, making it one of the most remarkable free cultural institutions in the United Kingdom.

Cardiff Wetlands, also known as the Wentloog Wetlands, is a network of freshwater lakes, reed beds, grassland and hedgerow habitats on the eastern margins of Cardiff, forming part of the larger mosaic of wetland habitats across the Gwent Levels between Cardiff and Newport. The wetlands attract significant populations of wintering and breeding birds including teal, wigeon, lapwing, snipe and various reed-nesting species. The broader Gwent Levels are internationally significant for both ecology and archaeology: reclaimed from tidal mudflats by the Romans and maintained through a drainage system of reens and sluices for nearly two thousand years, the levels contain evidence of Roman and medieval land management alongside some of the most ancient aquatic plant communities in Britain.

Castell Morgriag is an unfinished castle ruin lost beneath undergrowth and hidden away from view,to all but the most determined castle-finder. Access to the castle is via a track that runs from a car park behind a public house where with consideration you can park your car. Unfortunately the once tendered grounds are now overgrown with brambles and thick undergrowth, making exploration very difficult to make out the castle walls and towers. I've therefore included a map to help the discovery of this ruin.

A succession of settlers and invaders over the centuries have taken advantage of this naturally defendable site. Few castles can trace their remains back to Iron-Age, Roman, Dark Age, Saxon and Norman forifications better than Dinas Powys. This multi-purpose site lies at the eastern end of the Vale of Glamorgan, one end of the hill having been fortified in the early Christian period by a bank and ditch dating from the 5th to the 7th century. To find Dinas Powys Castle take the A4055 Cardiff to Barry road towards Dinas Powys. Once at the village find The Lettons Way. The path up to this overgrown and hidden castle can be found on right-hand side. Today the castle is almost completely lost under extensive undergrowth, but all this adds to the sense of discovering something lost. The walls are still quite substantial as is the area it covers, with remains of stone walls traceable with care through the thick undergrowth and woodland. A fascinating ancient place well worth exploring, if you don't mind the thorns and tangled roots.

Kenfig Castle is one of the best discoveries of all the hundreds of castles we have visited across the country. The castle is partially buried under the huge expanse of rolling sand dunes that stretch out in every direction, hidden beneath tangled undergrowth. Finding this castle you will need a map of the Kenfig sands. You can park off the road opposite the public footpaths that cross the sands. As you progress up and over the grassy sand dunes without any firm landmarks it can be easy to lose your way and the paths soon disappear underfoot. With the motorway far to the right of you, the sprawling Port Talbot steel works ahead, look out for the stub of the tower that sits upon a tangled grassy mound. If you come across the railway line as you head towards the steel works, work your way to your left, away from the motorway, and eventually you'll spot the stubby tower ruins. After you have visited the tower and work away from the tangled ruins, you will spot other sections of castle walls that appear from under the undergrowth, indicating there is still much that is hidden from view that still awaits excavation to reveal its secrets. On a hot day such as ours, make sure you take plenty of water for the walk. The Prince of Wales pub once back at the road provides a well earnt drink after a very long but enjoyable walk.

Lisvane and Llanishen Reservoirs are a pair of adjacent Victorian reservoirs in north Cardiff that have been developed as a nature reserve and country park providing wildlife habitat and recreational walking close to the city. The reservoirs were constructed in the 1880s to supply water to Cardiff and were managed as operational waterworks before their transformation. The surrounding grassland, woodland and wetland habitats support a range of breeding and wintering birds including great crested grebes, cormorants and various wildfowl, and the perimeter walking path provides a pleasant circular route through a naturalistic landscape. The reservoirs form part of the broader green corridor along the northern edge of Cardiff connecting Roath Park with the open countryside of the Vale. The site provides an important and accessible natural green space for the communities of north Cardiff.

Llandaff Bishop's Palace is a ruined medieval palace in the cathedral close of Llandaff in Cardiff, the remains of the residence of the Bishops of Llandaff built beside one of the oldest cathedral foundations in Wales. The palace ruins stand alongside Llandaff Cathedral, which dates in its present fabric from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries and contains Jacob Epstein's remarkable aluminium Christ in Majesty, installed after the cathedral was severely damaged by a German landmine in 1941. The ruins of the Bishop's Palace, with their substantial gatehouse and walls, provide an atmospheric complement to the cathedral in this compact and historically remarkable precinct. Llandaff is now a suburb of Cardiff but retains the character of a distinct historic village centred on its cathedral and close, providing one of the most complete medieval ecclesiastical landscapes in south Wales within easy reach of the city centre.

A dark, ivy-covered ruined tower is all that is left of one of the more important 13th-century castles of Glamorgan. It was built to hold this hill district of Meisgyn which had been wrestled from its Welsh overlords. The castle's strategic and commanding position, guarding the important route from the upland to the lowland zone, is very apparent. The castle is a small Glamorgan courtyard castle with its commanding panoramic views of the Vale of Glamorgan and the north Devon coastline. It castle stands on a flat-topped blunt spur on the edge of a steep drop to the south. Ditches separate it from the rest of the ridgetop on the east and west sides. The north side of a circular tower, once called the Raven, is the main upstanding stonework of the castle. At the height of its power Llantrisant was rated as 'second only to Cardiff in military importance'. Today the castle is little more than fragments within a public park, surrounded by railings to keep the goats from escaping.

Parc Cefn Onn is a country park in Lisvane in north Cardiff, one of the most naturalistic and botanically interesting green spaces in the Welsh capital, set in a steep wooded valley on the northern fringe of the city. The park is noted particularly for its outstanding rhododendron and azalea collection, which provides spectacular colour displays in late spring that attract large numbers of visitors to what is otherwise a relatively quiet and naturalistic park. The steep valley sides support ancient sessile oak woodland, and the stream running through the valley bottom provides freshwater habitat for birds and invertebrates. The park forms part of the broader green corridor along the northern edge of Cardiff linking Lisvane Reservoir with the open farmland to the north of the city, providing an important biodiversity corridor as well as a valuable recreational resource. The park is managed by Cardiff Council and is freely accessible throughout the year.