Scenic Place in Neath Port Talbot

Bwlch Mountain forms part of the upland ridge separating the Swansea and Neath valleys in South Wales, rising to over 400 metres and offering panoramic views across the South Wales Valleys, the Bristol Channel and on clear days as far as Somerset and Devon. The name Bwlch is the Welsh word for pass, reflecting this upland's historic role as a route between valleys. The heather, bilberry and rush moorland of the summit is typical of South Wales upland habitat, providing ground for skylark, curlew and occasional red grouse. The views from the ridge encompass the full sweep of the valley landscapes shaped by two centuries of coal mining and steelmaking.

Gnoll Estate Country Park near Neath in Neath Port Talbot is a country park and heritage landscape of over 200 acres centred on the eighteenth-century Gnoll House demesne, one of the most remarkable designed landscapes in Wales. The estate was developed from the 1730s by Sir Humphrey Mackworth and his successors as an elaborate landscape garden incorporating cascades, waterfalls, ornamental ponds, a walled kitchen garden and ornamental plantings that were among the most ambitious landscape garden schemes in eighteenth-century Wales. The Gnoll cascades, fed by a series of ponds on the hillside above the house, create the most visually dramatic feature of the landscape, the water descending through a series of falls and channels designed for visual and acoustic effect. The park is managed by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and is freely accessible, providing one of the most historically interesting and scenically attractive country parks in south Wales.

Margam Country Park covers nearly one thousand acres near Port Talbot in Neath Port Talbot, encompassing the Gothic Revival Margam Castle, the medieval Cistercian abbey remains and outstanding twelfth-century chapter house, formal gardens, a deer park, adventure playground and extensive woodland walks. The abbey was founded in 1147 and is one of the most important Cistercian foundations in medieval Wales, its remains representing some of the finest ecclesiastical architecture in south Wales. The deer herd, descendants of animals kept here for centuries, roam freely through the parkland. Margam is one of the most historically layered country parks in Wales, combining eight centuries of religious, aristocratic and landscape history within a single freely accessible site.