Scenic Place in Vale of Glamorgan

Penarth Pier is a Victorian pleasure pier opened in 1894 on the Glamorgan coast south of Cardiff, one of the most elegant and well-maintained seaside piers in Wales. Recently renovated with a new pavilion building providing a café, cinema and events space, the pier has been reinvigorated as a social and cultural destination. The esplanade running along the clifftop offers extensive views across the Bristol Channel toward Somerset and Exmoor, with Flat Holm and Steep Holm islands visible on clear days. Penarth is connected to Cardiff by regular train and is one of the most visited seaside destinations in south Wales. The town contains Victorian and Arts and Crafts architecture, a Turner House Gallery and the adjacent Cosmeston Lakes Country Park to the south.

Cosmeston Lakes Country Park near Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan covers over 250 acres and combines two large lakes formed from flooded limestone quarries with nature reserves, picnic areas, a reconstructed medieval village and walking and cycling trails. The lakes formed naturally when quarrying ceased in the early twentieth century and now support great crested grebes, kingfishers, herons and numerous wildfowl species within a Local Nature Reserve. The reconstructed medieval village, based on archaeological excavations within the park, is a life-size recreation of a fourteenth-century Welsh settlement interpreted with costumed demonstrations during events. One of the most varied and educationally rich country parks in Wales, Cosmeston is easily accessible from Cardiff.

Penarth Marina is a modern marina development in the outer harbour area of Penarth on the north shore of the Bristol Channel in the Vale of Glamorgan, providing berths for a significant number of leisure vessels and forming part of the broader regeneration of the Penarth waterfront. The marina is located immediately south of Cardiff Bay Barrage, close to the border between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, and provides sailing and boating access to the Bristol Channel and the outer reaches of Cardiff Bay. The waterfront development around the marina includes residential apartments, a hotel and waterfront dining, creating an attractive harbourside environment. The marina serves as a base for sailing clubs and water sports activities on the Bristol Channel and is part of the wider regeneration of the Penarth seafront that has also seen the restoration and redevelopment of the Victorian pleasure pier as a cultural venue.

Porthkerry Park is a large country park in Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, occupying a wooded valley leading down to a beach at Porthkerry Bay on the Bristol Channel coast. The park covers over 220 acres of ancient woodland, meadow and beach habitat managed by the Vale of Glamorgan Council as a freely accessible public amenity for the communities of Barry and the surrounding Vale. The beach at the foot of the valley is a quiet and relatively secluded stretch of shingle and sand at the base of limestone cliffs, providing a natural contrast to the more intensively developed beaches of nearby Barry Island. The wooded valley above contains ancient sessile oak woodland of considerable ecological interest, with walking trails connecting the beach to the upper park. The Victorian viaduct that crosses the valley head is a prominent heritage feature and the park's combination of coastal access, ancient woodland and open meadow makes it one of the most varied country parks in the Vale.