Margam Park - Fine Family Day!
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Recommendation added: 20/03/2007 22:53
By: mirrired (YSUK rating +93)mirrired has been thanked 1 times for this contribution
"There are few locations which offer as much as Margam Park. There is a visitor centre, a castle, an orangery, a lake, a cafe, barbecue area, a farm trail, fairyland, a narrow guage railway, deer, squirrels, ducks and an adventure playground.
The Summer Season starts very soon (2nd of April) and it costs £3.00 to park your car, £7.00 to park your coach.
Entrance otherwise is free.
Once you have parked most people head straight up the hill towards the Castle and Visitors Centre. There is also an eatery Charlotte's Pantry which is open 10am until 5pm every day. Lunches are served between 12 and 2pm.
Its a lovely spot to have a snack as you can eat outside in the castle courtyard. Great if your little one prefers to run around rather than eat!
However, it is just as pleasurable to pack a picnic and choose your own spot. The park is so big it's easy to find a quiet spot to enjoy the views and let the little ones run around to their hearts content.
The walks all start from the castle area. Each walk is graded and full details of them can be obtained from the visitors centre. Personally I haven't bothered with such a formal approach. There is plenty to see and do and you are allowed to roam at leisure over the estate.
One of our favourite spots is Fairyland, and we tend to go here first. It is to the left of the car-park and is signposted. Fairyland is a collection of houses, castles and buildings which can be explored by your little one's. Now Craig is four he can run around unsupervised. We tend to go here first as he can let off a little steam before we go and get something to eat.
The path up from fairyland to the Castle is more child friendly I find as it's under trees and not as blatantly uphill as the main path.
Very close to the castle is the Lake. Monty the Margam Train takes you around the lake and accross some of the spectacular estate. If you are lucky you might see the deer herd. It costs £2.25 per adult and £1.25 per child. We tend to do this last when Craig's legs are getting tired. It gives him a rest and he is more
receptive to having a look at the ducks on the lake.
Alongside the lake is fabulous adventure playground. This again is another favourite with Craig. He is able to go on most things unsupervised which means I get to read my book for a bit whilst keeping an eye on him.
If you carry on along the same path it takes you down to the Farm Trail. They have Glamorgan Cattle, Sheep, Emus, Goats, Pigs and Donkeys. We enjoy this trail, but we tend to use the pram as by now Craig's legs have given up the ghost! Its a good firm track though, so no problem for pushing the pram.
There are lots of other areas in the park, but I find we run out of time to see them all. As you can see it's well worth the £3.00 parking fee!!"
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