Family adventures in the Dramatic Heart of Wales

Paid collaboration with Dramatic Heart of Wales

It’s amazing how you can head just an hour away from home and feel like you’re a world away. Such was the case for us when we visited the Dramatic Heart of Wales last month for a weekend of family adventure, exploring and outdoor fun.

With two teens and a tween in the house, we’re constantly looking for new and exciting ways to entertain them when we go away. Things that will still make them want to hang out with their parents!

Thankfully, this is exactly what we got with our trip to Neath Port Talbot – a weekend of experiences to share together that challenged us in new ways and helped us learn a little more about ourselves and each other.

We stayed in the loveliest cottage, kayaked in the dark, swung through the trees, saw some beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed the winter sunshine at the beach.

Read on to find out more.

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Night-time kayaking with South Wales Adventure Company

Our family adventure began with one of the most incredible Friday nights we’ve had in a long time – a nighttime kayaking session with South Wales Adventure Company.

Paddling up and down the Neath canal in the dark with only a string of brightly coloured lights draped around our kayaks to guide us is one of the loveliest, most unique experiences we’ve had in ages.

After getting kitted out in buoyancy aids and a quick lesson in paddle techniques, we were off, manoeuvring our way along the canal, guided only by our illuminated kayaks.

My 13 year old kayaked on his own, my 14 and 10 year olds shared a two-seater, as did my husband and I – some rare quality time together!

With an hour on the water, there’s plenty of time to make your way up and down the canal. The waters are still and shallow, and the staff walk along the path with torches, should any support be needed, so it all feels very safe.

You don’t need wetsuits – we just wore regular leggings/tracksuit bottoms and coats – although be prepared to get soggy bottoms as some water does come into the kayaks. Damp trousers aside, the calmness of the canal and the beautiful lights made this such a relaxing experience.

Night kayaking at South Wales Adventure Company, Resolven, Neath, SA11 4BZ, selected dates in autumn and winter, £24.99 for a single kayak and £34.99 for a two-seater. Children 7+ can kayak on their own while the minimum age for a two seater kayak, accompanied by an adult, is four. See the South Wales Adventure Company website for their full programme of activities, including school holiday activity days.

See the reel of our kayaking adventure here.

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Challenging ourselves with a treetop adventure at Go Ape

On Saturday morning, we headed to the beautiful Margam Country Park. We absolutely love it here and have visited many times. However, on this occasion, we were there for something completely different – to take on the treetop adventure course of Go Ape.

I won’t lie to you all – I was absolutely terrified! My husband had his moments too. But my 14, 13 and 10 year olds took it in their stride, confidently climbing the ladders and tackling the obstacles suspended between the trees, taking the more challenging paths when there was a choice, and whizzing down the zip lines with pure glee. They are certainly way braver than either of their parents!

Despite my fears, I managed to get to the end of the two-hour course and I hope watching me was a lesson for them in the importance of stepping outside of your comfort zone, challenging yourself to do something that scares you, and finding the resilience to carry on. It’s good for them to know things can still scare and challenge you, even when you’re ‘old’, like their mum, and that you can dig deep and overcome those challenges, rather than quitting at the first hurdle (which believe me, I was tempted to do!).

We all learned a lot about ourselves and each other at Go Ape and we’ve talked about it so much since, reliving the adventure.

With an age guidance of 10+ and a minimum height requirement of 140cm, Go Ape is great for families like ours with older children. It’s a real adrenaline-fuelled adventure and something completely different to our usual weekends. It was good for us to see different sides of each other, and we certainly had a lot to talk about as we spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful Margam Park with its gothic castle, playgrounds, fairytale village, musical trail and farm animals.

Go Ape, Margam Park, Port Talbot, SA13 2JT. From £36 per person with a 15% discount for family groups between 3 and 6 people. Participants must be age 10+, minimum height 140cm, max weight 20.5 Stone (130KG). Park in the Margam Park car park, £7 all day. Entry to Margam Park is free. Visit the Go Ape website here.

See our video reel from Go Ape here.

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Ice creams in the autumn sunshine at Aberavon Beach

With the sun shining, we were keen to visit Aberavon Beach. It’s a place we’ve been to previously but not for a little while, and the late afternoon sun looked so beautiful reflecting on the water.

Aberavon is a gorgeous three-mile sandy beach – one of Wales’s longest – and you can see Swansea to one side, and Port Talbot to the other. Visiting out of season means the splashpad, playgrounds and adventure golf were all closed for the summer, but with rocks to explore, the long paths of the prom perfect for a walk or for scooting, and cafes and ice cream shops open all year round, it kept us entertained for a couple of hours. If the weather isn’t looking so good, there’s even a six-screen cinema not far from the seafront. As family-friendly beaches go, this one is great and really worth a trip at any time of the year.

Aberavon Beach, Neath Port Talbot, SA13 1PJ. Find out more here.

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Fright Nights at Margam Park

It was back to Margam Park for the evening to experience their new Halloween event, Fright Nights. We visited Spooky Family Fun, a PG-rated event with an age guidance of 5+, but if you have older teenagers or are visiting without children, the Spine Chilling Extreme Horror is suitable for those 15 and over.

We arrived a little after 6pm, when it was starting to get dusky. Along the paths, we were met by spooky scenes featuring graves, skeletons and witches, ‘statues’ suddenly coming to life, and spooky music and sounds.

Margam Castle, the Victorian gothic mansion, was transformed into a haunted house experience, with brilliant decorations, lights and sounds and spooky characters appearing from nowhere. It looked fantastic!

My children are 14, 13 and 10 so for us it was jump scare moments and plenty of giggles rather than anything truly terrifying. We saw lots of younger children and none of them seemed to be especially scared – but if you have sensitive children then parental guidance is definitely recommended.

After the house, we arrived at a Halloween food and fairground area. We had some super tasty pizzas from Gower Dough Company who were serving from a spookily decorated double decker bus, and went on the Ghost Train ride, which again was mildly spooky rather than scary.

By this point it was properly dark with the castle lit up in red. It looked brilliant – a proper haunted house on the hill.

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Get set for Luminate at Margam Country Park

Fright Nights was a Halloween and half term special event – but as we head towards Christmas look out for the return of Luminate, a spectacular, illuminated mile-long light trail which weaves its way through the park’s historic gardens and castle. Expect lighting installations and interactive elements, all set to music, with tasty treats and hot mulled wine available near the start, marshmallows for toasting on the fire pits and hot food caterers in the cafe courtyard halfway around.

Luminate, Margam Country Park, Thursday 21 November-Tuesday 31 December, 4.30pm-8pm. Off-peak tickets start from adults £15, children £10, family £45. Book online here.

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Melincourt Waterfall, Neath

After a night of rain, Melincourt Waterfall in Neath was looking – and sounding – especially impressive and dramatic when we visited on the Sunday morning. It’s around a 15-minute walk from the car park to the falls, on a path alongside a stream. You can hear the waterfalls before you see them and when you get there, you’re met with 80ft high waters cascading down the rocky cliff face.

Other than one local woman walking her dog, we didn’t see anyone else on our walk, which made the place feel even more special. She told us to take the steps midway along the path to the falls, which gave us impressive views over the top of the falls, and from here we came across a beautiful old church and graveyard.

The ground around the falls was really slippery, so do exercise caution if visiting and there are warnings not to entre the water unless you’re part of an organised group with fully-qualified instructors, due to the unpredictable water flows.

Melincourt Waterfall, Neath, SA11 4AP. More information here.

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Where we stayed

Tan yr Eglwys cottages kindly hosted for us for the weekend. The two 4* holiday cottages are in the historic hamlet of Cilybebyll, in between the Neath and Swansea valleys, meaning they were ideal for everywhere we visited over the weekend, at around 20-30 minutes from most key attractions.

We stayed in The Barn Cottages, which sleeps six. Next door is The Farm Cottages, which sleeps four to five.
The kitchens are really well-stocked with all the utensils and cooking equipment you could need for a self-catered or semi-self-catered trip, a dishwasher and even a washing machine.

The house is geared up for younger children with plastic crockery and utensils, plenty of toys and games, a highchair, stair gate, travel cot and more. My children loved the piano in the hallway and the mini pool table on the first floor landing.

The house has lots of character, with plenty of original features, a log burner stove, a good-sized dining able in addition to the smaller kitchen table and comfy sofas to cwtch up on on a cold winter’s evening.

Find out more about Tan yr Eglwys Cottages here.

The Dramatic Heart of Wales has lots more to offer families – visit the website here for more information on places to visit, stay and eat at, or follow them on Instagram or Facebook.