Exploring Bryngarw House and Country Park, Bridgend
We headed to Bryngarw House in Bridgend earlier this week. My plan was a few hours exploring the gardens and parks, followed by a trip to McArthurGlen designer outlet, just five minutes away at Junction 36, to pick up new school shoes at Clarks.
Well, let’s just say the first part of my plan went so well we had to completely abandon the second bit because my children were covered in mud, grass, dirt and goodness knows what else, not to mention being absolutely shattered after five or so hours of running around in the fresh air.
It was the first time we’d been to Bryngarw House and country park and I highly recommend it as a fun and free (apart from £4 for all-day parking) family day out.
As soon as we drove into the grounds, we saw the children’s playground and that was our first port of call. We stayed there for well over an hour. There were climbing frames for different age groups, swings, a huge silver climbing frame with three slides of differing heights, plus rocking animals. There’s also a climbing rock, which seemed to be popular with the older children who have outgrown the playground.
My three spent ages climbing on the fallen wooden tree trunks. Even 17-month-old Baby Boy I did a great job of balancing along them while holding my hand.
From there, we headed down the path towards the pond. I was a bit nervous of the signs warning of deep water, given how close the path is to the pond. Baby I was back in his buggy at this point as he is at that age where he likes to wander off with no sense of danger, but my Little Miss E, my 5½-year-old daughter, and Little Man O, my 3¾-year-old son loved watching the ducks and the bubbles made by the fish jumping up to the surface in search of food.
The house itself is a grade 2 listed building and it hosts weddings and other events, as well as having 19 bedrooms you can stay in. Certain areas of the house are open to visitors, but for some reason it was closed on the day we visited. That didn’t really make any difference to our day though. The benches on the lawn outside were perfect for a picnic lunch. After that, my three spent a good half an hour rolling down the hill outside the house (number three on my kids’ summer to-do list successfully ticked off), and generally running around.
We randomly bumped into a friend at this point. Her children are older than mine at 10 and 7, but all of them had fun building dens in the woods, climbing trees, building a campfire and rubbing sticks together to make a fire (thankfully they were pretty rubbish at this, as he last thing we wanted to be responsible for was burning down the woods!).
We had a quick walk in the woodlands around the pond, again climbing on fallen tree trunks and walking in mud. There are other woodland trails to explore, but we didn’t make it that far. I noticed one of them had steps leading down through the woods, but there were others that seemed accessible with the buggy.
There is a shop and a café, and various activities taking place during the holidays and at weekends for an additional cost.
We really enjoyed exploring the woods and the grounds and Miss E and Little Man are desperate to go back so that they can show Daddy their new favourite place. I’m sure it won’t be long before we plan a return trip
Have you been to Bryngarw House? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Cardiff Mummy Says Facebook page or you can tweet me on @cardiffmummy
You might also like these posts on other free days out in and around Cardiff: Cosmeston Lakes and Country Park, Porthkerry Park, Amelia Farm Trust and Fforest Fawr Sculpture Trail.
Also check out 63 free family days out for summer 2015 and the Cardiff section of my blog for other ideas of family days out.
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This looks fantastic and really inexpensive! I miagine we’d get lost there for the day 🙂 xx
I’ve never even heard of this place, you scout out all the fab places! May have to check it out one day, although the list is already getting quite long 😀 x
What a lovely place. I think if my kids see the playground, they won’t go anywhere! Great place for natural work too. #countrykids
Ha, yes, it did take a while to get them out of the playground, but the rest of the park was amazing! x
I’ve never heard of this place! Looks lovely. Thanks for sharing x #WhenInWales
I love how your day here evolved, who could take the kids away from such fun for shoe shopping, though i hope you managed that on a separate day. shame you couldn’t go into the house but it looks like there was plenty for the children outdoors. I bet bumping into friends really made the whole day, things are always more fun with a group of children. It sounds like you all had a wonderful time. Thank you for joining me for Country Kids.
This looks so beautiful, I can’t believe I live so close and didn’t know about it! Thanks!
Ah, you should definitely pay a visit. It’s such a gorgeous place. I can’t believe I’d never been before either. x
I haven’t been here for years. Must add it to my list of places to take the kids! #WhenInWales
I can’t believe I’d never been before! Such an amazing place and I definitely recommend it as a family day out x
I used to live near bryngarw country park but never managed to visit. It looks like a lovely place to go #wheninwales
Oh, you should definitely pay a trip if you’re ever back in the area. It’s such a lovely place to visit. x