Ramblers enjoy the delights of the Vale
Sheila from Penarth and District Ramblers played host to a group of ten walkers plus Bruno the dog for a walk in the delightful Vale of Glamorgan beginning from Hensol Forest. They set off on a dry sunny morning before having to clamber over a fallen tree that was blocking the path, a casualty of the recent three storms, before following the road past Mountain Lodge and passing through Home Farm to reach Coed Llwyn Rhyddid once a thriving heronry.
Passing through trees on a muddy track on the perimeter of one of the Vale Resort’s magnificent golf courses led them to Llwyn-yoy pond with its resident pair of Canada geese and two lovely grey herons flitting from tree to tree, before a waterlogged path led them on through a wood, then fields to Keepers Lodge Farm. A track led them to the lovely Talygarn Lake where a pair of swans were lazily floating and a pause for morning refreshments learning that the house and grounds were created by George T Clark (1809 – 1898). Clarke worked with the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel on the creation of the Great Western Railway alongside his interests in the coal, iron and steel industry.
On past scarlet elf cup fungus on the banks of a stream and the peaceful Adam’s Well with daffodils and white violets under the hedgerows indicating spring and despite the sunshine, the rather broody St Anne’s Church lay ahead. In its churchyard the overgrown roofless remains of a chapel that was restored with money from the will of Sir Leoline Jenkins the 17th century lawyer and diplomat, whilst the main church was built to a design by George Clark and dedicated to the memory of his wife Ann.
From the delightfully-named Strawberry Lane, a bridge led them across the noisy M4, through an urban area and a small wood to re-cross the motorway and follow a quiet road to enter fields beside a rather smelly dung heap that Bruno took a fancy to and rolled in. On the journey across fields and awkward stiles two sheep were rescued from being trapped by brambles, the second one having to be cut free with secateurs, before a stop for lunch by a pretty pool in a corner of a field.
A forestry plantation where more trees had fallen followed and having successfully negotiated the blocked pathway to emerge into open fields the reward was a grand view of the western side of Garth Hill and the surrounding countryside. On through Tynytranch Farm to reach Ash Hall which was bought in 1886 by Daniel Owen who made his fortune in Australia before returning to Wales where he acted as the squire of Ystradowen.
A descent past a huge mound of earth covered in trees which signifies the site of an unfinished motte brought them to the churchyard of St Owain’s Church, built in 1867 to replace a medieval church whose stone was used to recreate its exact copy in the ‘new’ church. From the Badger’s Brook estate and crossing a disused railway line that housed the Pontyclun and Cowbridge Railway which opened in 1865 to link Cowbridge with the main network, a climb led them to a farm track and Castell Talyfan.
Some overgrown ruined walls dappled in sunshine are the only remnants left of this castle that was built to guard the road to the north of Cowbridge that was pillaged in 1321, restored in 1349 and in ruins by the 1530’s when it passed to the Mansel family of Margam, then by marriage to the Aubrey family and a lot of its stone was used to build the nearby farmhouse. On past Ty’r Mynydd the last boggy field led them back to a stone stile for a short road walk at the end of their journey.
You can follow the group’s exploits on website here or via Facebook.
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