Clydach Vale Country Park — Attraction in Great Britain

Set in the heart of the Rhondda valleys. We popped here to stretch the legs and get the kids out of the house on a rainy day in half term. There was plenty of parking in a small car park near the country park cafe. We walked up to the monument following a gravel track. We read all of the plaques that were fixed to it. The area has a lot of mining history and the kids were pretty interested as there were markers where coal seems were and the pictures helped the imagine how the landscape that they were immersed in would have looked back then. The rain provided some high flowing culverts, which entained the kids as they had their wellies on. There is a nice little pond located next to the cafe. The white geese gave us a laugh when they were pecking my wife's leg through the fence. We then went to the cafe for a coffee and to shelter from the rain for a bit. It wasn't what I was expecting. It was large inside with lots of seating available. There are lovely views of the pond from certain tables, and the coffee is pretty good. The food and drink were reasonably priced for a country park. It's a good place to kill a few hours but be prepared to walk a bit if you want to get the most out of it. We didn't make our way any further than the monument. There was a sign post for waterfalls which we will be back to check...

Clydach Vale country park is a great asset to the area. Comprising 2 lakes commonly known as top lake and bottom lake. 2 stunning waterfalls, if you're willing to walk, both not far from the top lake.

There is a memorial to the old Cambrian Colliery, good paths for walking and biking that lead up in to forest and mountains from where on a good day you can see the sea.

The main walk from the car park to the top lake is incredibly easy to follow. Generally easily to walk, tarmacked circular around the bottom lake leading to a well maintained rocky/gravelly path to the top lake, from here you can choose many other routes.

You can see many species enjoying the lakes from Heron to Mallard to Moorhen to Canada Geese to name but a few. There is also an awesome coffee shop/cafe/restaurant that serves hot drinks/soft drinks/ alcohol, cakes and meals. In good weather you can sit on the balcony overlooking the lake.

Well worth a visit, of which I do many...

Quite an easy out-and-back style walk alongside two small lakes and a stream that connects them. I tend to prefer circular loops, so you can deviate off the main path to do this but they wouldn't be suitable for prams as these paths are more suitable for hiking. I visited at the end of April, the larger waterfall at the top of the walk dried up on this occasion.

There were a couple of nice viewpoints of the valley along the path despite this though as it was a clear day. It was a good place to see birds, we saw Mallard Ducks, Muscovy Ducks, Geese, and Coots.

The car park at the start of the walk is small. There is limited parking at the start of the walk on busy days. It looked like you could park further up by one of the lakes on...