Lead: Andrew and Helen
Eight Wanderers met up at WVH on a sunny Saturday morning, we consolidated into fewer cars and headed to Dyffryn House where we parked up and got ourselves ready (everyone was very well prepared with whistles, water and food). On leaving the NT grounds we walked down the lane away from St Nicholas for a short distance before turning left towards St Lythans. The lane was quite busy with cars on a Saturday (far more than when we recce’d the walk) so we were all pleased to reach the kissing gate and turn into the Haunted Field. After listening to the audio guide near the entrance we walked across the field and admired the Neolithic burial chamber which is over 6000 years old. The top stone was beautifully weathered. From here we headed across fields and uphill towards Goldsland Wood. At the top of the hill we stopped by the hay bales for a drink as the day was very humid and we were all feeling warm.
We then followed a very pleasant path through the woods to Wenvoe Golf Course and we continued left along the edge of the course and through a quite overgrown path (full of roses in flower) to Burdon’s Farm in Burdonshill. Here we stopped for rest and an early picnic lunch at the Elizabethan Orchard where we looked at the old-fashioned herbs and trees that had been planted.
Following the path from here to Wenvoe Woods we were pleased that the ground was dry as on our recce we had to paddle though some deep puddles on this track. We turned off in the woods and took the path across to St Lythans Village – traversing paths that long-standing Wanderers had never walked before so we viewed that as a major achievement!
We stopped in the church yard for the group photo and then continued a short distance on the road before turning left up a drive towards Lodge House Farm (close to the TV transmitter) and picking up the Vale Ways path which took us along a beautiful path through Coed Nant Bran woods. The wild garlic had gone over, but the path was shady and pretty. Graham pointed out the raised banks either side of the path and we speculated that this may have been an important drover path in days gone by. On exiting the woods, we walked round the edge of several fields planted with barley – which was beginning to ripen and was a gorgeous golden colour. A downhill walk through the final field of young maize brought us to the stile opposite the entrance to Dyffryn and back to the cars.
A lovely leisurely countryside and monument walk of almost exactly 5 miles on a glorious summer day.
Wick Wanderers 