Monday morning saw five Wick Wanderers meet up at The Gnoll Country Park, Neath. The forecast promised that rain would hold off until 1pm, so we crossed our fingers. Following a coffee stop at the recently refurbished visitors centre, we set off along the path following the ‘Family Trail’ which took us through woodland area (fishpond woods), passing the perimeter walls of the Gnoll House ruins and the Ice House. Albeit muddy underfoot in parts, the trail was accessible, posing no issues for the Wanderers.
The trail led us to follow the fast flowing stream; and we arrived at the start of the formal manmade cascades, which, unfortunately, were not cascading on this day! The path took us down through the ‘tree of many faces’ trail where we stopped to admire the carvings of faces and of various animals in the tree trunks. We agreed this was an ideal location for a photo call with Richard playing ‘king’ sitting in his throne!
We followed the trail back to the fishpond; returned to the visitors centre for hot drinks and chips!
The Park’s history dates back to 16th century, then owned by the David Evans Family. In 1686, through marriage, Sir Humphrey Mackworth took ownership of the Gnoll Park Estate. Sir Humphrey significantly developed the Park, adding a coach house (Pond Cottage) now updated and available to rent as a holiday cottage.
There are four trails in the estate. Maybe a future visit to the park would allow WWs further exploration of the grounds.
Thanks for the company on Monday Looking forward to the next ‘adventure’
wickwanderers.com 