Winter sunshine in Wales

When it’s winter sun you’re after, South Wales isn’t the place that springs to mind. And yet, I’ve just enjoyed ten days of pretty good weather there, while the Algarve reservoirs rapidly filled with rainwater amidst some biblical downpours. It would appear that while I was enjoying sunnier climes, hike after hike was being cancelled in Portugal’s most southerly region and our pale floor tiles began to take on the appearance of a Tough Mudder route (six outdoor cats will do that for you!).

So, what did I get up to while my Algarve mates were shivering in cold villas and apartments?
Well, most importantly, I was catching up with my loved ones: my three daughters and three granddaughters. On my first evening home, my eldest daughter kindly hosted which meant I got to see them all (plus one boyfriend) in one go right at the start of my trip.

Overall, I had a surprisingly busy trip for mid-January, when it’s not unusual for any tentative plans to be rained off.

Newport parkrun

There was a time when every weekend started with parkrun – the only time I ever missed was when we were on holiday. These days my PB of 25:05 is a distance memory, but I still love to head to Tredegar House parkrun when I’m back. There was a pretty good turnout despite this weekend marking the eighth anniversary of the nearby Riverfront parkrun (which I only ever ran once).

There was more running on Sunday morning when I joined my eldest granddaughter for half of her long, slow training run. I don’t see so much of her now she’s at Liverpool University, so it was wonderful that she was able to come home for the week, even if I meant I was demoted to the sofa (she’s taller than me!). Mum planned the route and allocated me the second half – the hillier half – which saw us climbing 168 metres in total. It goes without saying that I struggled mightily towards the end of our five-mile stretch – my legs were still aching from yesterday. Both runs acted as a bit of a wake-up call. I didn’t realise quite how slow and unfit I’d become!

Margam Country Park

On Monday, three of us headed to Margam Country Park, near Bridgend. The last time I was here was in July 2017 when I ran the inaugural Great Celtic Trail Half Marathon. In the run-up to the race, Harri was worried about me suffering from heatstroke. He needn’t have worried: the race was the only one where I stood on the start line in a raincoat. The weather threw everything it could at us that day. A local runner told me the views were superb but there were none. I was wet, bedraggled and very weary when I spotted the shadowy shape of someone running towards me through the mist. It was my middle daughter, an angel who’d come to run the final two miles with me.

Thankfully, on this nippy January morning the weather was kinder to us, and we enjoyed meandering around the various paths and mountain bike trails and creeping as close as we could to the deer grazing around the parkland – a stretch of boggy land separated them from we humans. Even with the branches bare, the landscape was quite spectacular.

Margam Castle dominates the former abbey parklands. This nineteenth-century Tudor Gothic mansion was built between 1830 and 1840 by Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, a wealthy industrialist and Liberal politician. Visitors are only allowed into the entrance hall, but even this tantalising glimpse inside highlights the immense wealth of these nineteenth-century landowning families. Talbot was descended from the Earls of Shrewsbury and his family bought Margam Abbey and its parklands during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth-century. Some of the abbey ruins remain nearby and its nave survives as Margam Abbey Church.

The orangery was built with stone from Christopher’s grandfather Thomas Mansel Talbot’s own quarry at Pyle in 1790, making it older than Margam House. Its original purpose was to house around one hundred citrus trees, but by the time the former Glamorgan County Council bought the estate in 1973, the ornate 327-feet building was in ruins. The restoration took four years, and the restored Orangery was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 (her Silver Jubilee Year.). We’d have ventured inside, but we could see it was in the middle of being set up for an event.

Margam Country Park is free to enter, but parking is £7.70 (the price includes a free map). Considering the size of the parklands and the number of activities available (including for children), I’d say it’s an absolute bargain. We will be back!

Techniquest, Cardiff Bay

Having had such good fun the last time we visited a family attraction together (Bristol Aquarium), my youngest daughter and I decided to stick to one on the Welsh side of the channel this time – the considerably less pricey Techniquest.

For those not in the know, Techniquest is an interactive science discovery centre with lots of hands-on exhibits and activities. It must be at least thirty years since I last visited, and the digital age has made those exhibits far more exciting and absorbing than I recall. So with our bellies full (thank you Bill’s), we headed inside.

Given our (presumed) maturity, we lingered a long time in the Material Matters section, where I discovered fifty years too late that the periodic table is actually quite good fun. Honestly, if we’d had anything as exciting as this when I was in school, I’d have certainly excelled at chemistry, instead of flunking my third-year exam with 15%.

Then there was the communication activity, which only me could manage to completely misunderstand. Standing on opposite sides of a high-level panel, I used my imagination creatively to mime each correct answer for my daughter. I thought I was doing just great until I heard her laughing like crazy from the other side. Turns out, I was supposed to be copying the man on the screen (who was using sign language and not playing a solo version of charades!

There’s simply too much at Techniquest to get around all the displays in one visit. Other highlights include dangling from a bar to test my arm strength (I managed 11 seconds) and the vacuum swing, which was hilariously operated by a Henry vacuum cleaner. I also spent a lot of time searching for various countries on a large, old-fashioned globe. Some things just can’t be improved by technology.

Techniquest offers a range of prices. We paid £13 each, which included a donation of £1.19. There parking nearby but not at the premises.

Lisvane hike

Sadly, Thursday was a washout, although I did pop up to Tredegar with my eldest daughter/granddaughter for a dental appointment.

On Friday, it was my middle daughter’s turn to entertain me. Just for clarity, I don’t force each of them to take a day off while I’m visiting, they just love spending time with their old mother. It must be the entertainment value.

After a morning of shopping and lunch at her home, we set off to walk from Lisvane Tennis Club to the craig. This wooded route is beautiful, even in January, however it is also steep. Living on the Algarve coast has definitely had a detrimental effect on my Welsh fitness, because it wasn’t long before I found myself puffing and panting – and stopping for numerous water breaks. We passed the disused quarry and sidestepped puddle after puddle, enjoying the views and the opportunity to chat. Thankfully, South Wales escaped the worst of Storm Eowyn, but up there on the ridge the old trees creaked ominously, making us hurry past for fear of one suddenly being yanked from the soil by the wind. I’ll admit I was relieved when we reached the highest point and were heading downhill.

Lacock

My second and last Saturday at home saw us skipping parkrun and heading across the (now free) Severn Bridge to Lacock.

To anyone who’s not familiar with this pretty Wiltshire village near Chippenham, Lacock is almost entirely owned by the National Trust. It’s free to wander around the streets of terraced houses (inhabited by National Trust tenants), the exteriors of which have been largely untouched since they were constructed (in the eighteenth century or earlier), however you do have to pay to enter the Abbey, where you have access to the museum, cloisters, second-hand book shop and some rather nice trails.

To be fair, our main reason for paying the hefty £13 each to gain entry to Lacock Abbey is because its medieval cloisters were used as Hogwart corridors and classrooms in some of the Harry Potter films and we had two firm fans in our family group. Was it worth forking out £52 (plus parking)? On a warmer day perhaps, but the temperature was arctic in those cloisters, meaning we didn’t really linger long enough to get our money’s worth. The Great Hall and the Drawing Room were not accessible to the public on this occasion either (to be fair, we were told this before we paid).

The unchanged limestone facades of the terraces, with their weathered timbers, and sturdy doorways mean the village is a popular film and television location, e.g. scenes in Downton Abbey, the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice, and Cranford were filmed here. If you ignore all those parked cars, it’s not difficult to imagine how life might have been in Lacock two or three hundred years ago.

Apart from the overall prettiness of the village, what added to the sense that we’d passed through a time portal was the number of ‘honesty boxes’ dotted around the streets. We bought three rocky roads and pushed £3 through a letterbox. Twenty minutes later, we were buying fudge and jam, this time depositing the combined £8 cost into a tin on the garden wall. It was hard to believe this level of trust still exists in 2025. Oh, and another surprise, there are three thriving pubs in the village and lots of gorgeous shops.

When we chose Margam Park and Lacock for our days out, we didn’t know the two places have a close familial link: Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) is the cousin of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1747–1813). I was going to add ‘it’s a small world’, but I think it’s more a question of highlighting how the dissolution of the monasteries – and subsequent inclosure acts – saw so much land fall into the hands of a very rich few.

Lacock village is free to roam. Parking is £5 for non-members. Entry to the abbey was £13 for adults (members are free). There was no reduction despite the abbey’s interior being closed for visitors, which seemed rather unfair.

Frustratingly, the weather turned sour on Sunday, which meant my last full day saw us heading to the retail outlet McArthurGlen near Bridgend where I snapped up a half-price lightweight ASICs top and a rather snazzy White Stuff tee-shirt for just £9.

All in all it was a great trip. I still can’t believe how lucky I was with the weather – it’s always best to expect the worst when heading to the UK in January and end up being pleasantly surprised.