Name: Dare Valley Country Park
Rating: 5.0

Dare Valley Country Park

Dare Valley Country Park, Grecynon, UK

1-90 Years

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Description

Dare Valley Country Park is a vast 500-acre countryside destination in South Wales, offering a perfect mix of nature, adventure and relaxation. Once an industrial mining area, it has been transformed into a beautiful green space filled with woodlands, rivers and scenic views. It’s an ideal spot for families, outdoor enthusiasts and anyone looking to escape into nature.

Visitors can enjoy a wide range of activities including walking trails, orienteering routes and wildlife spotting across diverse landscapes like moorland, lakes and woodland. The park is home to the Gravity Family Bike Park with trails, pump tracks and bike hire, making it great for cycling enthusiasts. Families will love the adventure playgrounds with slides, climbing areas and trampolines, while other highlights include a café, trout fishery and on-site accommodation including caravan and camping facilities.

Entry to the park is completely free, and parking is also free, making it an excellent value day out. Additional costs may apply for activities like bike hire, accommodation or food at the café.

With its combination of scenic landscapes, outdoor activities and family-friendly facilities, Dare Valley Country Park offers something for everyone. Whether you’re hiking, cycling, playing or simply relaxing, it’s a great place to explore and enjoy the natural beauty of South Wales.

Features

Free
Host birthday parties: No

Features

Set in 500 acres of outstanding countryside, Dare Valley Country Park was the first country park in England and Wales to be created from land previously utilised by industry.
Nineteen pits and drift mines once featured, but today the river Dare tumbles and meanders from the mountains in the north west of Cynon Valley through a valley of oak, birch and alder.
Nestled near the town of Aberdare in South Wales, the country park is home to Gravity Family Bike Park with its free trails and bike pump track.
Make a stay of it in the newly modernised caravan park which boasts a new shower block and electric hook ups – perfect for a countryside getaway!
There’s a fantastic adventure playground for the little ones and a cafe onsite plus the brand-new Dare Valley Trout Fishery. Stay, Bike, Explore and Enjoy!

Facilities

Parking: Free parking available.
Food & Drinks: We serve a wide variety of cakes and scones homemade cheesecakes, hot and cold drinks including alcohol.

What to see

Bike: Dare Valley Country Park is already one of the top visitor spots in the region – and now it is stepping up a gear. Gravity Family Bike Park opens this year, offering an incredible experience for all the family. You can use the uplift service to be transported to the top of the Penrhiwllech mountain, before zooming down the trails. There are three pump tracks scattered along the trails, so you can stop to test your skills and just have a great time. Don’t worry if you don’t have a bike or the equipment, you can hire it from the Gravity Family Bike Park hub on site.
Play: The kids will love the two playgrounds on site. Outside Caffi Cwtsh and Visitor Centre is a small, enclosed toddler area with slide and playhouse. It’s the perfect place to sit and enjoy a cuppa while you keep an eye on your children. Just beyond, is a large adventure area with swings and slides, a wooden fort, plus mini trampolines set into the ground. There are push along bikes and cars for the little ones, towers to climb and rope obstacle courses to take on. It’s a safe, open space – great for burning off energy and getting little legs active.
Walk: Waymarked trails and orienteering courses takes visitors alongside streams and lakes or climbing to panoramic views. The woodland has regenerated and wildlife abounds. The flowery grassland, heath, bracken slopes, crags and scree, upland bog, moorland, woodland, coal spoil, stream and lakes all provide habitat for wildlife. The inspiring landscape was carved by glaciers in the last Ice Age.
Stay: Make a stay of it. Our dog-friendly on-site accommodation has rooms that sleep up to four, including family rooms and wheelchair-accessible rooms. Or you can bring the caravan, trailer tent, motorhome or campervan and enjoy our facilities.