Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DON'T MISS
CASTELL COCH
Cardiff Castle's little brother is perched atop a thickly wooded crag on the northern fringes of the city. Fanciful
Castell Coch (Cadw; 029-2081 0101; www.cadw.wales.gov.uk ; adult/child £4.50/3.40; 10am-4pm) was
the summer retreat of the third marquess of Bute and, like Cardiff Castle, it was redesigned by William Burges in
a gaudy Victorian Gothic style, complete with a working drawbridge and portcullis.
Raised on the ruins of Gilbert de Clare's 13th-century Castell Coch (Red Castle), the Butes' Disneyesque holi-
day home is a monument to high camp. Lady Bute's huge, circular bedroom is pure fantasy: her bed, with crystal
globes on the bedposts, sits in the middle beneath an extravagantly decorated and mirrored cupola, with 28
painted panels around the walls depicting monkeys (fashionable at the time, apparently; just plain weird now).
The corbels are carved with images of birds nesting or feeding their young, and the washbasin is framed between
two castle towers.
Lord Bute's bedroom is small and plain in comparison but the octagonal drawing room is another hallucino-
genic tour de force. Its walls are painted with scenes from Aesop's Fables , the domed ceiling is a flurry of birds
and stars, and the fireplace is topped with figures depicting the three ages of man.
The tower to the right of the entrance has exhibits explaining the castle's history.
Bus 26A (£3.60 return, 30 minutes, three daily Monday to Friday) stops right at the castle gates. Bus 26
(hourly Monday to Saturday) and bus 132 (four hourly Monday to Saturday, hourly Sunday) stop at Tongwynlais,
a 10-minute walk from the castle. Bus 26 continues to Caerphilly Castle, and the two can be combined in a day
trip with a Stagecoach Explorer ticket (£7).
TOP OF CHAPTER
1 St Fagans
Historic buildings from all over the country have been dismantled and re-erected in a
beautiful semirural setting at St Fagans National History Museum ( 029-2057 3500;
www.museumwales.ac.uk ; admission free, car park £3.50; 10am-5pm) . More than 40 buildings are on
show, including furnished thatched farmhouses, barns, a watermill, a school, an 18th-cen-
tury Unitarian chapel and shops stocked with period-appropriate goods. You'll need half a
day to do the whole complex justice and you could easily spend longer, picnicking in the
grounds.
It's a great place for kids, with special events in summer, tractor-and-trailer rides (£1)
and an old-time funfair. Craftspeople work in many of the buildings, showing how
blankets, clogs, barrels, tools and cider were once made. In winter, fires are stoked by
people in period clothes
Highlights include a 16th-century farmhouse imbued with the smell of old timber,
beeswax and wood smoke, and a row of six miners' cottages from Merthyr Tydfil, each
one restored and furnished to represent different periods in the town's history, from the
 
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