Dare Valley Park

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. 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.