Around Dunraven Castle in Wales

 

This famous landmark overlooked Southerndown beach on the Glamorgan coast until the 1960s

Originally the site of an Iron Age hillfort, Dunraven became the location for a series of houses.

Tragic stories abound about the Vaughan family who once lived there, and the ghost of the Blue Lady.

The fortified mansion built by the Wyndham family in 1803 became known as Dunraven Castle due to its grand castellations.

The building was used as a convalescent hospital during World Wars I and II, and later as a Workers Tourist Authority guest house before being demolished in 1963.

Although long gone, Dunraven Castle is remembered by many as a local landmark, and its walled garden still exists.

The spectacular cliffs and beach at Southerndown and Dunraven Bay have been used as locations for Doctor Who and other TV programmes.

Margam Castle - Landscape and Wildlife

 

The park presents to the naturalist a pattern of plant habitats whose presence can be related to agricultural management and landscape planting.

Broad leaved, coniferous and mixed woodlands, scrub, grassland, bog, lakes and streams provide a diverse countryside, which contrasts vividly with industrial Port Talbot.

Geologically the park lies on the coal measures. The typical vegetation of the coal measures at lower altitude in South Wales its woodland dominated by oak, birch or alder. 

Among the more common mammals to be seen are foxes, badgers, hares, grey squirrels, voles and shrews. 

The park supports a rich variety of bird life including common woodland birds like the nuthatch, jay and blue tit and heathland birds such as stonechat and reed bunting.

Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Canadian Geese, Mallard, tufted duck and pochard inhabit the lakes.