Hands up if like me, you didn’t know Swansea has its very own waterfall? The Penllergare Valley Woods waterfall, the gardens, and the lovely welcome centre and cafe are not to be missed. Perfect for family walks, dogs, water paddlers and those who are just into nice cake – the valley is a hidden gem.
In fact, it’s so lovely – it’s worth tackling the roundabout from hell to get to it.
How much is parking in Penllegare Valley Woods?
Penllegare Valley Woods is a bit in the middle of nowhere, so taking the car is your best bet – though I bet you can get to it via different walks that aren’t by the welcome centre and may offer you free parking.
I heard there’s one by Tesco, where you could park up for a couple of hours for free in one of the shopping precincts – but I’ve not tested it out.
So once you turn off the roundabout, it looks like you’re entering a housing estate made by Disney (if you know, you know). But don’t think you can get away with any free parking around the estates – there are double yellows everywhere with signs saying that you can’t park.
You have to pay to use the official car park, which has 60 spaces and costs £2.50 for three hours – which is plenty of time for a visit.
Is Penllergare Valley Woods and Waterfall wheelchair and pram friendly?
So is it wheels-friendly? Errrr yes and no. We took a pram – one with pretty good suspension too, and it was tough, but do-able. From the welcome centre, you go down quite an uneven hill to get to the bottom of the valley where the walking paths and the waterfall are. It’s pretty steep at times.
The worst bit is about two or three minutes pushing a pram or wheelchair up an uneven hill – but apart from that, it’s fine. Which doesn’t sound great, but we’d do it again – though maybe with a baby carrier instead…
You’ll find benches dotted around, so there are places to rest and gather some energy for the hike.
The walk down into the valley has a mix of wildflowers and curated gardens. It’s honestly very beautiful. This is going to sound insane – but maybe it was because it was a sunny day, but it reminded me of some of the gardens I visited in Barbados, where people had mixed cultivated gardens within tropical forests – and it gave off a similar vibe. I don’t know, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but it doesn’t feel like you’re five minutes from the A48 road in Swansea!
When we got down to the waterfall itself – which isn’t much of a walk – there were kids playing in the water. I’m not sure how advised it is to get in there and swim to be honest with you, but it is very paddle-friendly.
Penllegare Valley Woods Map
We hardly saw any of what there is to see really, but you can download a map with all the different walks, or pick up a map at the welcome centre.
There are four official walks with varying degrees of difficulty, including the gardener’s stroll, which is what we did, a “ladies’ walk”, a “gentleman’s walk” and the Henry Hawks Woodland Concert trail, where you can download the app and listen to the story as you hit certain markers on your hike.
Penllergre Valley Woods Welcome Centre and Cafe
We had packed some sandwiches which we ate at the waterfall, but went back up to very impressive welcome centre for some cake and coffee.
We didn’t have a ton of time to explore all the paths as we were squeezing in a visit between toddler and baby naps, but we’ll go back a little more prepared for a longer hike next time.
Overall, highly recommend a visit if you’ve never been – it’s a beautiful little oasis in a busy bit of Swansea.
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