When we first visited Cefn Onn Park last year, The Boy's first question was about the playground. At the time he still had in his head that every 'park' was of the suburban template consisting of various flora, a set of swings, see-saw, slide, climbing frame… you get the picture. It's taken him a while to realise the point I explained to him then; that there's play equipment wherever you go, you just have to work out how to use it.
Escaping To The Trees
I've now got us into the habit that we have to get out and about into 'nature' several times a week, or I begin to feel contained and imprisoned. It's so easy to settle into domesticity and confine yourself to the house, but I always feel better for getting out and exploring the wonderful world we live in.
Several weekends ago we spent the Saturday doing the 'chilling out' in the house thing, and then had to go to a new classmate's birthday party. By the time we came out of the party, I felt like climbing the nearest tree myself; I felt really trapped by all the bricks and windows etc! We headed over to Victoria Park in Cardiff to find conkers and wander amongst the trees, where we discovered the most plentiful conker tree I've ever seen at the top of which sat a squirrel systematically stripping the conkers from their shells, nibbling the casings off, and then throwing the discarded conkers down. Luckily The Boy still had his helmet on as quite a few were bouncing off our heads!
En route home, I texted my brother (not the one who's buggered off to Australia, the eldest one) and arranged to go to Cefn Onn the following day. My sister-in-law works in the great outdoors professionally, and their daughter (Fiery Cousin) is a 'wild child' just like The Boy so it's good to get together and let the children be 'feral', just as they should be, while we catch up.
As soon as we arrived at Cefn Onn (one of Cardiff's best kept secrets), The Boy and Fiery Cousin were off! Trees were no obstacle to them, and scooters were soon abandoned in favour of walking up the hillside through the stream. And yes, they both had canvas shoes on. And yes, we let them.
We'd been to Cefn Onn in the Spring when the rhododendrons were in full bloom, and I was desperate to come back and see the colours on the leaves. We were a little early this time, but we did explore up further than the lake this time, where we came across the part-built Summerhouse for the original owner's son. The whole park was originally created as a recuperation location for his son who was suffering from tuberculosis, unfortunately he died before the Summerhouse could be finished, it stands forlorn at the top of the park.
It's a wonderous area to explore, play hide and seek, and stop for a snack! I love how my niece is working the camera, The Boy is sporting his fake smile.
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I'm linking this up to Country Kids and Flashback Friday.
This post is also an entry for BritMums ‘Little Adventures Challenge’ in partnership with Barny, the bear-shaped snack providing a little discovery in every bite. Find out more about Barny here.
Cefn Onn Country Park (Country Kids)
I've been desperate for a few years to find a local bluebell wood, and this year The Boy loves nothing better than tramping through a forest, so in search of the elusive sapphire flowers before they disappeared, we headed to Cefn Onn for the first time. This was recommended to me by Laura from Side Street Style and I am very grateful that I followed her advice!
Tucked away in a fold of Caerphilly Mountain, Cefn Onn Country Park is on the northern fringes of Cardiff. The park was laid out between 1911 and 1925 by Ernest Albert Prosser (general manager of the Rhymney Valley Railway, which runs alongside the park with an abandoned train 'halt') as a woodland garden where his son could recuperate from tuberculosis.
Luckily we used the SatNav to get us there because we could have easily missed it. When we arrived, we were almost put off by the limited parking and 'seen-better-days' toilets, but I'm so glad we persevered as once we had walked under the 'bridge' with the thundering traffic of the M4 we discovered a wonderland that I'd never have guessed was there. Cefn Onn (meaning 'ridge of ash trees') holds one of the finest collections of rhododendron and azalea bushes in Europe, and they were in full bloom when we arrived. The huge collection of both native and exotic trees create a high canopy which helps to muffle the sounds of the 21st century, the sunlight streams through this creating a dappled effect on the colourful bushes and carpet of bluebells.
We veered off the tarmac path running throughout most of the park so we could do our usual tree climbing and 'exploring'. The Boy asked if there was a playground and I pointed out the balance beam that was the fallen tree trunk, the climbing frame which turned out to be an oak, the stepping stones across the stream and the treasure hunt that was hunting for pinecones.
There is a small stream (Nant Fawr) which runs throughout the parkland, with stepping stones and a Japanese bridge, as well as fallen logs and more structured bridges. The stream stems from a large pond (which is probably fed into from a brook higher up the mountain) which is three-quarters of the way up the park, and is a beautiful spot for a picnic, or for hot golden retrievers to jump into, much to the amusement of The Boy.
We must have spent two and a half hours wandering around the park and had a brilliant time. Definitely one to return to in the Autumn when the leaves are turning golden colours and creating a crunchy carpet underfoot.
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