All walks › Cardiff and the Vale
Cardiff and the ValeCosmeston Lakes
Flooded limestone quarries turned into a country park, with a reconstructed medieval village on the site of a real deserted one, and level paths throughout.
- Distance
- 2.5 mi / 4 km
- Time
- 1 hr 20
- Ascent
- 20 m
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Shape
- Circular
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
Surfaced paths circle the lakes and link to the medieval village and the coast path towards Lavernock. Entirely level.
Worth knowing
- The medieval village is built on the excavated footings of the real one, abandoned after the Black Death.
- One of the most accessible walks in the Vale, surfaced and flat the whole way round.
- Lavernock Point nearby is where Marconi made the first radio transmission over water in 1897.
What you’ll see
The lakes, wildfowl, the reconstructed village, and the coast path to Lavernock.
Background
The quarries closed in 1970 and flooded. Excavation revealed a medieval village abandoned in the fourteenth century, since partly reconstructed.