All walks › Cardiff and the Vale
Cardiff and the ValeCowbridge and the Thaw Valley
A walled market town with a surviving south gate, physic garden and field paths down to the Thaw.
- Distance
- 3.1 mi / 5 km
- Time
- 1 hr 45
- Ascent
- 70 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
From the town, field paths lead to the river and loop back past the walls and the physic garden. Gentle.
Worth knowing
- The south gate is the only surviving town gate in the Vale and part of the wall stands beside it.
- The Physic Garden behind the town is a recreated eighteenth-century walled garden and free.
- Cowbridge grammar school educated much of the Glamorgan gentry.
What you’ll see
The town gate and walls, the Physic Garden, and the Thaw valley.
Background
Cowbridge was a planted Norman borough on the Roman road, and its street plan and walls survive from the thirteenth century.