Cambria Sports Culture CIC Cymraeg

All walksTywi Valley and Carmarthen

Tywi Valley and Carmarthen

Dinefwr Park

Medieval deer park below a castle on a bluff over the Tywi, with three hundred veteran oaks and a herd of white park cattle that has been here for a thousand years.

Distance
3.4 mi / 5.5 km
Time
1 hr 50
Ascent
120 m
Difficulty
Moderate
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

Paths circle the park from Newton House, climbing to the castle on its rock and returning through the parkland and the boardwalk over the wetland.

Worth knowing

  • The white park cattle are an ancient breed and the Dinefwr herd is one of the oldest documented in the world.
  • Some of the oaks are over four hundred years old; the park has one of the highest concentrations of veteran trees in Britain.
  • The castle view over the Tywi meanders is the classic one, painted by Turner.

What you’ll see

The castle, veteran oaks, fallow deer, white park cattle and the Tywi looping below.

Background

Dinefwr was the principal seat of the kingdom of Deheubarth and the Lord Rhys ruled from here in the twelfth century.