All walks › Cardiff and the Vale
Cardiff and the ValeKenfig Dunes and Pool
One of the great dune systems of Britain, with a natural freshwater lake behind it and a medieval town buried somewhere underneath.
- Distance
- 3.7 mi / 6 km
- Time
- 2 hr 5
- Ascent
- 60 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 cross the dunes from the reserve centre to the pool and the beach, looping back through the slacks. Soft sand in places.
Worth knowing
- Kenfig Pool is the largest natural lake in south Wales and holds wintering wildfowl.
- The dune slacks hold fen orchid, which grows in only a handful of British sites.
- A medieval borough was engulfed by sand here in the fifteenth century; only the castle stump shows.
What you’ll see
Dune ridges and slacks, the pool, orchids in early summer, and the buried castle.
Background
Kenfig town was progressively overwhelmed by blown sand from the fourteenth century and abandoned by 1500.