This site was amazing both in terms of the pitches and the attached attractions which included three showcaves, a huge dinosaur park. and a play farm/adventure playground with shire horses on the edge of the Brecon Beacons.
We arrived fairly late on Friday evening and had already researched a bit so knew that there was no reception and the site is ungated. We took the entrance to Dan yr Ogof caves and then turned right at the top of the lane towards the campsite. It was a few hundred years to the campsite passing the llama field and a few tent pitches. There is no allocation so you just choose your own pitch and a warden comes around to collect the fees early evening. There is an adult-only section of the site which is completely out of bounds to us with twin boys!
We were quite attracted to some pitches at the foot of the mountain which looked over the whole area but thought that we should look around the whole site first. We were so glad that we did because we spotted a corner pitch with forest behind and a little copse with grass to the side. It was a little tricky reversing in but when we got out of the van we could hear a babbling stream running directly behind the campervan although the sound did prompt us to find the toilet block after quite a long journey.
We set up our site quite quickly and Elaine discovered that there was no phone reception on Tesco Mobile (O2) whatsoever and she had promised to call a relative. However, we later realised that if you walk down towards the entrance near the llama field, the phone reception is suddenly restored. Apparently, there was WiFi but we didn’t know the password.
As we were quite late arriving, we decided to walk to the local pub, The Gwyn Arms. We had seen reviews stating that the owner is rather rude but we decided to give it a chance. It was Friday night and the pub was deserted. We enquired about food to the man behind the bar who totally ignored us for a while and then abruptly announced that “Food ends at seven!” and then walked away. We found the self-styled Basil Fawlty persona quite amusing at first then another barman approached us apologetically and gave us a menu for a pizza takeaway that delivers to the site (details at the end of the blog). The pizzas were really good although there was a £5 delivery change and you have to meet them at the entrance to the campsite.
The following day we headed to the showcaves and dinosaur park. Although the Covid restrictions had been lifted slightly, it was still compulsory to book online (£60 for a family of four). Our first attraction was the Catherdral Cave which was stunningly presented with well-chosen lighting and classical music being played. There was a one-way system in place which worked well. Apparently, weddings and concerts are held in the largest part of the cave although it made us smile thinking of wedding guests carefully walking along the slippery paths.
We also saw the Bone Cave which was a steep climb to the top of the mountain and then you had a wear a hard hat – certainly not recommended for anybody with walking difficulties.
There was also a dinosaur park and iron age park to explore as well as a good cafe (serving chicken nuggets in the shape of dinos). The boys also enjoyed the museum which was well equipped with interactive games. We arrived at the playfarm quite late so our time was quite limited but we enjoyed seeing the Shire Horses and the adventure playground.
A good tip is that Yummies Pizza in YstradGynlais delivers to the site: https://yummies-sa9.com/order-now
Our YouTube video shows our pitch and trip to the other attractions. We have a spot of lunch in the excellent cafe then head for the play farm towards the campsite with Llamas, Shire horses, and many other animals. The twins enjoyed the adventure park too with a great zip wire which Samuel absolutely loved:
