The Kymin, Wye Valley

Back in the Summer the hubby and I bought a years' membership to the National Trust, we figured it give us 'free' places to go once Squidge was born.  The membership is only for one year, but if we manage to get lots of use out of it and we have enough money at the time, we might well renew.  The hubby and I have decided we are going to try and go to a National Trust place every weekend (with the exception of being ill, or his OU degree commitments etc, and I thought I'd share with you each place we visit, and hopefully it'll build a bit of an 'exploring Wales' guide. 

So far I've talked about Tredegar house which is where we went last weekend, at some point I'll talk about one of our favs, Dyffryn Gardens as we've been there a few times too.  Well, yesterday we travelled to my favourite place in Wales, Wye Valley, it's the most beautiful & breathtaking place I've ever been, and where I'd love to live.  It's about a half hour drive out of Cardiff into Monmouth and close to the border.

This time I'd tasked the hubby with finding somewhere to go, he headed onto the National Trust website, had a look at places that are in a driveable distance, and picked The Kymin.  It's an 18th century roundhouse and naval temple.  The roundhouse is closed until March 2015, but it's worth going just for the views, if nothing else. It's free to go and walk around the grounds and only costs £3 to enter the roundhouse (where I think they serve tea and coffee).  It's a great place for a picnic (when it's warmer!) with views of the Brecon Beacons in the distance, the views really are amazing from The Kymin.

The hubby trying out our sling for the first time, Squidge seemed to like it, and as per usual, slept through the visit, lol

This was at the Naval temple, I love the QR code linking to Wikipedia :)

This was at the top of the Naval temple

The views from the back of the roundhouse, this was on a cold misty day.

A bit of history

The view through the trees at the front of the roundhouse, there was a couple taking some pictures

The ramparts at the top of the roundhouse, you can see it was a beautiful day, albeit cold

A view leading back to the car park, there were lots of walks you could take around the grounds, but with Squidge we were a bit concious about how cold he'd get since it was about 0 degrees out (frost was all over the grass)

A close up of some beautiful nature :)

The naval temple from a distance, the car park is just beyond this

Another view from the back of the roundhouse, a lovely bench looking over some breath taking views, with speckles of sheep in the distance

A horse looking over Wye Valley

As you can see it really is a beautiful place.  We'll definitely be coming back here when the round house is open and it's generally warmer, maybe we'll have a picnic here with Squidge in the Summer :)

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