WORK has now been completed on the £12m project to modernise visitor facilities and restore historic features at the 240-acre Gnoll Country Park.
The comprehensive work will ensure one of Neath Port Talbot’s most cherished attractions will continue to welcome local residents and tourists.
Led by Neath Port Talbot Council and funded by the UK Government through the Vale of Neath Heritage Corridor project, the year-long development has created:
- A brand new, fully accessible two-storey visitor centre, replacing the former ageing building – featuring a modern café, a stunning south-facing balcony with lake views, flexible event and meeting spaces, and a dedicated children’s soft play area.
- ‘Gnoll Towers’ woodland adventure playground, boasting three interconnected climbing towers – each increasing in height, with the tallest reaching nearly 30ft. Users can climb, slide, crawl, and explore their way through a world of imaginative and active play.
- Dog-friendly holiday accommodation, sleeping up to six people at the historic Pond Cottage – formerly a Victorian groundkeeper’s cottage. It features a log burner with wood sustainably sourced from the park, private gardens with a patio terrace to the rear and side, and a seating area near to the front offering exquisite views of the park’s pond and wildlife.
- Consolidation and repair work to the Gnoll House ruins.
- Restoration of the park’s spectacular and historic cascades.
- New website, branding and information and interpretation assets across the site.
- Extended walking and recreation routes, via a new bridge linking the park with nearby Brynau Farm, a 57-hectare Woodland Trust wildlife haven.
The work was completed by contractors Andrew Scott Ltd, one of Wales’s oldest contractors, with 150 years of experience in building and civil engineering.
The Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, Cllr Steve Hunt, visiting the park before next month’s official opening, said: “These new facilities including the stylish new Visitor Centre are designed to enhance the visitor experience and help increase footfall to the park, supporting our ambition to make it a must-visit location for both locals and tourists.”
“Pond Cottage will be a key destination within the park, offering a unique and authentic base for visitors to explore the wider Vale of Neath Heritage tourism corridor.”
Cllr Cen Phillips, the council’s Cabinet Member for Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing, added: “This transformational project has delivered many improvements for our residents and visitors, ensuring this historic park will continue to play a big part in Neath Port Talbot’s future.”
The country park has a long and distinguished history with Queen Elizabeth I initially granting the Gnoll Estate to the Earls of Pembroke but it was the Evans and Mackworth families who fully developed it.
The first recorded individual owner was Evan ap David (Evan the Salt), who became wealthy through the salt trade and after years of ownership by the Evans family the estate passed to Sir Humphrey Mackworth through marriage to Mary Evans in 1686.
Sir Humphrey Mackworth made the estate the centre of an industrial empire and began to enlarge the house and gardens. His son, Herbert Mackworth, continued the work, laying out the grounds as a landscape garden and adding formal features like cascades and a grotto.
