The Dingle and the Darkie: A Walk Around Trevor, Nant Ucha Farm and Pen-y-Bryn Farm
For this month, we take you on a circular walk around Trevor, Acrefair, Nant Ucha Farm and Pen-y-Bryn Farm. This varied and, at times, challenging route takes you across open farmland, over babbling streams and along quiet wooded valleys, passing remnants of the area’s diverse history.
Overview
Length: 5.75 miles (allow about three hours’ walking time). The route may be waterlogged, extremely muddy and unexpectedly slippery in places so we recommend sturdy, waterproof footwear. There are also stiles and steepish slopes to negotiate. The route is certainly not suitable for dogs (due to there being several areas with sheep) or small children.
There is limited on-street parking near the starting point. For public transport, please call Traveline Cymru on 0800 464 0000 or visit traveline.info. Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 256 covers the area.
Starting off: Tower Hill
Park as near to the Duke of Wellington pub as you can (Llangollen Road, Acrefair LL14 3SG; grid ref SJ 272 428). Walk up Tower Hill, which is the steep road 100 or so yards to the left of the pub as you look at it. Continue along Tower Hill for about 0.12 miles until you reach the white house called Alma Cottage on your right. Turn left here and walk up the sloping path. The Tower Hill Barns wedding venue is straight ahead of you.
Turn right through the wooden gate with the yellow arrow waymarker. Cross the attractive stone bridge with the grass track (see the main article photograph or the cover of our January 2022 issue). Go through the two gates in front of you. Walk straight on through the field, down the short dip slightly to your right and through the kissing gate. You are now on a path with a chain fence and a field to your left.
Gronwen stream is below you to your right. Don’t forget to look to your left for lovely views towards Llangollen. Take the stone steps up to the kissing gate. Be careful here: the first part of the path is overgrown, then narrows and inclines to the right at one point.
“Wood on a Mound”
Go through the kissing gate into the field. Head towards the metal barred gate slightly to the right of Gwernyyd Farm (which you will see again in a while albeit from a different angle) ahead of you. Go through the kissing gate next to the metal five-bar gate. Take care going down the slope in front of you. Cross the small stream and walk up the hill towards the curious “wood on a mound” in front of you. You will see a kissing gate in the right-hand hedge line immediately after the “bridge” over the tiny brook.
Hop over the stile that you now see on your left. Look left at the far hedge line with the “wood on a mound” to your left and the farm buildings on your right. Climb over the stile in the left-hand corner after passing the two oak trees in the field. You are now on a path flanked by hedges. Turn left and walk for a short distance until you see a seven-bar metal gate. Climb over the stile on your right, taking care with the stone steps leading up to it. Cross the stile on your left leading into the wooded area.
Tread warily as you descend to the bottom of the dip in front of you. Cross the bridge over the brook and go up the other side avoiding the barbed wire on the ground. Climb the stile into the field (1-mile point). AVOID THE LINE OF TREES on your left as its immediate area is extremely boggy and waterlogged.
Circular Walk Around Trevor Acrefair and Pen-y-Bryn. For more walks, click here.
Gwernyyd Farm
Instead, walk straight on towards the metal-barred gate. Do not go through it, but turn left so the hedge/fence is on your right and continue until you reach the end of the field. You’ll see a red-brick farmhouse (Gwernydd Farm) and a stile in the hedge/fence you’ve been following.
Go over the stile. You’ll see a hedge line at the bottom of the field. Cross the stile to the left of the telegraph pole. You’re now on the drive to Gwernydd Farm. Turn right and walk along the drive until you reach the cattle grid after about a quarter of a mile. Take a look at the war memorial before heading right up Garth Road.
After 0.33 miles, turn left onto Trevor Hall road ignoring the sign directing you to “Panorama” if you stay on Garth Road.
Walk along the road for about 300 yards (2-mile point by the green metal footpath sign on your right before the white house). You’ll see Tyno Issa Farm on your right and a waymarker with a stile in the hedge a few yards further on. Take the path through the larch, sycamore and ash wood with a fence and a field on your right.
We hope you’re enjoying ‘A Circular Walk Around Trevor, Acrefair, Nant Ucha Farm and Pen-y-Bryn’. For more walks, click here.
Offa’s Dyke Path, Trevor Wood and Fford Pen-y-Gaer
Turn right after about 175 yards and join the Offa’s Dyke path. As you walk along this track, Tyno Issa farm is now on your right along with several horses in fields. Trevor Hall and Trevor Chapelry are down the slope on your left and just about visible through the trees.
After a short distance, you’ll come to waymarker next to a sign that says “Welcome to Trevor Wood. Please keep to the waymarked paths“. Ignore the path to your right and carry straight on.
Carry straight on at the waymarker a short distance further on and then turn right up the slope 100 yards after that at the waymarker. If you were to turn left here, you would be heading towards Bryn Howel Hotel and you would see the site of an old well after about 100 yards.
You’ll be on a track that bends round to the right and then rises for about 50 yards. As you reach the crest of the slope, you’ll see a kissing gate. Go through the gate and straight on across the field. Tynno Uchaf Farm is to the right. Carry straight on down the slight depression and then climb to the drover’s trail that then descends to the drive of the farm.
Walk along the drive and lane for a quarter of a mile until you reach the Ffordd Pen-y-Gaer T-junction pictured below.
Nant Ucha Farm
You can go straight on over the stile at this point, but the path beyond is a morass of mud and cow dung (January 2022) so I’m sending you via the roads to Nant Ucha Farm. Turn left at the T-junction and right onto Tower Hill after just over a quarter of a mile (3-mile point about halfway to Tower Hill road). Incidentally, the tower known as Tower Dingle or Trevor Tower is now a short distance to the southeast. Follow the road around to the right for a further half-mile and then turn left into Nant Ucha farm. Walk over the bridge crossing Tref-y-Nant brook and turn right along the path before the farm and cottages.
Walk past the large red shed and continue along the track until you reach a rust-coloured gate (4-mile point just past the shed).
Go through the gate. Follow the hedge line on your left until it turns sharply left (see next photo). Leave the hedge behind and aim for the large tree in front of you. There is a watercourse by the tree that flows under the field. When you reach the tree, face the sizeable Pen-y-Bryn farm above you and follow the hedge/fence to your right.
The Log Yard
After about a quarter of a mile, you’ll see a farm ahead and a house above you on the left. You exit the field by the stile next to this house. Turn right along the road and then right at the fork with the ruined building.
Walk down the road with the farm on your right and take the right fork in the road. Take the grass path dead ahead when you reach the point with the property entrances on either side of you.
Head for the metal-barred gate (5-mile point). Go through the gate and then through the gap in the hedge in front of you. Walk towards the tyre tracks at the bottom of the hill. Go through the metal-barred gate into an area full of logs. Take the path between the far and middle piles of logs and follow it through the coniferous wood, taking care with any fallen trees. There are a couple of structures to your left in various states of disrepair. Eventually, you’ll come to another metal barred gate.
Walk forward as far as the bank of the stream in front of you. Turn left and descend the track for about 0.4 miles passing several abandoned buildings and crossing “The Darkie” over Tref-y-Nant brook. You’ll come out onto Tower Hill. Turn left down the hill before shortly rejoining the part of the road you started on.
Congratulations! You’ve completed the walk!
Thank you for reading ‘A Circular Walk Around Trevor, Acrefair, Nant Ucha Farm and Pen-y-Bryn’. For more walks, click here.
