Bronwylfa Hall And Bronwylfa Hall And Legacy Solar Farm Walk – it’s a welcome return to the more rugged northwestern part of the county this month. We take you through woodland, along quiet country lanes and across undulating meadows.
Length And Duration
This month’s walk is 5 miles long and is of an easy to moderate difficulty. It’s fairly straightforward and is without any really steep inclines. It should take you around 2½ to 3 hours. The total ascent is about 495 feet or 150 metres, with the highest point being 776 feet or just over 235 metres.
“Pre-Amble”
You’ll encounter quite a few interesting and varied sites/sights. You’ll pass a solar farm and walk through a short tunnel by the impressive Bronwylfa Hall. There’s also an interesting stretch past a huge electricity-generating station and some colossal pylons.
As we mentioned last month, you’ll definitely need ankle-high boots if you’re going out when this article is published, as some of the terrain is really muddy at the moment. You’ll have to climb over quite a few stiles, quite a few of which were slightly awkward to negotiate.
The route seemed reasonably dog-friendly as I only walked through a few fields containing livestock. However, the number of non-dog-friendly stiles is substantial, so bear that in mind if you have to lift your dog over them. There are stretches along country lanes where you would need to keep your dog on a lead.
Starting Point
I parked in the car park at Nant Mill. It is a pay and display area, although the machine was out of order when I did the walk in early February. However, you can pay by using the JustPark app (the car park reference is 83753129), which only costs £1 for an all-day ticket.
The postcode is LL11 3BT and the What3Words location is what3words.com//coins.pianists.torches.
Head out of Wrexham on the A525 towards Coedpoeth. Turn left onto Rhos Berse Road shortly after passing the brown sign with “Nant Mill/Melin y Nant” on the hill up towards the village. Drive along Rhos Berse Road for about half a mile, go past the “Private Road Plas Power Estate” sign by the house on the left, follow the road round to the right and take the next turning on the left. Turn right immediately down the steep lane that takes you to Nant Mill car park.
Disclaimer
Important: Your safety is our top priority. Before attempting any of our walks, you must read and understand the disclaimer at love-wrexham.com/walk-disclaimer. Always remember to read ahead of your current position in the walk directions in case we mention an upcoming potential hazard.
Walk Directions
Nant Mill Car Park
Walk past the Visitor Centre on your left and walk up along the single-track lane to the road. Turn right downhill and walk past the entrance to the Plas Power Woods (1).
Cross the beautiful stone bridge and continue up the hill for a quarter of a mile. Turn right onto the woodland path by the green metal public footpath signpost. After a couple of minutes, cross the lane and go down the drive towards Plas Buckley. Pass the cream-coloured farmhouse on your left. Leave the track and go through the farmyard between the farm buildings. Go through two metal gates in succession and follow the grassy path to the left. Pass the light-grey metal water trough on your right and go straight on over the brook and through the gateway with the light-grey-coloured metal gate.
Follow the right-hand fence and hedge line. Look to your left for views of the Cheshire Plain and the slap heap by Rhostyllen. Walk down the narrowish track that runs off the field just as you pass the silver birches on your right. Hop over the wooden stile to the left of the wooden cattle gate (2).
Beechwood Farm
Turn left and walk past Beechwood Farm. Walk along the lane for about four minutes and turn right through the metal kissing gate by the green metal public footpath signpost. You’ll see banks of solar panels to your left and ahead of you to your right (3) as you go through the gate.
Follow the left-hand fence and hedge line, although you may have to go right into the middle of the field to avoid the boggy ground. Aim for the left-hand corner of the fence ahead of you and exit this part of the field through the metal walker’s gate. Keep following the left-hand fence and hedge line until you reach another metal gate by the information board for the Wrexham Legacy Solar Farm.
Go through the metal gate, over the short wooden bridge and through a second metal gate into a field. Turn diagonally left and walk up the slope. When you reach the brow, you’ll see a metal kissing gate in the tree line ahead of and below you. Go through the gate and across the short wooden bridge.
The Large Pylons
Go up the short slope on the other side of the bridge and into the flat green field at the top. Go diagonally right towards the far fence line, aiming for the large pylons. Almost immediately, go through the metal kissing gate in the left-hand fence line and turn right along the narrow path with a tree-lined bank to your left.
Over the bank is a huge electricity-generating station. Carry on along the path, negotiating the fallen trees, and follow its dog leg to the right. You’ll pass two colossal pylons on your left. About five minutes after starting on the fenced path, you’ll come out onto a small road. The first house you come to is called “Sychnant”. Turn right and walk along the road for about four minutes, before taking the lane to the left as the road bears right.
Turn left through the metal walker’s gate on your left next to the green metal public footpath signpost after The Cottage. Use the concrete bridge to cross the stream and go through another metal gate.
Cross The Concrete Tubes
Head diagonally left or southeast. As you reach the brow of the field, you’ll see two metal gates more or less ahead of you. Exit the field through the second one, as the first one is just standing on its own. Turn right once in the next field, following the right-hand hedge and fence line. Follow it until you reach the wooden kissing gate in the corner of the field ahead of you.
Once through the gate, look ahead and slightly to the right. You’ll see a line of circular vertical concrete tubes which you can use to step across a stream (4).
Walk up the short slope and walk in between the rusty metal fence posts ahead of you to enter an overgrown field. Walk to the right of the pond ahead – it’s on the other side of a raised bank. Exit this area by joining a vehicle track that leads you between two shaley tree-lined banks and then onto a road. A group of utility buildings is in front of you.
Turn right and then immediately left so you’re following the path that runs along the right-hand right of the buildings. There’s a fine red-brick house above you to your right and a spiked metal fence to your left. Walk along the narrow path for a few minutes with more buildings on your left.
Ysgol Y Grango
Walk up the wooden steps cut into the rise ahead. You’ll see a flat wasteland on your right that looks like it may been a landfill for rubble at some point. Follow the left-hand fence with the strand of green barbed wire running along the top until you reach the clearing, and the earth track with the slightly raised bank to your right, which bears to the left (5).
Follow the bank, and you’ll see the ground you’re walking along turn into a grass path that bears to the right through a lightly wooded area. You’ll walk past two wooden yellow-arrow waymarker posts. There are remains of what seems to be a rubber tyre and lengths of lead pipe in the path you’re following. Walk down some wooden steps cut into the slope and cross the short wooden bridge after a few minutes (it’s a little wobbly).
Walk up the slope past another wooden yellow-arrow waymarker post. Go through the metal kissing gate you see after rounding the holly bush. In the next field, follow the left-hand hedge and fence line until you reach the stile. Don’t take it, but turn 90° right and follow the hedge and fence line, which is now to your left. Ysgol y Grango is across the road to your left.
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Ysgol Maes Y Mynndd/Forest School
Walk through the open gateway and continue following the hedge and fence line on your left. Turn right onto the lane after exiting the field through the metal kissing gate with the wooden frame. You’ll be on this lane for the next seven or eight minutes.
There’s a high spiked metal fence on your right that stretches about a quarter of a mile – it marks the boundary of an old landfill with a large pool. You’ll walk past the Ysgol Maes Y Mynndd/Forest School sign on your left and then some large black metal gates with a green metal footpath signpost just after it. Walk through the hamlet of Llwyneinion and the sign for the silver medal Villages in Bloom award of 2010. Turn left off the lane just after this onto a tarmacked track to the left of Rose Cottage (6).
Walk along the winding track for about four to five minutes until you reach the farm on your left. Go through the wooden kissing gate to the left of the gate with the dogs-must-be-kept-on-a-lead sign. Follow the left-hand hedge and fence line for about three minutes.
Exit the field through another wooden kissing gate to the left of a larger cattle gate. Carry on along the grassy path in between a wooden fence on your left and a barbed-wire fence and hedgerow on your right. You can see the two colossal pylons we walked past earlier away to your right.
Bronwylfa Hall
The path you’re on joins the drive to an attractive house called Ysgubor Tan Lan. Turn left onto the drive and follow it until you reach Bronwylfa Road. This area is particularly eye-catching with its well-cared-for grass verges and neat conifers. Opposite are the grounds of the huge Gothic Victorian Bronwylfa Hall (7).
Look right as you come out onto the road and you’ll see a green metal public footpath signpost on the left between the two gardens opposite. Turn down the path and walk through the short tunnel.
Continue along the well-maintained gravel path and manicured woodland and bushes – it’s almost like you’re walking through somebody’s garden. Walk over the concrete bridge (that’s Pentrebychan brook beneath you) and hop over the wooden stile into the field. Look back to get an appreciation of just how large the hall is, paying special attention to the beautiful chimneys. Walk up the slope and exit using the stile in the far wooden fence. Cross the lane and climb over the stile in the hedgerow opposite.
Follow the left-hand hedge and fence line and exit the field using the stile in the corner of the field ahead of you. Do the same in the next field, ie follow the left-hand hedge line. There are some more lovely views of the Cheshire Plain to your right – there are so many pylons too!
Two Fallen Trees
Turn left through the metal gate by the dead oak tree after about three or four minutes. Turn diagonally right once through the gateway and hop over the stile on the right next to the metal water trough. Be careful climbing the stile as the drop on the far side is longer than you might expect.
Head across the field towards the cream-coloured farmhouse in a northerly direction. Pick up the left-hand hedge line for a few yards as you make your way across the field. Exit the field by walking to the left of the fallen tree in the left-hand corner of the field ahead of you (not the other fallen one to your left). Step up the bank using the large stones and go through the metal gate.
Turn right towards the corrugated light-grey metal barn and hop over the stile-without-steps in the left section of the barbed wire fence in front of you. Walk along the track with the barn to your right and go through the metal gate next to the stone stile (this was being repaired when I did the walk, hence my using the gate).
Blue Plastic Rope
You’ll find yourself on a lane. Cross the lane and hop over the stile opposite (the step is missing on the far side, but you can plant your foot on a large stone someone has placed there). Walk the short distance across this next field. Cross the stile with the yellow arrow waymarker on the higher of the two posts.
Again, take care when stepping down off the stile because there’s a short, steep bank leading to a stream. Use the stones to cross the tiny stream and walk across the next field. Exit the field through the gap to the right of the wooden post with some blue plastic rope tied around it (8).
Follow the left-hand hedge and fence line, avoiding the really deep tractor tyre furrows. Hop over the stile with the yellow arrow waymarker in the corner of the field ahead of you. The stile is in rather poor condition, so again, take care when negotiating it. Be aware that you have to cross a wooden bridge after stepping down off it.
Turn sharp left, use the railway sleeper to cross the stream, climb some stone steps and hop over the strangely slanting stile at the top of the stone steps. It’s quite sturdy this time and easy enough to use. Turn right off the stile and follow the right-hand barbed wire fence and hedge line for a few minutes.
Half-Buried Pipes
You may have to step out into the middle of the field to avoid some boggy bits. You can use the stile in the right-hand corner ahead of you or simply walk through the metal gate. Exit the next field over the stile to the right of the rusty gate fastened by strands of barbed wire. Be careful stepping off the stile because there’s no step, and the drop on the far side is longer than is comfortable.
Turn sharp left once over the stile. Cross the pipes half-buried in the ground. You’ll walk out into a field, turn left and head up towards the cream-coloured house. Turn right just before it, go through the gateway and left up onto a lane. Don’t go straight on towards the caravans.
Turn right and walk along the lane. Walk past the two houses on your left – Cherry Tree House has a cross of St George – the farm on your left and the house on your right. Turn right at the T-junction after the 50mph signs onto Bronwylfa Road again (9).
River Clywedog
Pass the signpost for Fron-dêg on your right. There’s a stream running alongside the road on your right and Lower Wilford Farm on your left. Take the stile on the left next to the Road Bends To Right sign.
Walk down the middle of the field and gradually work your way over to follow the left-hand hedge, fence and tree line. Hop over the stile to exit the field after about five to six minutes. Keep following the left-hand hedge, fence and tree line for about four minutes and then exit over the stile ahead of you. This next field slopes sharply to the left. Make your way diagonally left down towards the dilapidated building (10).
Go through the gap in the hedge line to the right of it and turn immediately right so you’ve got the hedge line on your right now. Follow the tyre marks and go over the stile next to the gate dead ahead. Turn left on the lane – follow it down, and round to the right. Cross the River Clywedog and enter the Nant Mill car park.
Congratulations! You’ve finished the walk.
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