Quick trip to Ogmore castle and stepping stones

Well Saturday was a quieter day for me and my wife compared to most Saturdays as normally we always have our little girl with us and are off out somewhere for the afternoon and early evening. But this week me and my wife didn't have her as she went out for her friends birthday to the ice rink and wasn't going to be back until later on that evening. So we just did the usual in the morning and that is to get up and mainly get Esme sorted for her drama class. This starts at 10:00 am and runs through till 12:30pm. In that time she is in there we always go and do the food shopping for the week and get it out of the way. Saves dragging her around and also gives us a chance to make sure we got all we will need for the picnic stuff for the weekend and are ready to go as soon as she is finished.

With this Saturday we still did the same and when we picked her up she had to be ready in around 20 mins or so, as she was being picked up. Once picked we headed out to Ogmore Castle to have a little walk around and go for a drink after. Now Ogmore castle is set just on the outside of ogmore Itself and is around about twenty five minute drive from our house.

As you start to come into Ogmore you can see the sea start to open out in front of you to the left as you start heading down the hill into the village. At this point you are a fair way up above sea level but there are accesses to the beach below from a few locations but even though the way down wouldn't be so bad but the walk up could be a struggle if you got young kids with you. The houses all along here until you reach the village at the bottom all have big balcony's and seating areas to be able to sit out and enjoy the view on a nice day.

There is only one main road through the village with a few shops here and there either side but not a great many and no really big shops due to the size of the population of the village. You do pass through the village very quickly but it is a nice place with roads leading down to the main beach which has your usual seaside shops.

As your passing out through the village you take a sharp right and start to head inland as there is no coastal road along this point. With the sea now behind you, on your left is a river leading into the sea and on the other side is a place called Merthyr Mawr which is famous for it's sand dunes. Now only a little way up is the castle. You take a sharp left to start making your way down to the very small car park, you can now see the castle on your right. Just on your left before reaching the bottom is a horse riding school where you can pay to go out and ride past the castle and up the river to the beach and that.

Once at the the car park is very small. Lucky we found a space straight away. As we got out and were facing the river which is not very deep, you could see the famous stepping stones that got you across the the other side and the castle stood on a small hill to the right.

Wellies on and we set off towards the stepping stones.

With no one crossing we started across and though these are fairly long for a series of stepping stones they a fairly easy to cross due to how large the stones are and them being an easy stride between each one. I will say it really is peaceful out this way and once you are on the other side, your on a path that leads to Merthyr Mawr which is surrounded by fields and a nice countryside stroll.

We followed the path up to the village crossing over a nice looking white bridge with a couple of lads playing in the river below. We had a little walk around the village passing some very nice looking old houses with thatched roofs and all differently designed. After passing a church we followed a country path back the bridge we crossed to get here. We sore some lovely horses in the fields on the way and when back to the bridge there was a rider and horse in the river then which was nice to see.

Crossing back over the steeping stones we headed to the castle. To get to this we walked past our car up the hill a little bit and then turned left. With the castle in front of us you can see that not a great deal was left but still had something for people to explore. Before getting into the main castle you had an out building that was more of a shell with no roof.

To get into the main castle you have to cross a wooden bridge which is not the original but gives people easy access over the moat. Once inside it it is a little explore around. It was not a big castle at all but still in the settings that it is in it is still worth the look around. The main tower is the main part that is there but with ruins of other walls and rooms just around it.

After a look around it was time to head off and we decided to make our way to a local pub just down the road. We sat outside and for half an hour or so we sat and talked. By this time it was time to head back to be at home for when our daughter arrived