Craig y Wenallt

Craig y Wenallt occupies an east facing hillside overlooking rolling farmland with views down to the Severn Estuary at Newport. The town of Risca is immediately to the west but hidden from view.

This wood merges with a much larger block of coniferised ancient woodland to the north and farmland adjoins to the east and west. Two miles to the northwest is Cwmcarn forest a publicly owned site managed by Natural Resources Wales. The whole of Craig y Wenallt is classed as semi natural ancient woodland but only the upper western slopes now support mature woodland.

This area is dominated by large mature beeches which also occur in the hedge to the unsurfaced public road which runs adjacent to the lower eastern boundary. The remainder of the wood lying between the mature beech woodland and the lower boundary hedge is young broadleaved woodland growing on land formerly cleared for grazing in the 1960s but abandoned by 1985 and subsequently planted by the Woodland Trust. There are small areas of open ground within broom too.

A circular walk is available along a footpath running through the wood and returning along the unsurfaced public track. The key features of the wood are semi-natural ancient woodland and informal public access.