Dinefwr

Top choice in Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire


This idyllic, 324-hectare, beautifully landscaped estate, immediately west of Llandeilo, incorporates a deer park, pasture, woods, an Iron Age fort, the hidden remains of a Roman fort, a 12th-century castle and Newton House, a wonderful 17th-century manor with a Victorian Gothic facade. The house is presented as it was in Edwardian times, focusing particularly on the experience of servants in their downstairs domain. Other rooms recall Newton's WWII incarnation as a hospital, and the former Billiard Room is now a tearoom.

Dinefwr Castle is set on a hilltop in the southern corner of the estate and offers fantastic views from its walls and towers across the Tywi to the foothills of Black Mountain. Once the seat of the lords of Deheubarth, in the 17th century it suffered the indignity of being converted into a picturesque garden feature.

There are several marked walking routes around the grounds, some of which are accessible to visitors with disabilities. Keep an eye out for fallow deer and the largest of only four remaining herds of White Park cattle, an ancient breed once common in Britain but now rarer than pandas.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Swansea, The Gower & Carmarthenshire attractions

1. Aberglasney Gardens

2.12 MILES

Wandering through these formal walled gardens feels a bit like walking into a Jane Austen novel. They date originally from Elizabethan times, have evolved…

2. Carreg Cennen

3.88 MILES

Dramatically perched atop a steep limestone crag, high above the River Cennen, are the brooding ruins of Wales' ultimate romantic castle, visible for…

3. Garn Goch

4.77 MILES

You're likely to have the impressive remains of Garn Goch to yourself. One of the largest Iron Age sites in Wales, it comprises a smaller hill fort…

4. National Botanic Garden of Wales

6.5 MILES

Concealed in the rolling Tywi valley countryside, this lavish complex opened in 2000 and is still maturing. Formerly an aristocratic estate, the garden…

5. Red Kite Feeding Centre

10.08 MILES

A multitude of majestic birds of prey swoop in daily for their afternoon meal of manky meat scraps at this remote feeding centre. You're likely to see…

6. Dolaucothi Gold Mines

11.5 MILES

Set in a beautiful wooded estate, this is the only known Roman goldmine in the UK. The exhibition and the mining machinery above ground are interesting,…

8. Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

18.17 MILES

The seemingly never-ending refurbishment of Swansea's main art gallery was still in progress when we last visited. By the time you read this, the elegant…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "wales/llandeilo/attractions/dinefwr/a/poi-sig/1221414/1322380",
      "destination": "Swansea,-The-Gower-&-Carmarthenshire",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Wales",
      "region": "Swansea,-The-Gower-&-Carmarthenshire",
      "position": "superzone"
    }