Clytha Park Circular Walk – Coed y Bwnydd Iron Age Hillfort, Bettws Newydd Hamlet & Clytha Castle Folly.

All my walking guides and adventures are free to read, thanks to the support of kind folks like you. That said, creating and walking each route takes time (and plenty of coffee!), so if you’ve enjoyed this post or found it useful, feel free to share it around — or even treat me to a coffee or two. It really helps keep the boots moving and the guides coming. You can do that here: click this link. Diolch as always!

Walk this route yourself in 3D!

The Video is a 3D walk through of this route; it will give you a unique sense of having walked through the route before you start.

I have created 3D Videos of my adventures and have shared them with the OutdoorActive community as well as my walking community.

Clytha Park Estate Circular in the Usk Valley, East of Abergavenny - 3D Video. Watch the 'Route' with Autoplay here.

Ramble through an 18th-century estate, taking in the wildlife-rich River Usk and Coed y Bwnydd – the largest and one of the best-preserved hillforts in Monmouthshire. There are beautiful views of the Sugar Loaf, wider Usk Valley and Clytha Castle, one of Wales’s most outstanding 18th-century follies.

The route is mostly on grass tracks through woods and fields, though some areas will become muddy in wet weather. Some of the walk is on tarmac roads. There are a few steep slopes and several stiles to cross.

From the east, head west along the A40 to Raglan. At Raglan take the fourth exit off the roundabout signposted for Clytha and follow the National Trust signs. From the west, take the B4598 from Abergavenny. After approximately 5 miles (8km) turn right for Bettws Newydd and follow the National Trust signs.

Getting There: Directions, GPX and App Link

The Hiking app I use to plan the walks and to also guide me around is the ‘Outdooractive App‘, which has a free a Pro and a Pro+ version, the Pro version will allow you to download the routes to your phone, and use them without using up your data.

The reason I mention it is that if you were to download a route, they are FREE and you can find this link to this route in my hike listings. You can then follow the arrows and voice on your mobile, as most of these walks are a bit tricky to explain.

• From the east, head west along the A40 to Raglan. At Raglan take the fourth exit off the roundabout signposted for Clytha and follow the National Trust signs, and this car park
• From the west, take the B4598 from Abergavenny. After approximately 5 miles (8km) turn right for Bettws Newydd and follow the National Trust signs, and this car park

Navigation Aids:

• Follow this route on the Outdooractive App, it is FREE, and it will guide you around safely.
• Download my hand crafted *GPX file, and use it on your own guidance devices.
• If you’re not sure what a GPX file is, I have put an explanation post together here that will hopefully explain it in plain words. It’s worth considering as well as mobile app navigation, as they will make your hikes better & safer.

Hike Map

Hike Profile

• Distance: 7m / 11km
• Duration: 4 hours
• Highest point: 653ft / 200m
• Difficulty: Moderate, due to some short climbs, some loose and muddy terrain.
• Route conditions: Well-worn pathways most of the way around, good walking shoes are a must.

Hike Description & Pics

Let’s get going – If you need help organising this trip, see links below.

My ‘Bannau Brycheiniog Resource Kit‘ at the bottom of this page, will help you organise your travel, trips, food and accommodation when planning your visit to Wales, it’s all there to help you plan, give it a go.

The car park we started at is called ‘Clytha National Trust Car Park‘, and is on a side road off the B4598.

Once parked, opposite the road coming in there is an information sign and a gate to go through, this is the start of your walk. This short path takes you up to the ‘River Usk’ at which point you turn left into the fields, following the probably muddy path along the river.

The walk along the river is part of the ‘Usk Walk’ path and its pretty much farmland, with the odd little bridge to go over. You will also leave the river side at certain points to climb up a little, walking past some houses, and through woods, I wanted to point this out as earlier I said you would follow the river all the way.

Once back into open farmland, a large house will appear on your left, which looks very grand, and it’s here pretty much where you walk away from the river and head towards the woods in the distance where you briefly join a lane.

Once on the lane you make a sharp left almost walking back on yourself, and a little further up the lane, you leave to your right, through the woods again.

I think the route changes here depending on the season, but from experience the better one is to walk through the golf course, keeping to the right, and joining up onto a path that guides around the side of the course, which is always on your left.

A lane appears at the end and you take a left turn, but not for long, as an entrance to a field appears on your right, which you take and head through to arrive at the ‘Church of St Aeddan, Betws Newydd‘.

St Aeddan’s is surrounded by three of Wales’s most historic Yew trees. The churchyard is also renowned for its beautiful setting as it is located at the crossroads of some of the Usk Valley’s most ancient walk paths, which draws walkers from Wales and beyond. St Aeddan’s is a Grade I Listed single cell building. It is a well-preserved and well-restored 15th century medieval parish church, with 12th century foundations.

In the far-right corner, there is a gate that leads you out of the church grounds and into the fields behind, and you follow the treeline up, through farm-land and then over a stile back onto a lane. Once onto the lane you turn left, but almost immediately you turn right and follow the lane up as you head to ‘Coed y Bwnydd’.

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‘Coed y Bwnydd‘ is the largest and possibly best-preserved Iron Age hill fort in Monmouthshire, with a history of human involvement stretching back more than 2,000 years. There isn’t a lot to see, but the history is amazing, and as you make your way around you can get a sense of the scale and where the hillfort stood.

Once back on the lane, to your right is ‘Clytha Hill’, a summit in the area standing at 196m high. The lane continues down on a gentle slope, it can be muddy as I’m sure a lot of cattle and farm vehicles use it, but you are on your way to ‘Clytha Castle’.

Approximately half a mile down the lane, leave left and follow a lesser track where you will once again walk back through farmland, and then an estate comes into view, with Clytha Castle on your left.

‘Clytha Castle‘ is considered one of the outstanding 18th-century follies of Wales. It was built in the 1790s by William Jones of Clytha House with the purpose of ‘relieving a mind afflicted by the loss of a most excellent wife’, after his wife Elizabeth died.

The Grade I listed castle is L-shaped with a battlement screen wall connecting two stone circular towers and a square tower in the middle. The outside is rendered with Bath stone plinths, sills, cornices and decorative friezes, panels and battlement parapets and was designed by architect and garden designer John Davenport.

Once you have finished around the castle, walk back to the path that is heading to the gate in the distance, and to the main road. Once at the road, turn left walk a couple of 100 yards down the road, then turn left again into the road that will take you back to the car park.

That’s it, you’re all done, back at the car and hopefully the weather has been good, and you have had a great experience.

It is worth downloading this route onto your outdooractive app, it’ll re-assure you time wise and that you’re not heading in the wrong directions. There is so much space up there and lots of alternative paths you could accidently join.

Hope you enjoy this walk, and I’d love it if you could share this post either with the social media buttons that follow you down the screen on your left, or below in the footer. Also, comments are very welcome, I love meeting new people and talking and you never know we could meet up on one of our walks.