I had been visiting Caergwrle Castle on a bright, sunny, perfect autumnal day, and was actually heading elsewhere for a much longer walk when I noticed on my O/S map that there was a country park a short drive away, and went there on a whim.  I’ll write up Caergwrle Castle later but here is some visiting information accompanied by some photos of the country park walk for those of you who are, like me, addicted to lovely views.  It is certainly worth making the most of these occasional very beautiful days while we have them.  Waun y Llyn Country Park sits on a hilltop with views over the local hillsides and and over the Dee floodplain into Merseyside.

Waun y Llyn is about half an hour’s drive from Churton, probably (I’m guessing) a bit less from Wrexham and a bit more from Chester.  It is reached from all directions by single-track roads.  Do note that if you or your driver is not keen on reversing, this is not the place to go.  Access is via single track roads with passing places, and it is a popular destination with hikers and dog-walkers and is frequented by farm vehicles, so you will need to be prepared to reverse around very bendy bits as well as straight bits.

There is a warning on one of the information boards in the car park that there is livestock within the country park, and that you should keep dogs under control.  I had assumed that it would be sheep, but the very fresh cow-pats made it clear that there was cattle up there.  I didn’t see any, and much to their irritation neither did the two farmers who were looking for them!  As one of them said, when he asked me if I had seen them, there are 70 acres for them to hide in.

I believe that Waun y Llyn means moorland by the lake (but do feel free to correct me). It is indeed a type of moorland, with copper-coloured bracken at this time of year, and bright yellow gorse in flower.  There are only few trees, but there are young silver birch,some young oaks and small holly bushes, some of which are currently festooned with bright red berries.

There is also, as the name implies, small lake surrounded by boggy margins, with permanent water-loving plant species underfoot if you follow the watery marshland tracks.  You can skirt the marsh and head towards the higher green ground, which provides a good viewpoint, but be aware that the whole area around the lake, linking one footpath to another is fairly damp.
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If you go when there has been rainfall, do wear water-resistant footwear.  In spite of the glorious sunshine today, it rained all day yesterday, and although there are grassy footpaths, most of the the footpaths furthest from the car park were very muddy underfoot with large pools of water, and there are also places where small streams cross paths that require either jumping over or skirting around.  Water loves an easy route, and some of the smaller footpaths had become tiny streams in their own right.  All absolutely fine with suitably water-resistant footwear.

I would advise those of you with unwilling legs to avoid it at this time of year.  There are no steep slopes or steps, but there are seasonally related challenges.  I’ll give it another go in the summer and report back, but at this time of year the mud is very slippery, there is a lot of wet bedrock showing through on some of the narrower footpaths.  One lady who had a bad leg was managing fine with two sticks along the grassy footpath, but had to turn back when the going became too muddy and rocky underfoot.

There is no archaeological site recorded at the country park, which seems almost counter-intuitive given the views.  Both silica sandstone and millstone grit were quarried from the hill in the late 19th century, the latter for housing in the Alyn valley below, and the walk to the hilltop was a favourite destination of visitors to a spa in Caergwrle, contemporary with the quarry.

This  walk took me about 45 minutes, so it was a short one but a good one.  You can make it shorter or longer by following the different footpaths on the noticeboard by the car park, and you can turn it into a serious hike by including other local footpaths as well.  There’s no hyperlink to the Country Park’s official website, because there does not appear to be one.  Let me know if you find one.  If you give Waun y Llyn Country Park a go, do enjoy!