Forest bathing in Neath Port Talbot

Neath Port Talbot is as wooded as any county in South Wales, mostly because so much of it is hillside forestry. Afan Forest Park fills the Afan valley above Port Talbot with Natural Resources Wales conifer and regenerating broadleaf on old colliery ground. Margam Country Park, just off the M4, has 850 acres of deer park, ancient oaks and planted woodland around the castle and abbey ruins. The Gnoll in Neath is an eighteenth-century estate of cascades, lakes and mature trees, and Melincourt Falls near Resolven drops through a Wildlife Trust oak wood.

A session in the Afan or Neath valleys is two or three hours in a small group under the trees, going slowly and stopping often, with the guide offering a few simple invitations and then getting out of the way. The plantations are sheltered enough for winter sessions. Each guide's profile shows their dates and prices.

Margam Country Park is the simplest start, with a big car park, a cafe and level paths through the parkland to the woods. Afan Forest Park at Cynonville has a large car park and waymarked trails that start gently along the river before climbing.