Bryngarw Country Park is made up of and is situated on the west bank of the Afon Garw, at the mouth of the Garw Valley in the Bridgend County Borough, Wales.

The western boundary is marked by the Brynmenyn-Bettws road and the River Graw is its eastern boundary. 18 hectares of open meadowlands, subjects of grazing tenancy agreements and hence not open to the public, surrounds the Country Park. The Country Park and Bryngarw House occupies the remaining 30 hectares of the estate. Bryngarw House and its associated formal gardens (including the lawn, shrubbery, lake and oriental gardens) account for 1.5 hectares of the park. The rest of the park is predominantly wooded (broadleaf, coniferous and mixed woodland) with areas of meadow, wetland and freshwater, formal garden and areas for amenity use.

Bryngarw Park is a Grade II listed park and garden on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The house and gardens lie within the Strategic Coalfield Plateau, Landscape Conservation Area, described in local legislation (Ogre Borough Local Plan and emerging Urban Development Plan). This designation refers to the wooded, gently sloping agricultural and parkland landscape that characterizes the park. In 2010, the park was designated as a Key Strategic Site under the Valleys Partnership Initiative Action Program and is subsequently receiving funding from the Wales Assembly Government (WAG) Environmental Improvement Grant and Bridgend County Borough Council's Strategic Regeneration Fund. The park has also been awarded grant money from ‘One Historic Garden’ Centre of Excellence Scheme and has been designated one of eight ‘Visit Wales Sustainable Tourism, Historic Gardens Centre of Excellence’ sites. This money from both funds will be used in autumn of 2011 to update and expand the existing visitor canter, refurbish the café and toilets, improve the existing car park and to significantly enhance the oriental gardens.

In 2010, the park won its first Green Flag Award for its "excellent use of green space, well-maintained facilities and high standard of safety and security". By 2023 the park had received the award for the eighth time.

History of the estate

Bryngarw House is thought to have been built in the 15th century and used as a farmhouse; although there is no documentation there is some architectural evidence to support this theory. The first recorded date of the existence of the house is in 1743. In 1775 John Popkin gave the house and its grounds to his sister Frances as a wedding present when she married into the Traherne family; the building appears to have been extensively modified during their residence. The last member of the Traherne family to occupy the house was Captain Onslow Powell Traherne, a well travelled Victorian industrialist, who apparently renovated and extended the house and laid out the existing formal gardens between 1910 and 1920, introducing many exotic species (including many species of rhododendron, magnolia, tulip tree, handkerchief trees, sugar maple, paperbark dogwood, sequoia and ginkgo biloba). Towards the end of his residence Captain Traherne experienced money troubles and sold the estate to a local business man R.S.Hayes in the late 1940s. He and his family then occupied the house until his death in 1959 when it was again sold.

In 1961, the house fell into public ownership and was divided into nine flats used as council accommodation. Thirty-two residential caravans were later installed in the former kitchen garden area (now used as the park's car park). These accommodations were used until 1980 when Bryngarw was designated a future Country Park. Starting in 1982, a Manpower Services Commission team carried out construction and reclamation work throughout the site over a five-year period. This work included; installation of a network of paths and other access infrastructure around the park, the recovery of the lake and formal gardens (after 25 years of neglect), installation of a permanent car park and construction of public amenities (toilets, café and visitor centre).

Bryngarw Country Park was then officially opened May 23, 1986.

In 1980, the house had been abandoned due to dry and wet rot rendering it in a poor state of repair. Its dilapidation continued until 1987 when work partially restored the building and created a self-contained flat to accommodate the Assistant Ranger of the Country Park. However, thanks to European funding, gained in 1993, the house was renovated to its present condition.

Woodland

All the woodland areas in the park have been awarded grants under the Forestry Commission's scheme Better Woodland for Wales (BBW)

Coed Waunpiod west Coed Waunpiod west is situated in the south-west corner of the park and is characterised by its numerous examples of sweet chestnut trees. The area also contains a number of mature oak, silver birch, hazel, holly and scots pine. Since 2009, the woodland has been subjected to a large-scale thinning project as the density of the stand had become too great and was affecting the health of the trees. The smaller weaker specimens were removed from the canopy to make space to allow the healthier individuals to thrive. This work is expected to be completed in 2012. This project has already allowed a noticeable improvement in the ground level and understorey flora. The woodland plays host to a wide range of species including speckled wood butterflies, wood mice, green and great spotted woodpeckers, buzzards and tawny owls.

Coed Waunpiod east Coed Waunpiod east is found in the south eastern corner of the park. Its eastern border is formed by the River Garw. Due to this proximity to the river, and the river's unpredictable nature and predisposition to flood the woodland is classified as wet woodland. Coed Waunpiod east has been designated as a Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC) due to the presence of semi-flooded dense stands of alder trees, known as alder carr. This is a locally important habitat, hence its management is subject to a Local Biodiversity Action Plan. (LBAP). Another interesting habitat within this area is a semi-flooded wild flower meadow (nicknamed the wet triangle by the rangers.) The rest of the canopy is dominated by a mixture of broad-leaf trees including oak, birch, larch, horse chestnut and hazel. The woodland fringe and the wet triangle are frequented by butterflies, dragonflies, dippers, herons, kingfisher and otters.

The wet triangle is a small (1/2ha approx.) isolated area found within this woodland with its own completely individual character. It is extremely wet and often retains free water during the winter months. Due to this a shade canopy has been unable to develop and so it is the only area of open wet woodland in the park. In 1989, the area suffered from vandalism and about a third of it was destroyed by fire, many of the original species in the burnt area were lost and it became colonised by bracken. The management of this area therefore focuses on the control and eventual elimination of bracken and the re-introduction of original species to the area leading to a thinning and coppicing regime in the future to ensure healthy growth.

Sycamore wood The Sycamore wood lies in the north-west corner of the park and is topographically the highest point in the park. The site would have been categorised as ancient woodland until the end of the 19th century when it was felled and replanted with sycamore trees, to provide fuel for the house's biomass burners. They too were left unmanaged when the house was abandoned and have grown too tall and too close together. The modern management of this area is therefore to thin out the sycamore and add in native broadleaf trees (oak, hazel, birch and beech) to improve the health and biodiversity of the woodland. The most notable species in this area is the bluebells that appear in mid-April.

Coed Kensington Coed Kensington is a largely unspoilt deciduous woodland found in the northern section of the park between the sycamore woods to the west and the wet woodland to the east. The management of this area is predominantly coppicing hazel and sycamore in a rotation pattern. Its notable species include great spotted woodpecker, lesser spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, stoat and weasel.

The western border of Coed Kensington is informally marked by the ‘Beech Avenue’. The beech avenue was planted in 1837; since then however, many of the original trees have died and due to their similar age the others have all become susceptible to the parasitic fungus Ganoderma sp.. Since the discovery of the fungus they have been subjected to a tomography survey which deemed them unsafe. Many of the mature standards however have become very favourable summer roosts for the local bat populations, as their positioning creates a clear linear glade, which is used by the bats for navigation, in the damp woodland which is a key habitat for many the bat's invertebrate prey species. Legislation protects the bats and their roosts from disturbance and so the remedial work needed to allow the Beech Avenue to be re-opened must follow a comprehensive bat survey to determine the number of trees affected and by which species of bats and how many. Once this data is ascertained, the impact of the removal of these trees on the bat populations can be assessed, and a plan of works can be established. This work will not be able to be started until the bats have vacated these summer roosts and even then will have to be sympathetic, probably involving soft-felling techniques, where the limbs will be cut and lowered to the ground, to leave pollarded standards.

It is local legend that the twenty one beech trees which make up the beech avenue were planted in celebration of Queen Victoria's twenty first birthday and coronation.

Wet woodland The wet woodland extends from the north of the oriental garden to the northern boundary of the park. Its eastern boundary is marked by the River Garw and its western boundary by the “Everglades path” adjoining Coed Kensington. The canopy is much shorter than that of Coed Kensington, Coed Waunpiod east and the sycamore woods as it is dominated by alder and hazel with frequent examples of ash, holly, grey willow and a few oak and birch. Due to the proximity to the River Garw, it is more often than not semi-flooded and is not frequented by large mammalian predators. This makes the area very successful for many species of ground-nesting birds. The aforementioned low canopy and damp conditions are also perfect for fungi and many types of invertebrates.

Meadowland

Rhos pasture

Rhos pasture (a Welsh term meaning 'rough' pasture) is found in the west at the most southerly point of the park. It is a small area that is enclosed by a strained rylock fence. The area is too wet to be mown throughout most of the year and so is grazed by a couple of cattle at the end of the growing season.

Meadows

The meadows are found on the western side of the park hidden behind the barbecue areas and Adventure playground to the east. Its southern boundary joins Coed Waunpiod west. The two meadows are divided and largely encapsulated by a mature hedgerow. “The meadows have considerable ecological value, both for low-growing plants and related insect such as butterflies. In addition, many woodland marginal species occur here along the hedgerows, including, whitethroat, spotted and pied flycatcher and common redstarts"