St Fagans National Museum of History
About
Wales' open-air people's museum, on the western edge of the city at St Fagans, and free to enter. More than forty original buildings from across Wales have been dismantled and re-erected in the parkland of St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor: farmhouses, a Victorian school, a workmen's institute, terraced ironworkers' cottages furnished decade by decade, a working smithy and bakery. It reads as a village assembled from the whole country, and locals treat it as a day out in its own right rather than a museum visit. Open 10am to 5pm daily; entry free, car park charged. About 7km west of the centre, reachable by bus from the city.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Over forty re-erected original Welsh buildings
- ✓St Fagans Castle and its formal gardens
- ✓Working bakery, smithy and craft demonstrations
- ✓Free entry, 10am to 5pm daily
Tips
- →Entry is free but parking is paid; the bus from central Cardiff drops you at the gates.
- →Much of the site is outdoors, so pick a dry day if you can and allow at least three hours.
- →The Gwalia Stores sells old-fashioned groceries and the bakery's bread sells out; go early for both.
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