Lots of fond memories of going here throughout my life but haven't been since Cooper was a few months old. He's obsessed with different decades since studying the 80's in school so visiting the little houses through the ages with him has been on my list for some time!
St Fagans has had a bit of a makeover since I last went about 6 years ago and it really is a lovely full day out by now! You pay £6 to park for the day and then that's it, you need not spend another penny all day if you take a picnic with you!
This is a pretty unique museum as everything you see, not only is it original buildings, but they've been moved, brick by brick, then rebuilt in its new dwelling in St Fagans! Like this post office from Blaenwaun, close to where we live. They're currently moving an old pub from Cardiff here and they've even moved a massive town hall and rebuilt it here too!
My favourite part of the museum is the terraced houses, each house from a different period in time. Inside it's all furnished according to the year it represents so it's a lovely visual way of showing how much things have changed for little people.
I also really love the school building (sad, I know!) There was also a really lovely man there when we went this time talking to the children and telling them all of the rather shocking things, including the Welsh Not, that used to happen at school years and years ago. The school in St Fagans comes from around 1880, which was the first year that school was made compulsory for children. Mad, hey??
Usually at half terms and holidays there's a little extra going on there and this half term they had a craft fair at the entrance and a fun fair in the village square (you had to pay for the rides here £2 a go and the fair games like hook a duck were £4 a go).
There's an old fashioned grocery store and sweet shop where you can buy some treats (although, as you can imagine, some things are quite pricey, as they tend to be in places like this). You can also see the fresh bread and bara brith being made and buy some to take home. We had a loaf of bread straight out of the oven and took it home to have with some cawl - was lovely!!
The other added bonus to St Fagans is all the lovely walks that you can do on the grounds (almost all of which is flat and pram friendly). There's a small part by the castle that has steps but there is an alternative way that you can get up to the castle and walled gardens. It's really pretty this end of the grounds so well worth a visit.
There's plenty of toilets dotted around the place and a large new cafe at the entrance of St Fagans serving good hot and cold food and drinks. Again, a little on the expensive side, but no more than you would expect somewhere like this. It's a shame the little tea rooms above the shop in the village has gone though - I used to love how quaint and cute that was!
They've build a big outdoor playing area since I was last there, which I definitely thought was missing actually, so this was a great bonus to the visit! There's also like some sort of Go Ape assault course there but this was closed and I'm guessing you have to book in advance to do.
There's a really lovely gift shop on the way out selling lots of really nice Welsh themed gifts.
All in all, so glad we went and as for value for money on a day out, this is definitely worth every penny of the £6 you pay to park!!
What I loved and appreciated more than anything was how much Welsh there was around the museum. Every sign was bilingual and almost EVERY person thah worked there could converse with you in Welsh. The lovely man that was in the school and by the small houses spoke in Welsh to Coops and you'll always get a lot more out of him in that language! It's shocking that not more places IN WALES follow suit here but it was very much appreciated!!
So - get yourselves to St Fagans on a next free (but dry!!) day. There's not much to do there in the wet weather so for me it's definitely somewhere to keep for a dry day. I did see people with dogs there so it's dog friendly to a certain point, but they weren't allowed inside the buildings and so you'd always have to have someone outside holding the dog if you did take them! I also didn't see any children on bikes or scooters, I'm guessing they're not encouraged, although it's perfect scooting terrain really! It was super busy there during half term though so I would be constantly shouting "watch the people!!" if he did have his scooter (as I did when he was learning to navigate his new remote controlled car!!)
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