Caravan Parks In Gwent, South Wales | MOTORHOMEingLife

You get two clear types across Gwent. The private caravan parks such as Pont Kemys near Usk, Pyscodlyn near Abergavenny and Three Castles at Skenfrith give you an electric hook-up, hot showers, hardstanding pitches and often a shop or fully serviced super-pitches, and they suit tourers who want proper facilities. The public alternative leans on the landscape: the camp site at Cwmcarn Forest run by Natural Resources Wales, and the wider Brecon Beacons National Park, which are cheaper and wilder with fewer facilities. Most touring visitors use a private park as a comfortable base and head into the national park or the forest for the day.

Yes, the touring pitches on the private parks around Usk and Abergavenny almost all come with an electric hook-up, usually a 16 amp EHU on hardstanding or grass. Pont Kemys has 65 touring pitches all wired for electric, plus fully serviced super-pitches that add water and drainage at the pitch. Three Castles and Pyscodlyn both offer electric on every pitch too. The camp site at Cwmcarn Forest has electric hook-up charged separately, at a few pounds a night. If you plan a night deeper in the hills or the national park, expect basic or no hook-up, so use your leisure battery and fill up on power before you leave the serviced sites.

In summer you should book ahead. Between late June and the end of August the hardstanding and fully serviced pitches at the popular parks around Abergavenny and Usk fill first, and weekends go quickest, so reserve online or by phone a few weeks out. Outside the school holidays, midweek in spring or autumn, you can often ring a day ahead and still get a good pitch, especially at the larger parks. The small camp site at Cwmcarn Forest has limited hardstanding, so book that one early whatever the season. Our habit is to reserve the first and last nights of a trip and stay flexible in the middle.

Not on the roadside. Wales does not give a general right to park a motorhome overnight in a layby or car park, and Gwent is fairly built-up in the valleys, so you should stay on a licensed caravan park or a designated camp site. There is no wild-camping right for vehicles in the Brecon Beacons National Park either; the access rights there cover walking, not overnighting a van. Natural Resources Wales car parks are for day use, and many display no-overnight signs. The honest answer is to budget for a pitch. The private parks around Usk and Abergavenny are good value and give you the electric hook-up and services a free spot never will.

Late May to early September gives the warmest, driest weather and the longest daylight. May and September are our favourites because the parks are quieter and cheaper while the days are still long and the hills are green. July and August bring the warmest temperatures, with highs around 21°C, but also the crowds and the top rates, and you must book pitches ahead. Spring is lovely for the Wye Valley woods, and autumn brings colour and quieter parks. Winter touring is possible since some parks stay open, though it is wet and windy, so pick a hardstanding pitch with electric hook-up and pack for short days.

Yes, if you like forest trails and a quieter base. Cwmcarn Forest sits in the valleys near Caerphilly and reopened its scenic Forest Drive after major investment from Natural Resources Wales. The small camp site among the trees has a handful of hardstanding pitches with electric hook-up, good shower and toilet facilities and chemical waste disposal, and mountain-bike trails on the doorstep. It is a peaceful spot rather than a big holiday park, so pitches are limited and worth booking early. Fill your water and empty your tanks before you arrive, since the site is compact. You can also day-trip the Forest Drive from a park near Usk just as easily.

For the most part, yes. The M4 past Newport and the A449 and A40 around Monmouth are trunk roads built for lorries, and they handle the largest motorhomes and caravans easily. The A465 Heads of the Valleys road is a fast dual link across the north of the county. The places to take care are the older town centres in Usk, Abergavenny and Chepstow, where streets get tight for anything over seven metres, and the narrow lanes up the valleys and over the hills. We park the van at the site and travel into town by car or bus, and take the climbs slowly in a lower gear.

Plenty within a short drive. To the east the Wye Valley leads to Tintern Abbey and the walled town of Chepstow with its riverside castle. North of Pontypool, Big Pit National Coal Museum at Blaenavon takes you underground with a former miner, and it is part of a World Heritage Site and free to visit. Around Abergavenny the Sugar Loaf and the Skirrid give half-day walks straight off the valley floor. Caerphilly Castle is one of the biggest in Britain, and the little town of Usk is good for an afternoon by the river. It is an easy area to fill a week without long drives.

On the caravan parks. Every licensed park around Usk and Abergavenny has a chemical disposal point, sometimes called an Elsan point or motorhome service point, where you empty the toilet cassette, tip grey water and refill fresh water. The camp site at Cwmcarn Forest has chemical waste disposal too. Never empty a cassette or grey tank into a roadside drain, a field or a river, since that pollutes and is illegal. If you are heading up the valleys or into the national park for a night, empty and refill before you go, because service points are scarce out there. Plan your route to pass a park when the tanks are full.

Generally yes. Most private caravan parks around Gwent are dog-friendly, and this is fine walking country, with forest trails at Cwmcarn, riverside paths along the Usk and Wye, and hill routes up the Sugar Loaf that suit a dog well. Pont Kemys even has a separate dog exercise area. Parks usually ask you to keep dogs on a lead around the pitches and to clean up, and some limit the number per pitch, so check when you book. The national park and forest are excellent for dogs, though keep them under control near livestock and ground-nesting birds in spring. Always carry water on warmer summer days.

Gwent is fair value by Welsh standards. Expect around £22 to £34 a night for a serviced touring pitch with electric hook-up for two adults and one caravan or motorhome, with peak August dates and fully serviced super-pitches near the top. Hardstanding costs a little more than grass. The camp site at Cwmcarn Forest is cheaper, with electric hook-up charged separately at a few pounds a night. Shoulder-season rates in May, September and October fall noticeably, and weekly deals can beat nightly prices, so if you are staying a while it pays to ask the park about a longer booking rather than paying night by night.

Absolutely, that is one of its strengths. Gwent sits between the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park on its north-west edge and the Wye Valley National Landscape along its eastern border, so from a park here you can reach both within an easy drive. The M4, A40 and A465 give fast access in every direction, and the distances are short, so you can range widely without long towing days. Many visitors combine a few nights near Abergavenny for the hills with a stay closer to Monmouth and Chepstow for the Wye, giving a full sweep of the area over a week or two of touring.

Some are, which helps in a milder corner of Wales. A handful of parks around Usk and Abergavenny take winter tourers, which makes off-season trips feasible, though you should always ring ahead to confirm the park and its facilities block are open. Winter here is wet and windy rather than deeply cold, with highs around 8°C, so a hardstanding pitch with electric hook-up is the sensible choice to stay off soft ground and keep the van warm. Daylight is short from November to January, so plan shorter drives and earlier stops. The Wye Valley and the castles are quiet and atmospheric out of season.

You get two clear types across Gwent. The private caravan parks such as Pont Kemys near Usk, Pyscodlyn near Abergavenny and Three Castles at Skenfrith give you an electric hook-up, hot showers, hardstanding pitches and often a shop or fully serviced super-pitches, and they suit tourers who want proper facilities. The public alternative leans on the landscape: the camp site at Cwmcarn Forest run by Natural Resources Wales, and the wider Brecon Beacons National Park, which are cheaper and wilder with fewer facilities. Most touring visitors use a private park as a comfortable base and head into the national park or the forest for the day.

Yes, the touring pitches on the private parks around Usk and Abergavenny almost all come with an electric hook-up, usually a 16 amp EHU on hardstanding or grass. Pont Kemys has 65 touring pitches all wired for electric, plus fully serviced super-pitches that add water and drainage at the pitch. Three Castles and Pyscodlyn both offer electric on every pitch too. The camp site at Cwmcarn Forest has electric hook-up charged separately, at a few pounds a night. If you plan a night deeper in the hills or the national park, expect basic or no hook-up, so use your leisure battery and fill up on power before you leave the serviced sites.

In summer you should book ahead. Between late June and the end of August the hardstanding and fully serviced pitches at the popular parks around Abergavenny and Usk fill first, and weekends go quickest, so reserve online or by phone a few weeks out. Outside the school holidays, midweek in spring or autumn, you can often ring a day ahead and still get a good pitch, especially at the larger parks. The small camp site at Cwmcarn Forest has limited hardstanding, so book that one early whatever the season. Our habit is to reserve the first and last nights of a trip and stay flexible in the middle.

Not on the roadside. Wales does not give a general right to park a motorhome overnight in a layby or car park, and Gwent is fairly built-up in the valleys, so you should stay on a licensed caravan park or a designated camp site. There is no wild-camping right for vehicles in the Brecon Beacons National Park either; the access rights there cover walking, not overnighting a van. Natural Resources Wales car parks are for day use, and many display no-overnight signs. The honest answer is to budget for a pitch. The private parks around Usk and Abergavenny are good value and give you the electric hook-up and services a free spot never will.

Late May to early September gives the warmest, driest weather and the longest daylight. May and September are our favourites because the parks are quieter and cheaper while the days are still long and the hills are green. July and August bring the warmest temperatures, with highs around 21°C, but also the crowds and the top rates, and you must book pitches ahead. Spring is lovely for the Wye Valley woods, and autumn brings colour and quieter parks. Winter touring is possible since some parks stay open, though it is wet and windy, so pick a hardstanding pitch with electric hook-up and pack for short days.

Yes, if you like forest trails and a quieter base. Cwmcarn Forest sits in the valleys near Caerphilly and reopened its scenic Forest Drive after major investment from Natural Resources Wales. The small camp site among the trees has a handful of hardstanding pitches with electric hook-up, good shower and toilet facilities and chemical waste disposal, and mountain-bike trails on the doorstep. It is a peaceful spot rather than a big holiday park, so pitches are limited and worth booking early. Fill your water and empty your tanks before you arrive, since the site is compact. You can also day-trip the Forest Drive from a park near Usk just as easily.

For the most part, yes. The M4 past Newport and the A449 and A40 around Monmouth are trunk roads built for lorries, and they handle the largest motorhomes and caravans easily. The A465 Heads of the Valleys road is a fast dual link across the north of the county. The places to take care are the older town centres in Usk, Abergavenny and Chepstow, where streets get tight for anything over seven metres, and the narrow lanes up the valleys and over the hills. We park the van at the site and travel into town by car or bus, and take the climbs slowly in a lower gear.

Plenty within a short drive. To the east the Wye Valley leads to Tintern Abbey and the walled town of Chepstow with its riverside castle. North of Pontypool, Big Pit National Coal Museum at Blaenavon takes you underground with a former miner, and it is part of a World Heritage Site and free to visit. Around Abergavenny the Sugar Loaf and the Skirrid give half-day walks straight off the valley floor. Caerphilly Castle is one of the biggest in Britain, and the little town of Usk is good for an afternoon by the river. It is an easy area to fill a week without long drives.

On the caravan parks. Every licensed park around Usk and Abergavenny has a chemical disposal point, sometimes called an Elsan point or motorhome service point, where you empty the toilet cassette, tip grey water and refill fresh water. The camp site at Cwmcarn Forest has chemical waste disposal too. Never empty a cassette or grey tank into a roadside drain, a field or a river, since that pollutes and is illegal. If you are heading up the valleys or into the national park for a night, empty and refill before you go, because service points are scarce out there. Plan your route to pass a park when the tanks are full.

Generally yes. Most private caravan parks around Gwent are dog-friendly, and this is fine walking country, with forest trails at Cwmcarn, riverside paths along the Usk and Wye, and hill routes up the Sugar Loaf that suit a dog well. Pont Kemys even has a separate dog exercise area. Parks usually ask you to keep dogs on a lead around the pitches and to clean up, and some limit the number per pitch, so check when you book. The national park and forest are excellent for dogs, though keep them under control near livestock and ground-nesting birds in spring. Always carry water on warmer summer days.

Gwent is fair value by Welsh standards. Expect around £22 to £34 a night for a serviced touring pitch with electric hook-up for two adults and one caravan or motorhome, with peak August dates and fully serviced super-pitches near the top. Hardstanding costs a little more than grass. The camp site at Cwmcarn Forest is cheaper, with electric hook-up charged separately at a few pounds a night. Shoulder-season rates in May, September and October fall noticeably, and weekly deals can beat nightly prices, so if you are staying a while it pays to ask the park about a longer booking rather than paying night by night.

Absolutely, that is one of its strengths. Gwent sits between the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park on its north-west edge and the Wye Valley National Landscape along its eastern border, so from a park here you can reach both within an easy drive. The M4, A40 and A465 give fast access in every direction, and the distances are short, so you can range widely without long towing days. Many visitors combine a few nights near Abergavenny for the hills with a stay closer to Monmouth and Chepstow for the Wye, giving a full sweep of the area over a week or two of touring.

Some are, which helps in a milder corner of Wales. A handful of parks around Usk and Abergavenny take winter tourers, which makes off-season trips feasible, though you should always ring ahead to confirm the park and its facilities block are open. Winter here is wet and windy rather than deeply cold, with highs around 8°C, so a hardstanding pitch with electric hook-up is the sensible choice to stay off soft ground and keep the van warm. Daylight is short from November to January, so plan shorter drives and earlier stops. The Wye Valley and the castles are quiet and atmospheric out of season.