A Welsh Coal Mining Experience in Rhondda

Wow! Such a magical day from start to finish. The decorations all around were totally amazing and the xmas feel got me! Love, love loved it! 1st visit ever but will definitely return. Grandchildren were totally gobsmacked with it all and loved Santa....such a realistic man 🎅 Well done to all who no doubt worked tirelessly to create this magic. Enjoyed a lush coffee n a cookie in the coffee shop which was well worth it after the toy mine visit. Picked up a couple of xmas bits n a book in the shop too. Lovely friendly staff all round. Loved the huge miners lamp outside with the cascading poppies. Very poignant ❤

Fantastic day at Santas toy mine in Rhondda heritage park today 😁👍 the mine was all out up and decorated lovely, the staff were fantastic and father Christmas was brilliant with all the children, definitely recommend! We had the added bonus of the urban market, we ate the nicest hot dogs Ive ever had from " the dog cart" , bought stone baked pizza which was fab, plus loads of lovely chutneys, jams, fudge, cakes and trinkets. Fab day had by all

An excellent tour, learning about how the miners worked and lived.

Excellent afternoon out. A good value for money experience with a knowledgeable tour guide. Lovely tea shop with friendly staff.

Really good tour, very informative tour guides who talk about personal experience. Well worth a trip and the coffee shop is also a little gem

We had a great time on our black gold tour with John.He was a fantastic tour guide.I would highly recommend visiting.

Very interesting tour. History was brought to life. Pleased we visited.

This is an experience that mustnt be missed. I visited the site with both my 17 and 11-year-old daughters and it was one of the absolute highlights of our trip to Wales. Going down to the "depths" and exploring the mine was very exciting - and entertaining - but what really made the visit special was the fact that our guide had worked in that very mine for many, many years. More than just showing us tools and tunnels, he spoke to us about how life and work and people were - not that long ago - and how he saw them change through the years. A healthy reminder too, of how so many things that we take for granted now, became possible at a great cost to so many people. More than a journey to the deep, it was a journey through time, and we cant thank John, our host, enough for making that journey with us.

Fabulous place, the tour was lovely with a gentleman called Tony, who had so much knowledge, very friendly and had worked down the mines himself. Really enjoyed it

Visited with a friend today, had a tasty light lunch with great service and a warm welcome.Took the tour which was very interesting, informative & entertaining!I plan to visit with my grandchildren, I am sure they will really enjoy it.

Absolutely amazing! Taking the tour with Tony was definitely a highlight of our trip to Wales, hes a genuine miner and is hilarious. We learnt loads and even the two 16 year olds enjoyed it. Its amazing value for money too. Tony you are brilliant at what you do. 👏

John our guide was very good and very informative. He gave us the opportunity to ask questions. He worked in the coal mine for 30 years. Very nice cafe and the cakes looked yummy. Would recommend a visit.

What an unexpected surprise! We arrived early for our pre-booked tour. Spent some time looking around the informative exhibitions and had a drink in the cafe. All the staff were friendly and helpful. The tour took us round some of the main buildings and down into one of the mines. Our tourguide, John, was excellent. He had worked in the mines for 30 years, had lots of stories, and was great with all the kids in the group. An absolute bargain for £7.95 each, a lovely afternoon out.

An opportunity to find out more about the coal mines, would highly recommend the tour. Our tour guide, Graham was great, very knowlegable and kept everyone (including the childrenengaged

A great and thought provoking experience, with amazing exhibits, insightful experiences from the tour guides, and immersive tour experience. My kids and I loved it.

Really lovely day here , we took the black tour which was really good our tour guide john was amazing , he was so much fun brilliant with the children he got them involved every step of the way , he has so much amazing information and experience in coal mining he made it really interesting and informative for everyone we really couldnt of asked for a better tour guide , there is lots of parking outside , there has a cafe and a souvenir shop and also a crafts shop upstairs, they have plenty of toilets , and baby changing facilities which are extremely clean, they have picnic benches dotted around outside to if you want to take a picnic , there was also different tables set outside with activities for children to do , a really amazing day out I highly recommend 👌

Wonderful tour, tour guide John was super lovely, fully recommend!

Extremely interesting and informative mining tour. Museum relating to coal industry. Lunch in cafe was well prepared. All staff friendly and welcoming.

Incredibly interesting and informative tour of the old coal mine and enormous engine room. Pete the tour guide was passionate and enthusiastic about the mine and the lifes of the men who worked in them (him being one of them). Very good pricing and even access to a little museum! We didnt try the café and restaurant on site, but can imagine it was equally good. Would highly recommend.

Good tour of winding house and a realistic reproduction mine workings with an entertaining and informative ex-miner guide. Young children were kept involved opening air doors and my partner who walks with a stick found it manageable.

A very entertaining and informative afternoon on the tour with John, a fabulously knowledgeable tour guide.The only downside to the afternoon was the fact that the cafe was closed. Run independently, but it was a Bank Holiday and in my opinion should be open if the Rhondda Heritage Park is open.

Tony was great and a genuine character. Made the experience very enjoyable and explained everything in a way that we could easily understand.

Fantastic. Great staff, lovely environment, great coffee, clean toilets, and really moving to read about and see the history of the mines. Daughter loved Easter egg hunt 💞

Really enjoyed a morning spent here with my 3 children, aged 8, 10 and 12.Our guide had worked in the mines for 43 years and was incredibly knowledgeable, as well as kind and funny with the kids; patiently listening to and answering all their questions as we toured around the buildings and mine.I would definitely recommend this trip to be reminded of Wales amazing coal mining heritage

Cant say enough of this place. A MUST MUST MUST go. Our guide ( I think Johnwas outstanding. The history is unbelievably interesting and tugs on the heart strings a bit too. Great for all ages. We enjoyed a hot tea, hot chocolates, and dessert in the Cafe after. Whether you are a tourist or local, this is a great way to spend an afternoon. I was very impressed.

Didnt do the underground tour, but so much to inspire and celebrate in the exhibitions. Well worth a visit!!The CHOCOLATE HOUSE CAFE is really lovely. Unusual menu, recommend WELSH RAREBIT, fabulous.

I came here as part of a school trip. Overall the experience was very good and included a museum area with artefacts, props, sounds and interactive screens, as well as written information. But the best part, for the children and adults alike was the tour of the mine. There were screens with actors dressed as characters from the mine talking to the children and providing information, and the real guide was very informative and built good rapport with the group. There were a few surprises along the way that the children enjoyed. The only minor negatives were that some areas seemed unfinished (for example the House of Chocolateand the kids play area was closed which disappointed the children. Overall an enjoyable experience.

Such a wonderful experience for the little ones. There was a wonderful elf guiding the kids through the mines on their visit to Santa. For the children the experience was magical 💕

Great time going to see Santa with the kids. They loved every minute of it going under ground and seeing Santa.Was a shame no stalls outside due to covid but we all enjoyed

A fantastic place to visit, very informative. We visited again to take photos of the outside and continued through Barry Sidings. Lovely day and well worth a visit.

Fantastic tour with some great immersive elements along the way. Brilliant tour guide (skippywho used to work at the mine and was very knowledgeable and great with the kids! A highly recommended few hours and great value too.

Amazing place and Amazing guide happy to share his experience. Loved the visit and would definitely recommend.

Best value for money ever - a lovely tour into the mines with a fab guide who is an ex-miner. Very nice coffee shop too. Would highly recommend.

Really great tour, a genuine coal miner takes you through and is happy to answer any questions. Our guide Graham mixed some humour in to make it an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Extremely interesting experience! Tony was a brilliant tour guide and very well informed. Would definitely recommend

Excellent place to visit , good parking and a great onsite cafe. Went on a tour of the old coal mine and workings, our guide "Tony" was Excellent was very informative and engaging, he kept the children on the tour interested and amused with his jokes, well worth a visit and I will definitely be returning another day

We went on the gold tour with children. The guide was an ex-miner and very informative/entertaining. The heritage museum have included digital enhancements to the tour to bring to life the history. My kids (11 and 8were entertained for the hour tour. Going down in the lift into the mine was a great experience. Highly recommend the tour to anyone.

Absolutely loved this experience.Our tour guide Graham was excellent. Great and sad to hear about the stories from the mines.Brilliant to have a little bit of history being kept alive.Great for kids and adults alike.

Very interesting afternoon. Graham was brilliant, gave lots of information, answered questions. Makes you feel rather humble knowing what the miners went through

Excellent visit well worth the money. Peter our guide was very informative and really made us feel what it would have been like to work down the mine. The coffee shop was very reasonably priced and I have never seen custard slices so big. We would definitely visit again. Thank you to all the staff for a very enjoyable visit.

Excellent day out. Guided tour is amazing and very informative and interesting. Nothing was too much trouble for Tony the tour guide, even our endless questions!! Id say the tour isnt suitable for most young children (under 5sand can feel claustrophobic at times but thats all part of the experience. The cafe staff were fantastic and the food was lovely. Would strongly recommend.

Excellent museum and tour, well worth a visit. There is ample on site parking. The site is taking tours and fully open. They have great staff and the tour guides are themselves ex-miners and highly knowledgeable. Our guide (Johntook us around the site and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I have included a few photos, but I wont detail the tour as you really need to see it yourself (I dont want to spoil your fun). They have full facilities on site, the cafe is also open (good brew too). A pleasure to see some of our heritage intact and preserved. Dont forget your hard hat before going underground.

A nice little dive into the industrial history of our proud nation. Absolutely amazing, the tour guide, Tony, was brilliant and more than happy to answer any and all questions about the heritage parks history and the history of industrial Wales overall!, no matter how small or silly the questions may have been. Would 100% recommend. Added bonus, the tours are cheap, and due to the pandemic, the tour groups are small. Definitely a cracking day out!

A great day out and our guide Peter (who worked in the mineprovided an informative tour with added bits from personal experience making the tour a great memory of our holiday in Wales. The coffee shop, gift shop and the guided tour itself were all great value and is worth making the effort to visit (we travelled over 70 miles each way and are so pleased we did).

Only called in for a quick look around but we will return for a proper visit at a later date because it does look interesting. Had a cuppa in the onsite cafe which is decorated with a mining theme and provides decent food.Managed to return yesterday (9th Juneand did the mining experience tour with wife and granddaughter aged 9. If you come from families with a miners heritage or you are interested in how tough it was in the early years then a visit is worthwhile. The underground tour is well presented but can be a bit scary for the youngsters.

The tour was very interesting with an ex-miner as a guide. Our small group had plenty of time to chat as a result and all questions were answered without hesitation. The site was a real mine and they have now added lots of interactive set pieces, some of which are very impressive. I shant spoil the surprise and each experience has lots of effects and plenty of photo opportunities. The whole place is wheelchair accessible, tho the last interactive set piece in the coal cart may require sitting on the sideline. Well appointed shop with local produce and assorted gifts. One minor complaint, the guide tho very happy and cheerful at one point was asked if he would return to mining if the industry was revived tomorrow. Given the risks involved and his highlighting of the dangers as well as friendships and comradeship, a good question I thought, from the lady who asked. He responded in the positive and gave his reasons why including foolish government policies etc. which given the economic devastation inflicted on this area. Fair enough. Alas for those of us in the group who did not heartily agree with this statement, at the end of the tour we were passively aggressively denied a handshake. For the youngsters out there he left us hanging. Not a big deal but just to point out no objections were voiced nor disdaining looks given on his views, we simply didnt cheer them either. To be clear. Every member of the staff here was friendly and welcoming as you expect in the valleys, they do keep a welcome. Just if you do visit, and if your interested at all in history and engineering I heartily recommend, should a guide suggest the return of coal, if you want your hand shake, agree:If you dont, deduct a star, I had nothing else to fault.

I loved it!We visited Wales from London in the ‘storm Dennis’.I don’t believe it was the best time to visit here but it was still very good experience!We only spent £19 for 4 of us for an hour tour.The tour was the un-forgettable one.The gentleman who lead the tour used to be a miner. He could answer any question, he was also kind and patient for kids.We experienced to be in the replicated cave, listening to what the miners’ lives were like inside the cave was very interesting.My children are 4 and 7, they haven’t got bored all the way to the end.People are very nice in the cafe and reception too.It is definitely worth to visit if you are near by.

This is a great place to visit the history of this area. It is an amazing historic place to learn how miners lived their lives and you get a chance go underground to experience what was ot like to be there. The guide is brilliant especially if you get John. At the end of the tour there is a 3D mining experience that is absolutely amazing. Definitely recommended. There could be better improvement on upgrading to either 4 or even 5D experience. There is ample parking available in the area. Thank you

Good day trip to see how the old Welshmen used to have struggle down the pit. It was a bit disheartening knowing it wasnt actually underground but I understand the reasons. Big pit is a must If you enjoy this experience. Still very interesting.

Really nice place, remembering the famous history of Rhonda mines. We had a really great time here and did the really interesting underground tour. There was only our family with the tour guide (a retired miner, so he really knew what he was talking aboutand he was more than happy to answer our questions.It was a little harder to understand him, because hes welsh and cant talk slower (his words, not mine :but when we asked him, he started to speak a bit slower :). Theres also a really nice playground for the children.The last part is an interesting movie that simulates a ride in a small "train" through the mine, but it was a little scary for our three year old nephew.