To get to Michaelstone-y-Fedw take junction 28 (Tredegar Park) off the M4 and the A468 to Bassaleg. Turn left in Bassaleg; turn right at 'T' Junction. Park at the Cefn Mably Arms.

In the nearby Churchyard is buried Elizabeth Maackie, wife of Carl Hesse who was the father of Rudolf Hesse, Adolph Hitler's closest Aide in pre-war Germany.

1 With your back to the Cefn Mably Arms turn right and right and right again. Proceed down the road, with a view of Cefn Mably Woods to the right. (You can just see what was the Old Cefn Mably Hospital over the trees!).

Opposite Fairwater Farm, cross the gate and follow the finger post to Ty-hir Farm. Take care when crossing the lawn and cross four stiles in quick succession, emerging on to a lane at Home Farm, walking through the wood to the road and turn right. 2.

3 Cross the stile opposite the entrance to Cefn Mably Farm and follow the path between the river and the large house in the valley. Go right at the steep bank and follow the waymarkers above the river Rhymney to the last field before the lane.

Walk diagonally right across the field to the stile on the lane. 4 Turn right and then left through the yard at "Woodvale" and proceed into the village. Turn right and follow the finger post to "Castleton", keeping left and emerging through a copse into a field with a pylon on the top of the hill. Go left and make for the right of the woodland and a line of pylons; following the waymarkers to the left over a stream emerging onto the Pentre Poeth Road. Turn right and right again along the drive to Clearwell Farm.

5 Proceed through the farm buildings (ignoring the first waymarker on your right) and turn right before the large barn. Emerge through two gates onto a hill, climbing diagonally left, then right through a narrow lane to Pen-y-Groes Fach, making for a finger post, keeping the cottage Pen-y-Groes Fach on your left. Continue along the edge of the field overlooking a lane, climb a stile and walk through to the village and the Cefn Mably Arms.

History of the Cefn Mably Hospital

The name Cefn Mably came from Mabel, the daughter of Norman Conqueror of Glamorgan, Robert Fitzhamon. She was the first to build the house on the ridge. The house became the home of the Kemys family in the mid 15th century.

In 1924, Courtney, Lord Tredegar, donated the buildings to the local health authorities as a Sanatorium for sufferers of TB. It was gutted by fire in 1994.

A famous item of furniture was housed there - the Cefn Mably Shoval Board, made at the beginning of the Civil war period. It is 42ft in length and is the longest, single plank, oak tabletop in Britain. It is now housed in the Orangery at Tredegar House.
There is a fascinating story of a woman called Betty the Fish, whose painting hung in the Great Hall. She was a Peterstone Fisher woman, who collected fish from Peterstone and carried them in a basket on her head, through Marshfield and Castleton to Cefn Mably in time for breakfast!