Cadw has released its super summer holiday events schedule, offering families a huge variety of activities to enjoy and experience Welsh culture and history. 

Throughout the school summer holidays, Cadw’s historic places will be home to a jam-packed range of exciting educational and cultural events for the whole family. With over 130 historic places, there are a thousand reasons to visit this summer.

Families can get hands-on with archery, archaeology and even enrol at Knight School. Here are some of the top picks across West Wales over the summer months:

This summer, Cadw will re-launch an exciting experience for guests with a trail of relic photo spheres at locations such as Porthgain Quarry and Harbour, giving a distinctive perspective of the various monuments in which they are placed. 

The installations will encourage visitors to challenge what they know of typical photography, as well as highlighting the preservation of the monuments over 10 years. The relics will form part of Visit Wales’ Year of Trails – with Wales by Trails story maps available to view on the Cadw website. 

Porthgain Quarry and Harbour (7 August).

Get up close to magnificent birds of prey at Laugharne Castle’s falconry event. 

With a variety of species on display, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about these majestic creatures from the experts themselves. The displays will run twice a day at 12pm and 3pm and are not to be missed. 

Event info: Sunday 27th Aug – Monday 28th Aug, 11:00 – 16:00

This August, head down to Kidwelly Castle to see Juggling Jim for some fun for the whole family. With a mixture of circus workshops and silly knight school for children, there’s an opportunity for everyone to have a go. Visitors can also try their hand at being a jester themselves, learning skills such as juggling, diabolo, plate spinning and more. 

Event info: Tuesday 1st Aug – Wednesday 2nd Aug, 11:00 – 16:00

For those who want to explore sites further afield, but are unable to travel, five new virtual tours are now available on the Cadw website: Tinkinswood Burial Chamber, Strata Florida Abbey, Chepstow Castle, Tretower Court and Castle and Kidwelly Castle. 

Powered by advanced 3D scanning technology, these virtual visits will allow people to immerse themselves in Wales’ religious relics, historic homes, Roman remains and more, exploring Wales’ sites like never before.

Cadw’s Virtual Visits can be accessed here.

The events planned by Cadw for this year’s summer holidays are designed to cater to a wide range of interests and ages, offering a sense of adventure for a great day out and make lifelong memories. You can find a full list of events on Cadw’s website.