I'VE BEEN again exploring the new South Wales - not Australia's kangaroo-infested NSW which is half-a-world away, but the regenerated southern Welsh region around Cardiff which is just a one-hour hop from here.

At the beginning of the year, in my ALL THE BEST FOR 2007 tips for great places to visit, I nominated Cardiff as my Citybreak Destination of the Year.

My original enthusiasm was based upon an eye-opening visit to the newly-vibrant Welsh capital last autumn when I stayed four nights in the PARK PLAZA HOTEL which is surely one of the best-run hotels of any regional city centre in Europe.

Such was the good impression I gained then of this resurgent region that my recent Spring Break holiday there became a family self-catering affair, involving a half-dozen of us over an action-packed eight days.

What a pleasure it turned out to be, thanks to the Mediterranean-like weather, the quality of the awesome array of local attractions and, above all, the excellence of our accommodation, HAFOD LODGE.

High-class comfort in Hafod Lodge

CHARACTERFUL FIVE-STAR self-catering accommodation in the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan, just a short drive from Cardiff and the coast - that's lovely Hafod Lodge, which I wholeheartedly recommend.

It's an historically important and intriguing former gatehouse at the entrance driveway to 17th Century Hensol Castle. Great care to preserve its architectural integrity has been taken in its refurbishment and extension.

I'm sure the original gatekeepers would approve of the Mediterranean swimming pool in the walled garden and the conversion of the weighbridge tollhouse to a modern laundryroom - I certainly did. I even liked the full-size suit of armour which reflects the afternoon sun in the conservatory room overlooking an ancient bridge.

Nowadays Hafod Lodge provides excellent tourist accommodation for up to ten people (at a squeeze). Our party of two couples, one adult and a boy were very comfy indeed, split between the four bedrooms.

All the equipment and facilities are as good as you would expect in an establishment awarded the top grading in its category by the Wales Tourist Board -Sky TV, DVD, pool, pond (complete with koi carp) lovely gardens and patio. Standards of maintenance are also excellent: when we reported a problem in the main shower-room, a plumber arrived at 9am the next day -- and he wasn't even Polish! Property manager Dean and gardener Rob were always on hand, too.

We particularly appreciated the visits by the enterprising and affable owner, Dave Edwards of Fore Corners, his family company which operates other luxury properties in Wales and abroad.

"Our aim is to provide good-value luxury holiday retreats with character - at affordable rates, all year round," Dave told me as we chatted in the courtyard. Hafod Lodge is the flagship of the company's Welsh properties, but there are some very tasty places to rent in destinations like Mallorca, Bulgaria and the West Indies (see the full portfolio at www.fore-corners.co.uk).

Amazingly, during our stay the Cardiff sun outshone those hot-spots, making our private outdoor pool very enticing indeed. I had envisaged having a swim every morning, followed by a family get-together over a hearty breakfast in the spacious kitchen festooned with pots and pans.

Alas, my little dream of doing just that didn't quite become a reality until Day 3 of our stay at the Lodge because - in spite of the boiler going full blast for 72 hours in advance - it took a longer than expected for the water to heat up enough to stop me suffering a catatonic shock.

By the end of the week I was splashing around in a water temperature more like the one I encountered in my recent Red Sea snorkelling expedition -- ie, not exactly a hot-tub, but warm enough to stay in for up to 37 seconds at a time...

From the sublime to the Pits

SURPRISINGLY UNSPOILT - that sums up the Vale of Glamorgan countryside around Hafod Lodge. Maybe the network of country lanes stringing together the mosaic of quaint villages and lush sheep meadows around the nearby M4 motorway are just too narrow for today's mammoth construction vehicles.

We found these little roads, with their ancient hedges scraping the wing mirrors of our good-value Polo Plus rented from Europcar, a bit scary at first. Many are only one-car wide, but the provision of passing bays and the friendly consideration of local drivers soon made our daily trip to the M4 - mighty artery of South Wales - a matter of routine.

However, we never had the courage to make a night-time drive to the picture-postcard pub in nearby PENDOYLAN, winner of many Best Kept Village awards in the Vale.

But who needs a pub when you have the famous LLANERCH VINEYARD literally next door? This is the home of Cariad wines, made from grapes grown in the regimented rows you expect to see around Chablis and Cognac but not on the outskirts of Cardiff.

Regular tasting tours prove that it IS possible to make very acceptable wines in Wales. After all, the Romans did it around here two thousand years ago when their idea of global warming meant setting fire to the huts of Ancient Celts!

There isn't space here to do justice to the fantastic range of visitor attractions we enjoyed in the new South Wales, where every opportunity is taken to make the most of its rich - and otherwise redundant - industrial heritage.

State museums in Wales are now FREE, thanks to funding from the Welsh Assembly. I hope our own long-awaited new Assembly will do the same for all of ours and see them enjoy increased volumes of visitors spending money in museum shops and cafés.

Old railways and canals are always ripe for tourism development and I've enjoyed them the world over, but it wasn't until we spent a fascinating - and at times,fearsome - afternoon in the depths of the earth, that I experienced something that will be forever associated with the Welsh valleys - mining.

The BIG PIT at Blaeavon near Abergavenny is festooned with awards for the excellence of its interpretation of the Welsh iron and coal industry that they claim "put the Great into Great Britain."

As you've doubtless seen on TV, ex-miners (they prefer 're-employed colliers') now guide parties through damp and eerie shafts to coal-faces where they once hacked a ton of coal and shale per shift. Most of my party were genuinely moved by the underground stables where pit ponies lived out their sad lives. Personally, I was just as shocked to learn that the wee boys who operated the shaft doors in the bad old days had to buy their own candles!

The underground option is not for frail or faint-hearted visitors, who can cheerfully explore all the mining exhibits above ground. Alas, encumbered by a hard hat with lamp powered by a five-kilo battery strapped over my chronically bad back, I was almost on my knees by the end of the undulating walk. The things I endure for my readers! Thankfully there was a strong mug of tea and a Welsh Cake in the old miners' canteen to revive me.

In complete contrast, our hour-long ride on the spectacularly scenic BRECON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY along the Taf Fechan reservoir into the Brecon Beacons National Park near Merthyr Tydfil, was relaxing and uplifting. It looked so lovely that a couple of days later we made an excursion in our cars along lakeside lanes on the opposite bank to The Old Barn Tea Rooms.

Another intriguing day out is the MUSEUM OF WELSH LIFE close to Cardiff, a collection of farm-houses, churches and shops plus a row of terrace houses, each furnished in the fashion of successive periods from Victorian mantle-clock to MFI flat-packs. We bought crusty bread that we witnessed being baked before we spent the rest of a hot and sunny day at the seaside.

Coast, countryside, castles - and cheese

HERITAGE COAST is the fancy name for the necklace of family resorts, spectacular cliffs and European Blue Flag beaches stretching from the floriferous Cardiff suburb of Penarth through busy Barry and the funfairs of Barry Island, by way of lovely Llantwit Major and swanky Ogmore-by-Sea to the bucket 'n spade resort of Porthcawl.

Inland towns are equally delightful: we particularly loved pretty COWBRIDGE with its chic boutiques, craft shops, traditional inns and gardens. Sipping a frothy coffee on a pavement table outside The Bear Hotel was a treat. So was a half-hour browse in the best traditional hardware shop I've been in for yonks.

I almost bought an old-fashioned bristle yard-brush there as a souvenir but settled for a box of home-made chocolates from Cocoa & Co where Mary Roberts told us about the delights of the MONMOUTH & BRECON CANAL which we visited the very next day.

En route to the Canal we stopped off at whopping CAERPHILLY CASTLE, one of Europe's biggest fortifications, surrounded by a moat full of fish. What a place!

Our grandson Simon Wilson (7) was in his element, operating crossbows and siege engines. Foodies of my generation only know of Caerphilly because its creamy CHEESE was once nearly as famous as Cheddar. Could I find any? Not in the town itself but in the Welsh Cheese section of the deli in Barry's Waitrose store many miles away.

Local cheeses were also featured on the Welsh Ploughman's Lunch in the riverside café of extensive DUFFRYN GARDENS, being restored as a horticultural heaven and as a child-friendly park with bouncy castles. However, our new favourite open space near Cardiff is the vast COSMESTON LAKES Country Park which has a permanent mediaeval village featuring occasional olde worlde fayres and pageantry.

I bought ye olde worlde straw hat that now looks as bloodye sillye and incongruous as my sighting of a knight in armour shouting into

a mobile phone pressed to his helmet!

NEXT MONTH: A look at the beautiful new self-catering holiday apartments created by my friend Jean Whyte in the characterful courtyard of historic Loughbrickland House near burgeoning Banbridge