Value for money at the Pen-y-Pound

Few first-class venues in England and Wales can match the old- fashioned rural charms of the Pen-y-Pound, a four-and-a-half acre field tucked away in Avenue Road, to the north of this friendly Gwent market town, to which Glamorgan decamp once a year.

Located in idyllic surroundings in the Brecon Beacons National Park, at the foot of the Sugar Loaf mountain, it is revered not only for its setting but for the warm hospitality that invariably greets visiting teams.

"Everyone does their bit to make visitors feel welcome," Glamorgan's secretary, Gwyn Stone, said. "Ken Williams, the club groundsman, does a wonderful job with the pitch but I think it is just as popular for the magnificent teas."

Glamorgan hosted a first-team match at Pen-y-Pound for the first time in 1981 when the club, having rebuilt and improved their facilities following a fire, successfully applied for a Sunday League match. Two years later, Worcestershire provided the opposition for the inaugural first-class game and have been regular visitors since, along with Gloucestershire.

The 1990 match against Worcestershire produced 1,641 runs - a record aggregate for a three-day county match. Graeme Hick, then aged 24, had unbeaten scores of 252 and 100, in the process becoming the youngest batsman to complete 50 first-class hundreds. Glamorgan, chasing 495 to win, remarkably failed by only two runs.

Last year, Gloucestershire's Matthew Symonds made 254 and smashed the world record for sixes in an innings, hitting an incredible 16 in his double-century then four more in his second innings.

Worcestershire are the visitors this week, starting on Thursday, although the teams transfer to Ebbw Vale for the Sunday fixture.