Ruperra Castle, a ruinous mock castle (nprn 19900), is situated on gently undulating ground at the southern foot of the Craig Ruperra ridge. It stands to roof height but is a burnt out shell.
To the south, east and west of the Castle there is a relict small park on undulating ground, backed to the north by the steep-sided wooded ridge of Craig Ruperra which rises to a summit of 177m. The park falls into two historically distinct areas: to the west of the house the ancient deer park with possible medieval origins but developed from the seventeenth century; and to the south and east a small area of landscape park.

Three drives approach Ruperra Castle: from the south, east and west. The west drive, from a lane east of Rudry village, passes three cottages: Ruperra Park Lodge just inside the entrance (19901), Park Wall Cottage half way along, and West Lodge to the north-west of the grounds where it turns south to skirt the castle grounds. The east drive is a continuation of the west, runs along the north side of the garden and continues south-eastwards past Coed Llanvedw and on to the Draethen - Michaelston-y-Fedw lane. A former drive, now a farm track, runs west from the Home Farm across the park to an entrance in the south wall of the grounds. The south drive, also now a farm track, runs from an entrance, now occupied by a farmyard, north-east along an oak avenue then north to a gate in the south-west corner of the grounds.

The former deer park is a four-sided area, wider on the north than the south, bounded by the west drive on the north, the castle grounds and a belt of woodland south of the castle to the east, a field boundary along the south drive on the south and a country lane running south-eastwards from the west entrance to the west. South of the north drive is a complex of ruined buildings, former stables (before that kennels), on its east a planted grove of sweet chestnut. Undulating pasture land to the east, with a belt of conifers and a rectangular pond, was incorporated into the later, landscape park. At its centre is a large, prominent raised knoll planted with deciduous trees.
The eastern section of the park comprises two large pasture fields dotted with a few trees, bounded on the south by Coed Wern-ddu with a small fishpond at its northern end.

The two parts of the park are separated by a narrow tongue of deciduous woodland running south from the south-west corner of the grounds. At the northern end is a boggy depression,  formerly a pond, and near the south end a large septic tank, now disused.
The wooded Craig Ruperra ridge was also used as an extension of the park and grounds with the the re-use, in the seventeenth century, of a castle mound as an ornamental feature and for the construction upon it of a summerhouse, now gone (91997). 

The house is surrounded by gardens (265743).

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 30-7 (ref: PGW(Gm)17(CAE)).
Ordnance Survey Second Edition six-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XXXVII.NE (1898).

RCAHMW, 23 May 2022