This isolated village used to have it all with shops, pubs and a football club.
Abercregan is 10 miles from Port Talbot and only has one road. There are few houses that are set on a stunning mountainous backdrop and residents have to drive to the next village to buy a pint of milk.
As you drive through the town you cross an ancient bridge and see a few houses and the old school that now sits empty.
Nicola-Jayne Davies, a local councillor who lives in neighbouring Glyncorrwg, told WalesOnline: “It’s quite isolating for the people living here.
"There’s no pub, there’s no shop, places where people can get together. I know a few people go to the pub across the bridge in the next village - that’s the only place you can socialise if you live here.
"People would want more things here but it would be down to someone coming in and investing in the village. It’s something that would be difficult to achieve.”
The nearest town is Maesteg and is a 15-minute drive away. There is a bus every two hours, making it a long journey to just pop to Tesco.
She said: "There are other villages with similar issues, but up here it is unique.
"It’s the only village that doesn’t have anything, when it used to have everything.
“There is still a community here, though. Everyone looks out for everyone else up here. If someone has an issue the community would be there for them at the drop of a hat. But over the years the village has not had the level of investment needed and that’s why things have closed down.”
More than fifty years ago a number of homes in Abercregan were demolished as the authorities embarked on a practice called "slum clearance" - a renewal strategy with the aim of transforming low-income living areas.
It was decided that these homes were no longer fit for habitation and they were pulled down, and with the decline of the mining industry the town became more remote.
Mairwen Goodridge was born in the town and still remains there 78 years later.
She said: "I became a councillor in 1974 because of what they were doing to the valley.
“They demolished a whole row of houses, and then another two rows of houses. Most of the men living here would have been working in the local mines, and we had everything here then.
"We had shops, we had a Post Office, we had the working men’s club, the pub. We had a welfare hall, and fish and chips - and they were lovely fish and chips I can tell you!"
Her mum ran the Post Office out of the family home for many years and retired in the late 1990s.
She said: "We had everything here, and it's become really tough for the people who don’t have any family. Mind you, there aren’t many of them left - I think I’m the oldest person in the village now."
Mairwen says the community in Abercregan used to be close.
She said: "Today, since living on my own, you do realise how isolated people are up here."
It is hoped that a multi-million-pound adventure resort - under the Wildfox Resorts brand - will open in the area and not only bring hundreds of jobs but also put the valley - including Abercregan - on the map.
Planning permission has now been granted for the project.
When the lack of amenities in the village was put to Neath Port Talbot Council, the authority said "it is unfortunately the case that following years of austerity and other factors such as digital disruption, services have closed in a number of places across the county borough, as seen more broadly across the UK".
A spokeswoman for the council added: "We have just published our new corporate plan which identifies the development of thriving and sustainable communities as a new objective for the council. We acknowledge that there is a need to give greater priority to this.
"We have set out a small number of priorities for next year in our plan - for example we have recently expanded our network of local area co-ordinators and one of their roles is to identify opportunities to support communities to develop initiatives that meet a local need.
"Abercregan is part of the wider Afan Valley area which could benefit considerably in terms of jobs and other commercial/community opportunities which could spin off from the Wildfox Resort plan which could deliver transformational change. The council is also proposing to invest £264,000 in community improvements in the Cymmer ward, of which Abercregan is a part of."
Mairwen will never move from Abercregan. She tried it once temporarily when her husband had a job in Leicester, but she lasted six months before the pull of these wonderful Welsh hills proved too much.
“There is nothing to do here apart from walk, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” she said. “I’ve moved around the village but not out of it! This place is what I’m used to. It’s my home.”
