An �11m regeneration scheme has been launched in Merthyr Tydfil to create 200 jobs centred on the town's historic Cyfarthfa Castle.

A non profit-making business is being set up to take on jobless people from some of the area's unemployment blackspots.

The "Merthyr Miracle" - as it has being dubbed - will develop a number of new tourist attractions around the 19th century castle which dominates the town.

The castle was once home to Richard Crawshay - one of the most influential ironmasters of the industrial revolution - at a time when Merthyr was the industrial capital of the world.

Discovery centre

Work has already begun to restore the old blast furnaces opposite the parkland site and a special theatre is also planned to tell Merthyr's vivid history.

But the �11m scheme aims to mix the ancient with the modern.

Council greenhouses are being turned into a hydroponics centre to cultivate plants in water.

And there are plans to recreate the Crawshay family's old walled garden near the castle alongside a children's discovery centre.

Project co-ordinator Alun Evans said: "Fortunately for Merthyr, we have a fabulously unique history."