Gardens of Earthly Delight: Bodnant Garden
By Pamela Robin Brandt
One of Britain's most respected, idyllic, and naturalistic-style
gardens, this 80-acre Edwardian site in the town of Bodelwyddan
in North Wales, is the work of just one three-generation family
dynasty of plantspeople.
Henry Pochin, an ex-industrial chemist who bought this Conwy
valley estate in 1874, his son Charles (a Royal Horticultural
Society president), and his grandson the second Lord Aberconway,
who continued actively developing these gardens until his
death in 1953.
Notable garden features include a series of picturesque Italianate
terraces, with magnificent views of Snowdonia's dramatic mountains.
These descend steeply from the estate's neo-Tudor house and
are lushly laid out with collections of roses, lilies, rhododendrons,
camellias, and magnolias.
There's also an open-air stage, several charming old mill
buildings, and a luxuriant, deep dell cut by the little but
mighty Hiraethlyn River, and seeded over 125 years ago by
Henry Pochin with his main plant passion -- conifers, many
of which today are over 100 feet tall.
The best time to visit Bodnant is, without question, late
May to early June, when the garden's most famous feature --
the Laburnum Arch, a century-old 180-foot-long metal-frame
tunnel covered with glowing golden racemes -- is at its most
spectacular.
Plants and refreshments are available on site; picnics are
allowed in the car park.
Information
Where:
Bodnant Garden
Bodelwyddan
Conwy
North Wales
Hours:
Open daily from March 13 to October 31, 10.00am. to 5.00pm.
Getting There:
By car from Conwy, Bodnant is 13 kilometres southeast
via A55 and A470, and about the same distance south of Llandudno
and Colwyn Bay via the A47O.
By bus: Bus #25 runs from Llandudno, every two hours.
By train: The garden is a two-mile walk or cab ride from the
Tal-y-Cafn rail station (Conwy Valley line).
Further Info:
01492 650 731 - phone
01492 650 448 - fax
Website: www.oxalis.co.uk/bod/garden.htm
For Flights and Airfares to England - click
here for the Travel Homepage.
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