Llansannan Holiday Bodnant Garden

Day Five::

I think, all things considered, our trip to Bodnant Garden was my favourite day of the holiday. We could have stayed here longer, and I'm know we missed several bits having taken a different path, but it was a massive garden, now maintained by the National Trust (the house is privately owned) with a waterfall, long walks, ornate gardens, terraced lawns, lilly ponds, follies... it was likely a combination our of local Wakehurst Place and Sheffield Park combined into one super garden! If we lived nearer we would always be visiting here, and I took so many photos that it has made it into its own blog post!!

Reading up on the history of Bodnant Garden, it seems that it is the product of several generations and families each adding their own little section and idea to the property (as most of these big houses are), keeping sections of the inherited or previous gardens intact. Bodnant itself means 'dwelling by a stream' in Welsh and there appears to have been a house here since the reign of King James I. In 1792 a Italianate mansion was built, replacing the previous house, and a parkland was developed around it (inspired by English mansions). By the mid 1800s, Bodnant was put up for auction and was purchased by Victorian industrialist, Henry Davis Pochin. He purchased an estate which by then had a walled garden, woods and plantations and set about starting to transform it into more of what we see today. 

You may have heard of, or seen, images of a famous Laburnum Arch, which is actually here at Bodnant. We didn't go and see it (not intentionally, we just never came across it) but it wouldn't have been in flower anyway - definitely something to consider going back to see when it is covered in glorious yellow though! This was created during Pochin's ownership, along with formal shrub gardens around the house and more sculpted slopes creating a valley down toward the river planted with North American conifers. 

Pochin's descendants then kept the estate in the family, updating the formal gardens into more modern styles as the years went past, adding a wild garden and bringing back magnolias and rhododendrons and other 'new' plants from Asia and South America. His grandson worked closely with the head gardener (a Mr Puddle) to breed plant hybrids and they won several awards for their work.  

The planting is just stunning everywhere you go. We were advised on entry to go and see the river at the bottom of the valley because the hydrangeas that grow there are a very special colour of blue, but before we got there there were romantic terraces planted with pink beds and frothy white beds, a rose garden with the most amazing collection of soft colours and scents, ornamental lily pond.... so much to look at and take in.

The gardens are their own rooms connected by planted corridors, paths and steps. Sometimes slightly wild and wilful, sometimes just an arch cut into a hedge which spits you out into a different section entirely. It was very easy to get lost and we got separated from the rest of the family fairly quickly as we all turned a different way, everyone looking and admiring a different bit - or chasing after a rambunctious small boy. 

These Italianate terraces were particularly stunning. 

Eventually we all bumped into each other again as we'd all headed, albeit on different pathways, down toward the river with those wonderful blue hydrangeas, which also had a lovely waterfall and stepping stones across to paths on the other side. There was a Georgian mill down there, which was apparently rescued from Gloucestershire and brought here in 1938, now a lovely setting to sit outside of with a little shack café next to it serving delicious ice creams and benches to sit on and admire the surroundings. You are completely immersed in this valley, all you can see around you are trees, flowers, river and sky - it's a whole other world.  

I could have happily carried on wandering around for hours more but Baby F and Reece weren't all that keen. One wanted to sit down and the other wanted to scoot about so we decided to head back up towards the house (pushing the buggy up those steep hills was a workout!) and chill out on the perfectly manicured lawns. 

It would be lovely to see how the gardens change through the seasons, what showstopping plants there are for autumn and winter, which gardens are still in use and which lie dormant. That is the treat of the locals who live there to enjoy.