Historic castle garden and Millennium Botanical Gardens to visit in Wales
If you are thinking of travelling to the UK, you should definitely take the time to visit gardens, parks, and botanical gardens. This is an article that you should definitely read if you are considering a trip to Wales (one of the four countries that make up the UK), whether you have already to the UK a few times or are living in the UK and thinking about travelling within the country. I would like to introduce some of the gardens and botanical gardens that impressed me in Wales, which I have had the opportunity to visit twice recently.
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Powis Castle and Garden
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Powis Castle and Garden
Did you see the beautiful landscape photos I posted in my recent post “Hilton Partners with the Glamping Industry“? All of the photos were taken during my glamping trip, and I spent a few days soothed by the nature of Wales.
A few weeks before I went glamping, someone I had talked to at a meeting told me that Powis Castle Gardens in Wales are amazing and that I should definitely go there if I had the chance.
That person is a volunteer with the National Trust and also works at Powis Castle. After some research, I found out that Powis Castle is close to the glamping site, so I decided to visit.
First, I decided to look around the inside of the castle. When I walked around and came out of the building, there was a peacock standing there with its wings spread out gracefully, as if it was guarding the building. I wondered why it was a peacock, but it is said that it could be because the former owner of the castle, Edward Clive, had a successful business in India.
May to June is the time of year when the gardens look their most gorgeous. The well-maintained trees had lush, fresh green leaves, and colourful flowers were blooming everywhere. The European yew tree, which has grown over the years into a completely different shape from when it was first planted, tells of the castle’s long history.
With an orangery, terrace, flower beds, formal gardens, lawn plaza, and orchard, the gardens are so large and complete that I think they are much larger than the castle (although I didn’t get to see all the rooms in the castle, so I think it might actually be larger). In addition, the countryside behind the castle acts as a borrowed landscape, so it seems like the entire view is a garden.
I found out later that this is a place where fans of the movie “Castle in the Sky” visit on a pilgrimage. Apparently it was the model for Laputa Castle and its gardens. It’s not exactly the same as the scenes in the movie, but there are certainly some similarities here and there.
National Botanic Garden of Wales
A few weeks later, I had the opportunity to visit the National Botanic Garden in the west of Wales. I took a four-hour Great Western Railway train from Paddington Station to a station called Camarthen, and then drove for about 15 minutes to reach the botanic gardens.
Many people may remember that 24 years ago, several projects were carried out in the UK to celebrate the millennium (2000). The Millennium Bridge, the London Eye, the Millennium Dome (now O2), etc. are familiar sights in London. The National Botanic Garden of Wales was also built as part of the 2000 commemorative project.
The main attraction of this botanic garden is the huge greenhouse. This greenhouse seems similar to the Great Court at the British Museum, and both were designed by Sir Norman Foster.
The dome-shaped space is supported by a lightweight steel structure and has no columns inside. Mediterranean climate plants from all over the world, including endangered species, are on display.
The garden was designed by Katherine Gustafson (an American landscape architect famous for the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London). Plants from the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe, as well as California, Australia, Chile, South Africa, and the Canary Islands, were growing freely in the warm temperatures maintained in the greenhouse.
Speaking of the Mediterranean climate, it is also famous as a wine-producing region. I forgot to check if they had wine from the above-mentioned regions at the cafe in the greenhouse!
The botanical garden also has a Japanese garden called the Water Cherry Garden, which was relocated from a Japanese show garden that had won an award at a past Chelsea Flower Show. Like the Japanese garden at Kew Gardens, I think it is an ideal environment for a Japanese garden to be placed in the botanical garden and regularly maintained.
The garden also has an apple orchard, well-maintained flower beds and vegetable gardens, as well as a restaurant, so I recommend taking a day to leisurely explore the gardens when the weather is nice.
Useful information
In addition to Powis Castle, the National Trust manages 500 other historical buildings and scenic spots across the country. If you visit a few places a year, it may be more cost-effective to become a member. You can apply online, or you can join when you enter the site, so why not ask the staff there?
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