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Bodnant Garden |
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Bodnant Garden tel: 01492-650460 Area: Wales |
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| Visitor Information | www.bodnantgarden.co.uk | ||||||||||||
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| Bodnant Garden Wales All details updated* as of: 12/01/2007 |
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| Opening Days and Hours | |||||||||||||
10th March - 4th Nov; daily; 10am - 5pm |
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| Parties
/ Coaches: Yes |
Groups
/ Coaches need Appointment: No Booking not required. |
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House
Open for Viewing: no |
National
Garden Scheme days: no |
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| Best
Times of Year to Visit: May and June |
To
see: Rhododendrons, azaleas and laburnum arch. |
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| Admission Prices | |||||||||||||
| Adult £7; child £3.50; Parties of 20+ £5.50. This includes a voluntary 10% donation for the upkeep of the property... NT members free. Car park 50m from garden entrance. | |||||||||||||
| Onsite Facilities | |||||||||||||
| Parking:
Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes |
Shop:
Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes |
Teas:
Yes Light Refreshment: Yes Picnics: No |
Dogs
Allowed: No On Lead only: No Special Events: No |
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| Other
Facilities: Dogs on lead and in car park only. Assistance dogs only in garden. Occasional outdoor events, contact for details. |
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| Garden Features | |||||||||||||
| Italianate terraces, water and champion trees. | English Heritage Garden Grade: | ||||||||||||
| National Collection: Magnolia, Eucryphia, Embothrium | |||||||||||||
| Description of Garden | Designer:
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| Stephen Lacey, the garden writer, lecturer and presenter has written that "the scale, grandeur and scenic beauty of this garden are nothing short of stupendous...this garden is a masterpiece". If an annual prize were to be awarded to the best garden in the British Isles, Bodnant would probably have won it often enough to keep the trophy. This garden, particularly in the beginning of June when the Laburnum Arch is in full bloom, is worth making a special expedition to see. The highlights and continual delightful surprises are numerous and start with the walk down the five spectacular terraces with their expanses of lawn, huge mature cedar trees, architectural ornament, water and plants. On the Canal terrace is the Pin Mill, an 18th century mill transported from Gloucestershire and re-built on this site in 1939. Further down the path follows the valley of the river Hiraethlyn amongst banks of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and tree magnolias and the visitor reaches the famous viewpoint looking over the river well below and turning towards the old stone mill. There are spectacular stands of enormous fir, hemlock, cedar and redwood, one of them at 45 metres the tallest in the British Isles. In autumn the marvellous colours of the japanese maples, rowans, liquidambar and birches are almost beyond description. |
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| History of Garden | |||||||||||||
| The massive granite house almost 200ft above the River Conway was built in 1792 and a large number of sheltering trees, such as beech, oak and chesnut were subsequently planted. The estate was bought by Henry Pochin, the father-in-law of the first Lord Aberconway, in 1874 and, with help from Edward Milner, the landscape architect, he began laying out a 'reposeful' garden including a terrace, grass banks and many trees, especially the conifers along the valley floor. Later he built the Mausoleum and Laburnum Arch in 1878. Henry Duncan, the 2nd Lord Aberconway, with encouragement from his mother, created the five huge terraces and convinced his head gardener in 1908 to try out Chinese rhododendrons. He also subscribed to many plant-hunting expeditions, in particular that by Harold Comber in the 1920s, which resulted in the introduction to this country of the spectacular Chilean fire bush. In 1920 Frederick Puddle became Head Gardener and was in due course succeeded by his son Charles Puddle in 1947 and then by his grandson Martin in 1982. Both the 3rd Lord Aberconway and his father have both won the Victoria Medal of Honour, the highest award of the RHS (and were at times its Presidents), as have Frederick and Charles Puddle. |
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| Nearby Wales Hotels, Facilities & Amenities | |||||||||||||
| Hotels
& Accommodation: Groes Inn, Tyn-y-groes |
Restaurants: |
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| Inns & Pubs: Groes Inn, Tyn-y-groes |
Villages / Towns
/ Sightseeing: Conwy - historic walled town and castle. Llandudno - seaside resort Betws-y-coed - countryside |
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*Information
Updates
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0258_Bodnant.jpg - Bodnant Garden (Wales)
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