The gardener’s bucket list
PLAS BRONDANW in North Wales, UK
Plas Brondanw, North Wales, UK
It’s tricky to pronounce the name of this highland garden, but easy to wax lyrical about its rooms, vistas and mountain setting, writes JUDY HORTON
Afriend once told me that Plas Brondanw was his favourite garden in the world. Inspired by his judgement, I eventually visited this estate in North Wales. As I approached the entrance via a road bordered by stone walls, a cheeky woodpecker popped out from a tree in the adjacent woodland. It seemed a fitting, almost fairytale welcome to this unusual and charming garden that had been used as a setting for the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness and an episode of Doctor Who.
Plas Brondanw (pronounced plaarz bron-dan-ooh) is set within Snowdonia
National Park. Rich, acidic soil, reliable rainfall and a relatively temperate climate make this prime gardening territory. Add splendid views of distant mountains and vales, a 16th-century stone manor (Plas translates as ‘large house’), and an Arts and Crafts garden designed by the man who established the nearby world-famous village of Portmeirion, and I was soon echoing my friend’s enthusiasm.
You can see the main part of the garden in just over an hour, but it’s more enjoyable to spend leisurely time wandering along the (occasionally uneven) paths and through the sloping site, stopping to take photos.
Much of the garden is made up of rooms enclosed by clipped yews, each ending in a magical vista. In clear weather, you can see the Cnicht (Knight), Snowdon and Mynydd Ddu mountains. Closer in, there are features aplenty: statues (including the quirky helmeted boy holding a spurting fire hose in a pond), seats, fountains, rockwork and amazing topiaries. Perhaps most admired, and occasionally denigrated, are the wrought-iron gates, fences and railings painted in the garden’s signature turquoise and gold (or, less kindly, mustard yellow).
Architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis inherited the property in the early years of the 20th century.
Although renowned in this part of Wales as the guiding hand behind much-visited Portmeirion village, he regarded Plas
Brondanw as his masterwork.
He lived here for more than seven decades, firmly leaving his individual stamp on the garden’s design, and expanding it with care into the surrounding countryside.
Much of Williams-Ellis’ work exhibits an Italianate influence, which helps to explain why this isn’t a particularly flowery garden. There are, nonetheless, good
seasonal displays of hydrangeas, roses, rhododendrons, waterlilies and mixed flower beds. Rows of hosta with leaves in a soft shade of blue echo the turquoise of the wrought iron and stonework.
The mild climate also allows antipodean specimens, such as callistemon and the New Zealand cabbage tree (Cordyline australis), to be grown here.
Across the road, in woodpecker territory, is a forested section where a rustic path leads to a cascade and a tower, Pentwr (meaning ‘pile’ or ‘heap’). From the top of this folly are extensive views of the mountains and, on a clear day, the sea.
In 1972, Williams-Ellis set up a charitable trust to ensure the garden’s conservation. He also left his plans and letters, which have been invaluable in helping the estate’s custodians stay true to his vision.
NEED TO KNOW
Plas Brondanw is just off the A4085 at Llanfrothen, Gwynedd, North Wales. The garden is open from 10am to 4pm daily, with its structure displaying particularly well in the winter months. At the time of going to print, the on-site cafe and gallery, Oriel Brondanw, were closed until further notice.