Business blooming as garden goes for growth

The National Botanic Garden of Wales has seen visitor numbers soar by 45% over the past two years. Ian Lewis reports...

THIRTEEN years ago the National Botanic Garden of Wales came within days of closing.

After the flush of optimism at the millennium’s turn, things gradually turned sour for the west Wales attraction. A series of Welsh Government bail-outs left many wondering whether the garden, with its stunning awardwinning glasshouse, would survive.

Which all puts the incredible turn-around over the past couple of years into even greater perspective. In those years visitor numbers have soared by 45%. At the same time, the Carmarthenshire attraction has also seen income rise by 23%.

Bosses have put the success down to new features at the garden which have widened its appeal. New ventures within the grounds include water zorbing and a tropical butterfly house.

All this seems a far cry from those darker times when the garden was anything but a blooming success, except for what was growing in the soil.

In the year 2000, the garden was one of the biggest Millennium Projects in Wales.

The idea of a botanic garden on the site of Middleton Hall at Llanarthne dates back to 1990, but it was not until the advent of big-scale Lottery funding in the mid-1990s that the project became a reality.

About half of the garden’s £43m building cost came from the Millennium Commission, with the rest coming from the European Regional Development Fund, the Welsh Development Agency, the Wales Tourist Board, and other bodies and charities.

It aimed to be a major tourist attraction and leading scientific centre dedicated to “conservation, horticulture, science, education, leisure and the arts”.

Set in more than 550 acres of beautiful countryside, all the ingredients seemed to be in place for success – landscaped grounds, walled gardens, woodlands, lakes, a theatre, the world’s largest single-span glasshouse, and a science centre for botanic research which would also provide a home for new cutting-edge businesses.

But the attraction struggled to sustain itself and in 2004 only a rescue package from the Welsh Assembly Government, the Millennium Commission and Carmarthenshire council saved it from closing.

The following year the Wales Audit Office produced an indepth report, saying the garden’s plans to operate without ongoing subsidies were “ambitious” as most national botanic gardens received annual public grants.

It concluded: “It would have been prudent for Welsh public funders to assess the possible impact of any variations to test the key assumptions underpinning the financial viability of the project, such as the consequences of not achieving visitor numbers, lower than expected income, or higher than forecast expenditure.”

And it was not the last handout or report, with a Welsh Government grant of £250,000 the latest to be handed over in 2010 to deal with cashflow difficulties, and a review of the garden’s future launched.

In 2015 garden director Dr Rosie Plummer announced she was quitting, and it was reported at the time that her decision was understood to be linked to cuts in funding from the Welsh Government and Carmarthenshire council. She said that after running the garden “on a shoestring” it was time for someone else to take over.

Despite accepting that the garden had to become more commercial, she said that should not be to the detriment of its main purpose – conservation, education and inspiration.

Since then the garden has developed a more family-orientated focus and new attractions have helped boost visitor numbers.

Figures show 94,929 people visited the garden in the first eight months of this year.

This is an increase of 45.4%from 65,285 for the same period in 2015.

The increased footfall has also resulted in a 23% rise in turnover, up from £1.2m in the first eight months of 2015.

Director Huw Francis, who joined the garden in June last year, said: “The garden has been working hard at broadening its appeal and new developments are proving a big hit with local people and tourists alike.

“We’ve invested in a new play park, a hay bale maze, water zorbing and a brand-new tropical Butterfly House, the development of which created a huge amount of interest.

“This year we’ve teamed up with award-winning Pembrokeshire Falconry to create the British Bird of Prey Centre, which has helped with the further increase in footfall with daily flying displays of amazing native birds of prey.

“The target is for 10% year-onyear increases in visitors over the next five years.”

The new figures come hard on the heels of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s announcement last February that it is backing the garden’s Regency Restoration project to the tune of £3.55m. This will reinstate one of Britain’s finest historic water parks.

With plans to introduce a campsite and glamping pods on the 568-acre estate next year, garden bosses are confident the ambitious programme of growth will continue to pay dividends.

This year has also seen the attraction up its game in terms of events, with a Big Gig in July, when folk-singing sensation Kate Rusby played to a sell-out audience of 500. There were also successful outdoor cinema nights this summer and a fourth last Saturday, when 650 people enjoyed a night under the stars.

December will see the garden hold its first venture into Winter Wonderland territory with its To The Park In The Dark. Between December 8 and 17, it will open specially in the evenings for a light show, live owl display, music, mince pies, mulled wine, and roasted chestnuts – said to be a chance to see the garden “as you’ve never seen it before”

It was also announced yesterday that a £2.3m horticulture project called Growing the Future will create seven new jobs at the garden.

The pan-Wales five-year scheme – funded by the Welsh Government and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development – aims to engage with 100,000 people through courses and special events.

The project’s lead and garden’s head of science Dr Natasha de Vere said it would shine “a spotlight” on “fabulous Welsh-grown produce” and aim to “harness the latest science and technology for a sustainable, future-proof sector”.

As for what happens next at the attraction, Mr Francis said: “If the present is anything to go by, the future of the National Botanic Garden looks very bright.”