Stately home is a grand setting for garden festival
Guided tours by the new Lord Langford around the gardens of his stately home will be among the star attractions of a garden festival that’s expected to plough £2m into the north Wales economy.
Thousands of green-fingered visitors from all over Britain are expected to flock to the region’s third annual Festival of Gardens, which was established to tap into the gardening boom sweeping across the UK.
The event, which gets under way on June 2, has quickly blossomed into a “must-see” on the nation’s horticultural calendar.
Bodrhyddan Hall, in Rhuddlan, home of Lord Owain Langford, is for the first time gearing up to host the launch of the 16-day spectacle.
It has been the seat of the Langford family for 500 years, though its design has been significantly changed and extended over the centuries.
The beautiful gardens include luxuriant lawns, an extensive pleasance, waterfall and lily pond, and ornamental flowerbeds designed by renowned architect William Eden Nesfield during the Victorian era.
There is also a woodland walk which was reclaimed in the early 2000s and the grounds are home to dozens of species of birds, amphibians and mammals.
Bodrhyddan Hall will be open on the launch day, June 2, with house and garden tours, and afternoon tea is included in the ticket price.
A plant fair will also be held at the hall on June 10.
Lord Langford, Owain RowleyConwy, succeeded his war hero father, the ninth Baron Langford, who passed away last November at the age of 105.
He said: “I remember playing cowboys and Indians in the informal area, which at that time was hugely overgrown and wild. Years later, my father decided to take it in hand and gradually transformed it a little at a time. It’s remarkable to compare it as it is now with my childhood memories of a dense, high-growing jungle.”
Lord Langford added: “My father would have been proud to think of Bodrhyddan hosting the festival launch. We did take part in the 2017 festival but to be invited to actually open such an important event is an added thrill and a credit to our wonderful gardening team here.”
The hall’s grounds are expertly maintained by head gardener Jane Hughes and her assistant Gary Jones, who will both be present on the big day to answer questions and guide visitors around.
Lord Langford said: “They do a brilliant job. Jane has been our gardener for about 12 years and knows every inch of the grounds.
“We’re confident to leave its development in her hands.”
Ms Hughes’ predecessor at Bodrhyddan Hall, Ogwen Morris, will also be on hand to help with the garden tours.
Since it began in 2016, interest in the annual festival has flourished beyond all expectations and it has grown to become a vital addition to the tourism industry helping shore up the north Wales economy.
With visitors spending about £38 per head, last year’s event injected more than £2m into the area after 23 gardens participated, attracting almost 54,000 people over 16 days.
North Wales Tourism chairman Claire Britton and her fellow board of directors member Barbara Griffiths are helping with the official launch of the festival.
Ms Griffiths, who runs Deganwybased business North Wales Holiday Cottages, said the impact of the festival could not be underestimated.
She added: “After just two years it has already proved its worth as a way of encouraging visitors to our region, and support is getting stronger all the time.
“We’re especially delighted that this year the official opening, on June 2, will be in the breathtaking setting of Bodrhyddan Hall, Rhuddlan.
“We cannot thank Lord Langford enough for agreeing to open his historic home and garden to celebrate this occasion. It offers us a truly majestic backcloth for our festival launch.”
Festival organisers are hoping for an even bigger turnout than ever this year for all the events, with visitors spurred on by a packed programme of guided tours of magnificent garden-scapes, an array of plant fairs, wildlife trails, cream teas and fun quizzes.
A big hit is bound to be Gardener’s Question Time event, hosted by Tony Russell, at Glasdir, Llanwrst, on June 14.
Also expected to pull in the crowds is the one-man show Old Herbaceous, starring actor Giles Shenton as legendary gardener Herbert Pinnegar, staged in a marquee at Caerau Gardens, near Bala, on June 9.
Nurseries, stately homes, private gardens, tourist attractions and garden centres are all poised to offer a combined line-up of more than 100 events across the region.
Support has also been gleaned from organisations including the National Trust, the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway and a trio of local choirs who will all be joining in with extra-special activities.
Following on from its bumper success in 2017 there will again be a Friends of the Festival Discount Card available which is expected to boost visitor numbers even further. Costing £5, the card will include offers such as free tea/coffee and discounted admission to key events.
North Wales Tourism managing director Jim Jones said: “We have on our doorstep some of the most beautiful gardens in the UK, including some real hidden gems, and this festival is about showing them off to as many people as possible.
“You can easily see the gardens separately but being able to visit them all together during the festival is amazing, an experience people will tell their families and friends about and remember for years to come.”