Early spring and the sun is shining. After the recent grey weather it was time to get out and celebrate with a garden visit. Yes, I should have been on the allotment, but after a busy week of gardening my aching muscles needed a day of rest.
Looking up at Pin Mill and Camellias
No problem deciding where to go. It had to be one of my favourite places, Bodnant Garden in North Wales. An easy hop from south Manchester, we were in Conway for coffee then off up the valley to Bodnant which nestles in the foothills of Snowdonia. Snowden was still capped with snow, but it was warm enough for the first picnic of the season on a hillside in the car park. Doesn’t sound a great spot, but it’s one of the nicest car parks we know for getting a picnic rug out and taking in the views.
Bodnant Garden is a good place to see the fruit of the Victorian plant hunters labours and the acquisitive nature of entrepreneurial landowners. In this case, the industrial chemist Henry Davis Pochin, who bought the estate in 1874 and started the main collection. After he died in 1895, the estate passed to his daughter, the wife of Charles McLaren, 1st Lord Aberconway. The McLaren family gave the garden to the National Trust in 1949 but are still very much involved in its development today. Bodnant seems to demand loyalty. Three generations of the Puddle family were head gardeners there until quite recently.
Magnolias in the Dell
Bodnant has ‘champion’ trees that give you neck ache – those measured at the tallest or oldest of their type in the country, including huge redwoods. Here trees and shrubs have the space to grow to their full potential, rather than shoehorned into a suburban garden. The ever popular magnolia being a case in point – it often suffers the indignity of being squeezed into tiny plots. I was expecting to see camellias on this visit but a few days of warm weather had brought on the magnolias. A real treat! Starry white and pink blooms against a clear blue sky or luscious goblet shaped flowers sweeping downwards to greet us. When we stood at the top of the famous Dell and looked down to the river below, we found ourselves looking onto magnolias from above. Wonderful to see such mature specimens from a different perspective.
The Dell is the lower, wilder part of the garden that follows the course of the river with myriads of little paths and bridges – a favourite place for our children when they were young. In recent years, this area has been extended along to the Skating Pond and the Far End, which is great when the garden is busy as you really can get away from people here.
Narcissus pseudonarcissus
Climbing back up a steep path we emerged into the top meadow area and a mass of golden daffodils. Very Welsh! Our native Narcissus pseudonarcissus, the Lent lily, was the star of the show. Two tone with a deep yellow trumpet and paler outer petals which face forwards. A hopeful looking flower and an uplifting visit. Bodnant has much to offer and whatever time of year I visit, I always leave feeling refreshed and inspired.
A carpet of rhododendron flowers – one of the many incidental treats at Bodnant
