Bodnant Garden National Trust is one of the most beautiful gardens in the UK, spanning 80 acres situated above the River Conwy and looking across the valley towards the Snowdonia range in North Wales. We welcome around 190,000 visitors annually from all over the world.
Founded in 1874, the garden has been created by five generations of one family, who donated it to the National Trust in 1949. It combines formal Italianate terraces, glades stocked with shrubs from all over the world, riverside dells of cascading water and Champion Trees, and informal woods and meadows.
We are noted for our National Collections of Embothrium, Magnolia, Eucryphia, Rhododendron forrestii and Bodnant rhododendron hybrids, and for the 180-foot long Laburnum Arch which flowers in late May – all of which make the garden a spectacular sight in spring.
In s
ummer visitors flock to enjoy the stunning rose terraces and herbaceous displays, also the waves of blue hydrangeas running through The Dell, which flourish in their thousands on our acid soil.
In autumn the garden is transformed by the fiery colours of Japanese acers and other mature trees, native and exotic, while our new Winter Garden and Winter Walk, launched in 2013, offer horticultural delights even in the coldest months.
In 2013 we threw back the gates to the Old Park, a meadow with swathes of snowdrops, daffodils and wildflowers; in 2014 we opened the Yew Dell, a secluded, wooded spot planted a century ago with rhododendrons and conifers reminiscent of a Himalayan valley; in 2015 we welcomed visitors to the Far End, ten acres of tranquil, waterside garden along the valley bottom; and in 2017 we opened our largest renovation to date, the 20 acres of Furnace Wood and Meadow.
We’re opening more of the garden over the next few years so watch this space for further news – and plan your visit. Bodnant Garden is now open 352 days a year (excluding Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day) but whenever you come, we can promise you there’s always something to see and do.
Bodnant Garden Blog 