Our visit to the garden of Gwaenynog Hall on Friday 18th July.
A small group of Berwyn and District U3A members, sadly much reduced in number by illness, met in the afternoon at Gwaenynog Hall on the Pentrefoelas Road outside Denbigh, the home of Major and Mrs Tom Smith.
We were greeted by Mrs Janie Smith who led us to the renowned wall garden. She explained that the house had been for over 500 years the home of the Myddeltons but it had been sold in 1870 to the Burton family who had owned it ever since. Mrs Janie Smith is a direct descendent of the family and grew up on the nearby farm. She was given the house in 1968 by her late father Oliver Burton.
We were led to the enchanting walled garden and the links with Beatrix Potter were explained.
Beatrix was a niece of the then owner’s wife, Harriet Burton, and visited her aunt and uncle often. It was the walled garden that was the inspiration for her Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies. Mr Macgregor’s potting shed still stands and houses a small exhibition about Beatrix Potter.
The garden is much as pictured in her illustrations and has an air of mystery about it. As Beatrice herself said “It is very productive but not tidy, the prettiest kind of garden where bright old fashioned flowers grow amongst the currant bushes”.
We had plenty of time to wander at leisure around this very large walled garden full of abundant flowers, fruit trees, soft fruit and greenhouses as well as vegetables. During the war the house had been let to a girls boarding school from Abergele. The Burton family moved back from the farm to the
house in 1957 and the walled garden reverted to grazing leaving only a small
kitchen garden around the greenhouses.
It was Frances, Mrs Smith’s daughter who took a keen interest in the garden, and eventually had the garden restored to as near as possible its original layout using old plans, photographs and local knowledge.
It certainly looks very much as it does in
Beatrix Potter’s illustrations and paintings. Frances still keeps an eye on what her mother does in the garden even though she lives many miles away.
Having enjoyed our stroll in the walled garden and surroundings we enjoyed delicious cakes and drinks in the Theatr Bach, the home of many theatrical productions, before returning home.
Many thanks to Sheila for organising this visit and hoping she has now fully recovered.
Annabel
