I had a look back and it was September 2018 since I last visited Plas Brondanw which must be the longest period of time in a long time that I have not been there. This has to be one of my very favourite gardens to visit. Our usual holiday to Wales was postponed during the pandemic so it was a joy to resume this normality.
We have a routine most times we visit the garden. We start at the pub down the road and have lunch, then we pootle on to the gardens. The gardens and house belonged to Sir Clough Williams Ellis, architect and visionary behind Portmeirion (which is my favourite place on earth - other than home - obvs)
We started our visit at the Folly on top of the hill opposite the gardens. The Folly was a wedding present from Sir Clough's regiment, this fact always makes me smile, no toaster for Sir Clough! We usually wander up to the Folly where you get amazing views of the area. Also, as Doctor Who fans know, the Folly and the gardens feature in the Five Doctors (1983). Then we wander back down to the gardens, have tea and cake (of course) and start the visit properly.
The gardens were just waking up after the long Winter. The topiary is such a great feature as they provide such great all-year structure to the garden. We were lucky that the weather was glorious on the day we visited, not the warmest but also not really cold. It was sunny with a slight breeze, good garden visiting weather.
I always say that Plas Brondanw is one of the best examples of 'borrowed landscape' you will ever find. The garden itself is special but the views it leads onto make it just incredible. I stood in front of this garden for a moment and looked at Snowdon and whispered 'tomorrow.....' (more of this in a future post).
