Bodnant Garden's five formal Italianate terraces were designed and built in the new Arts and Crafts style between 1904 and 1914 by Henry McLaren of the donor family. His mother Laura McLaren, Lady Aberconway, influenced the planting with her passion for native herbaceous and cottage garden flowers.
Henry created two rose gardens, upper and lower, linked by a series of garden rooms, ornamental pools and pergola walkways. Over the following decades he added adornments such as classical statues and the 18th century fountain on the Croquet Terrace. In 1938 he added the finishing flourish to the Canal Terrace; he bought the derelict Pin Mill building at auction and moved it from its Gloucestershire home to Bodnant Garden.
In more recent times the terrace gardens have been enjoying some TLC by our garden team. The Top Rose Terrace was renovated in 2006 and the Lower Rose Terrace in 2012. Old beds were replanted with fragrant English Roses, many from the award winning David Austin collection, which provide a continuous display from July to October. New beds have been created too - the White Garden and Himalayan Poppy Bed - and a new design for the long Canal Terrace borders flowered for the first time in 2018.
Conservation work
In 2013 the exterior of the Pin Mill itself underwent extensive repair work and the renovation of the interior, upper parlour room was finished in 2019. This summer 2019 it will open to the public for the first time - two days a week, from July to September - giving visitors a new, bird’s eye view across the garden.
Your ongoing support plays a key part in all of this conservation work. This year thanks to donations from visitors we have almost reached our appeal target to replace the ageing Croquet Terrace Fountain, which will be the final jewel in the crown of Bodnant Garden’s Terraces.
As our work to polish the formal gardens nears fruition you can enjoy it all with an extended programme of late Wednesday evenings throughout summer, and Sunday afternoons of open-air music.See our website for more details about summer events.
