Things to see at Bodnant Garden

Summer highlights at Bodnant

Experience the intoxicating sights, scents and sounds of our famous Italianate terraces, now blossoming more beautifully than ever as several years of conservation work come to fruition. 

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. 

Roses at 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 June to October.

New beds have been created too – the White Garden in 2014, the Himalayan Poppy Bed in 2015 and a new design for the long Canal Terrace borders in 2017. 

Summer colour in The Range 

The Range flower beds sit to the right as you enter the garden from the Visitor Welcome building. Planted with hot shades of summer colour, they honour the glass houses that once stood in the area. Throughout the summer months, fiery reds, ambers and yellows provide interest right through until early September.

Bodnant Garden - 150 years

During autumn 2024, Bodnant Garden celebrated 150 years since it was bought at auction by Victorian industrialist Henry Davis Pochin and his wife, Agnes.  At the time, Bodnod as it was then known, was an estate with a walled garden, woods and plantations. It was Pochin's grand vision which shaped and led to the Grade 1 listed garden that we see today. 

2024 also marked 75 years since Bodnant Garden was gifted to the National Trust by Henry McLaren, Lord Aberconway. In 1948 he persuaded the National Trust to accept gardens on their own merit into the fold of the charity, Bodnant being only the second admitted in 1949, after Hidcote.  

A garden of firsts and National Collections 

Cared for by the National Trust since 1949, Bodnant is a garden of firsts. Home to the earliest and grandest laburnum arch completed in around 1880, and to some of Britain’s earliest magnolias introduced from China in the late 1800s.  It’s said there's a rhododendron in bloom every month of the year here, but they reach a peak in April and May. 

The garden is especially famous for its Asian rhododendrons, including unique hybrids bred at the garden from the 1920s. Many of these unique varieties can still be seen in the garden today. Bodnant Garden is also home to five National Collections – Rhododendron forrestii, magnolias, embothriums (Chilean fire bush), eucryphias and Bodnant Hybrid rhododendrons.  

Italinate Terraced Garden

Bodnant Garden is famed as the finest rose garden in Wales with its five formal Italianate terraces, designed and built in the new Arts and Crafts style between 1904 and 1914. Home to many established varieties of roses, including many of the David Austin varieties, it comes alive with colour and perfume from June until late September. 

Picturesque ponds 

Two of the terraces are recognised for their picturesque ponds, which are home to water lilies and a variety of wildlife. The borders on each of the terraces are planted with careful consideration of the surrounding environment and are in keeping with the year of their creation. Each of the five terraces was intended to be a revelation as you descend to the next.  

The East Garden 

The Laburnum Arch 

The golden blooms of the Laburnum Arch attract thousands of visitors to the garden in late May and early June each year. The arch flowers for between 10 to 14 days each year. The arch is the only one of its kind in the country which is curved, following the wall which runs alongside.  

The Winter and Round Gardens 

The Round Garden, with its 18th century water fountain, provides interest through the spring and summer with its four quadrants and new planting scheme. Structural forms and seed heads offer interest through the autumn and winter months.  

The Winter Garden, located just before the top gate to the Old Park Meadow, is a maze of pathways that take you through a variety of cornus, skimmia, cyclamen, iris and daphne. Coming alive in the winter months as its name suggests, it provides interest and a tranquil spot to sit.   

The Shrub Borders  

Providing the first hints of the surprises that await down in The Dell, the Shrub Borders are home to camellias and tree magnolias and some of the famous blood-red Bodnant hybrid rhododendrons. Behind the Pin Mill, a path leads down, past banks of camellias and rhododendrons to a stream-fed rockery that comes alive with giant Himalayan lilies, ferns and hostas in late spring and early summer.   

The Glades 

Separating the Shrub Borders and the Dell, the Glades are a good area for daffodils in the spring, and the bluebells that follow hot on their heels.  Fiery shades of red and amber burst through during the autumn months. Trees from all over the world, including  cornus, prunus, liquidambar and paulownia provide year-long interest with the acers lighting up the arboretum from September to November. 

Walks and wildflowers 

Down to the Dell 

The rich soil and moist atmosphere of the Dell suit the larger-leaved rhododendrons. Discover the Waterfall Bridge, with its vertical torrent of water on one side, and the calm, reflective pool on the other. Home to wildlife including kingfishers, dippers, heron and ducks.  Further upstream you’ll find the Skating Pond and Boathouse, with weeping willows, swamp cypress and azaleas that signal the start of spring with vibrant colours.  

Furnace Hill 

This area of the garden offers fine views back towards the house and terraces as well as across to the Conwy River. Penjerrick Walk, along the top of Furnace Hill, comes alive in spring with a variety of rhododendron which include amongst others Augustinii, Penjerrick and ‘Reve d’amour’. Discover Lady Anglesey’s Seat and sit for a while to enjoy the view across to the house and terraces.  

Wildflower meadows 

Bodnant Garden has two wildflower meadows. The Old Park Meadow dates to the Georgian era and is now home to daffodils in early spring with wildflowers as far as the eye can see appearing throughout May and June. During winter, sheep graze in the Old Park up to Christmas. Furnace Meadow lies on the southern hillside, overlooking the riverside garden and is a peaceful spot to take a moment to enjoy nature, no matter the season.