Visiting the garden at Penrhyn Castle

View along the Fuchsia Arch in the Walled Garden at Penrhyn Castle | © ©National Trust Images/Paul Harris

Like the castle itself, Penrhyn’s gardens are extensive and offer something for everyone. Make sure you pack your sense of adventure and expect the unexpected.

Winter highlights in the garden

There's still plenty to see and do in the garden over winter. In fact, the gardeners consider it to be a very busy time of year.

Look out for individual winter blooms across the garden and breathe in the aroma of emerging snowdrops and the wintery scent of sarcococca and hamamelis.

Garden views

Winter is one of the best times to enjoy the views from the garden, with the crisp air giving clearer views of the snow-capped mountain range and surrounding landscape.

Welly walks

Weekends, 11am–3pm

Pull on your boots and experience the ever-changing landscape around the garden and wider grounds on one a walk at weekends throughout January and February at Penhryn Castle.

Keep your eyes peeled for friendly robins too – they might even keep you company on your walk.

Close up of robin sitting on a wooden fence post in winter — Look out for robins all around the estate | © National Trust Images/Derek Hatton

The Walled Garden

Peace and tranquillity can be found in the precise topiary, geometric lines, symmetric ponds and meticulous planting of the Walled Garden. Here, Walter Speed’s 19th-century vision for one of Britain’s top three gardens of the time can really be appreciated. While the flowers in bloom change seasonally, the Walled Garden is always a colourful, peaceful spot to take in the best nature has to offer.

The Fuchsia Arch

Below the top terrace you’ll find the Fuchsia Arch, which was praised in a Country Life article in 1903 as ‘the real glory of Penrhyn’.

The frame of the Fuchsia Arch, along with the benches either side of it are a part of the Walled Garden’s historic collection.

Thanks to internal garden restoration funding, supported by generous legacy gifts left in wills there has been some significant work done to breathe new life into the arch.

First, a detailed survey of the metalwork was carried out, revealing the frame needed a fresh coat of paint to protect it from the elements. Afterwards, the garden team got busy planning a new planting scheme beneath the arch that would reduce weeding and add year-round interest. A skilled stonemason also came to restore the stone steps down towards the Bog Garden.

There are plenty of spaces to enjoy the delightful views in this area of the garden. The ornate garden benches were given a fresh coat of paint and new wooden slats make them safe and inviting once again and there are also two new seating areas now sit at the foot of the steps to the Bog Garden.

The Bog Garden

Monstrous Gunnera plants dominate the jungle like Bog Garden. Lose yourself amongst its leaves during the spring and summer or head up to the lookout point by the thatched hut for an elevated view. Take a moment to sit on a garden bench and soak up the sights and sounds the Bog Garden has to offer.