Beautiful peaceful gardens and so much to see at Penrhyn Castle.
Bodnant Gardens (a National Trust property), south of Conwy, are extensive and very pleasant to walk around, especially the rose terraces, which were in full bloom, and the walk along the river.
In the Old Mill there are a number of information boards on people associated with Bodnant house and gardens. For instance Henry David Pochin (1824-1895) an industrial chemist who developed a method to make soap white (it had been brown up to that point) and the production of alum cake necessary for the papermaking and dye industry. He became a wealthy man and councillor and mayor of Salford but also cared for working people, improving sanitation, alleviating overcrowded living conditions and working to bring gas lights to all homes. He also founded Salford Free Library and Museum and a Working Men's College. He bought Bodnant in 1874 and set about making it his perfect place for retirement.
There was also Laura McLaren (1854-1933) 1st Lady Aberconwy who was a passionate gardener responsible for developing the Skating Pond and the Far End, and the first herbaceous borders along the path to Poem, a tower in the gardens. She was also a key figure in the fight for women's suffrage and was awarded a CBE for her work in the First World War running a nursing home for officers in her London home.
Not to forget the important gardeners such as Frederick Puddle, Head Gardener 1920-1947. He had learnt about hybridising plants at Scampston Hall in Yorkshire and used his skills to create Bodnant's world-famous collection of hybrid rhododendrons. He was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society and won gold awards at several Chelsea Flower Shows.
Penrhyn Castle and gardens (National Trust), west of Conwy, was once the home of the Pennant family, which doesn't come out too well in terms of their history.1 They owned four sugar plantations in Jamaica, worked by hundreds of slaves, and both Richard Pennant (First Baron Penrhyn 1737-1808) and his cousin who inherited the estate from him, George Hay Dawkins Pennant (1764–1840) opposed the abolition of slavery.
The castle was rebuilt in Dawkins Pennant's time in a neo-Norman style by the architect Thomas Hopper. Hopper also oversaw the designing and making of carpets, furniture and decorative objects in the same style.
The 1st Lord Penrhyn of Llandegai, son-in-law of Dawkins Pennant, had adopted the name Pennant in 1841, having married Juliana, Dawkins Pennant's daughter who inherited the estate. He developed slate quarries in the area generating even more wealth. He used some of his wealth to collect an outstanding array of paintings by famous artists such as Canaletto and Rembrandt.
In the early 20th century the labourers in the quarries began what became the longest running industrial dispute in Britain's history. The workers were demanding Union rights and improvements in pay and working conditions. After years of struggle the workers returned to the quarry only because of extreme poverty and hunger (though many had left for the South Wales coalfields), their Union still unrecognised.
As always, some of the most interesting rooms are those where the actual work was done, down on the lower ground floor.
There are rooms dedicated to storing crockery, meat, vegetables,baked goods, etc and for preparing the meat and veg, pastries and cakes plus a dairy and various larders. The butler had his pantry and the cook had a sitting room. The head cook was always a man.2
The Victorian kitchen is magnificent.
There was a separate laundry down by the Menai Strait where there were drying fields to dry all the clothes and linen.2
But the absolute highlight was a tour into the hidden spaces of the house for which we were lucky to get the last two places.
There were only eight people on the tour with the guide as it goes into some confined spaces. It's quite a thrill to go through a door normally closed to the public, and climb up to the rooms now being used for storage: archives (none of which belong to Penrhyn) in the servants' rooms, a timber storage room, another for dolls nestled in acid-free paper in boxes.
The bedroom and dressing room of the lady of the house are now used to store textiles and miscellanea respectively. There are some wonderful grotesques high on the walls of the dressing room but she disliked these so much she had them removed from her bedroom.
Finally we went right up into the roof void above the Grand Hall, wearing hard hats! A wonderful place with an immense timber structure and wattle and daub arches, and light wells illuminating the stained glass in the ceiling of the Hall below.
We made a quick tour of the gardens before leaving. It's a very fine house with an awful lot to see, especially if you're lucky enough to go on a "hidden treasures" tour!
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