Gardens to visit in spring and summer – St Fagan’s Castle

St Fagan’s Castle is Wales's most popular heritage attraction. Around a late 16th-century manor house donated to the people of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth, over forty original buildings from different historical periods have been re-erected in the hundred-acre parkland. They include houses, a farm, a school, a chapel and a splendid Workmen's Institute. There are also workshops where craftsmen demonstrate traditional skills. Native breeds of livestock are kept in the fields and farmyards, and demonstrations of farming tasks take place daily.

The formal gardens surrounding St Fagan’s Castle were once the sanctuary of the Earl of Plymouth and his family, who used the house as their summer home. The gardens are approached from the village via a pleached lime avenue and include the exquisite Rosery, the Italian Garden, and the elegant parterre and castle terraces overlooking the mediaeval fishponds.

The domestic gardens around the re-erected houses echo horticultural development from the 16th century to the present day. These gardens reflect the social status of the buildings' inhabitants, with historically-correct plants and gardening techniques outside, echoing the furnishings inside, from the age and original locality of the buildings to which they belong and give a wonderful re-enactment of Welsh live in the past. Each garden on the forty hectare site is an integral part of the Museum's collections, and has its own story to tell.

Perhaps there is no other museum in the country that reflects the changing seasons as closely as St Fagan’s, and the gardens are the most sensitive part of this process. Throughout the year, staff may be seen at work interpreting in the gardens and are available to answer any questions. The garden staff also offer special drop-in sessions throughout the year, demonstrating seasonal gardening tasks.

St Fagan’s photograph by rcstanley, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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