The first eleven photos in the gallery below feature the National Botanic Garden of Wales. It was established in 2000 and features the worlds largest single-span greenhouse, which measures 360 feet long and 200 feet wide.
The following nine photos feature the Bodnant Estate and Gardens, which were founded in 1874 by Henry Davis Pochin. Henry was a chemist who made his fortune by inventing a process to clarify rosin, a component used to make soap … in other words … soap used to be brown, he turned it white and made a lot of money doing so.
Five generations later, Pochin’s ancestors continue to care for and expand Bodnant Garden. The garden is also famous for its link to the plant hunters of the early 1900’s. Henry Pochin’s grandson, Henry McLaren, sponsored plant hunting expeditions to China and the Himalayas which brought back the camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons that make up the garden’s world class collection of plants.
Portmeirion is a tourist village designed and built by Sir Clough Williams Ellis between 1925 and 1950. His architectural designs pay tribute to the fanciful atmosphere of a Mediterranean village. Portmeirion was featured as the location of ‘The Village’ in the 1960’s cult classic TV series ‘The Prisoner’. Here are a few photos from our visit!
