Bodnant Gardens & Caernarfon Castle Wales

Caenarfon

Tuesday, May 25

I am trying to catchup on my missing days, but is getting late.  Bodnart gardens is the best garden so far. It was very busy with lots of tour buses and many local garden groups.

Caernarfon is where Prince Charles became the Prince of Wales.

Portmeirion Village & Conway Castle

Monday, May 24th

Potmeirion Village - Flight of Fantasy

What a place. It is hard to believe that this place exist. This unique village is set on its own private peninsula on the southern shores of Snowdonia. Some say it is Clough Williams-Ellis Flight of Fantasy. He rescued house & buildings from all over the world and made it into a village. It is amazing not only the buildings but the garden surrounding the village. Their are 50 to 60 feet tall Rhododendrons bushes. They are all flowering right now and some are so fragrant.

Portmeirion

Conway Castle

This is my favourite castle so far. Conway is the classic walled town, with a circuit of walls over three quarters of a mile long and guarded by no less than 22 towers. they say that the town of Conway still looks similar to the town Edward 1 envisioned some 700 years ago.

Welshpool, Wrexham, Llandudno - Wales

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Powis Castle

Another warm and sunny day.  Today we travelled from the south shore of Wales to the north coast of Wales.  It was a long day but a good one.   In Welshpool we visited Powis Castle and Garden.  The castle is high a top of a hill and overlooks the country side. Since it is such a beautiful day we started with the gardens.  The gardens start at the top with terraces and are very formal then go into woodlands then back to formal gardens.  It is 450 feet down to the bottom garden. Going down was great coming up the last few stair cases were hard especially with 30 plus temperatures.  After the gardens we quickly toured the castle and I got told no photos as the castle is a national trust.   I have included  a photo of castle.

Off to Wrexman and Chirk Castle

Rhododendrons

Chirk Castle

Due to the twisted and curvy roads in Wales we arrive at the castle just when they were closing at 5 pm. Our tour guide ran to the entrance to get them to keep it open. We had a quick tour about 15 minutes.  We were able to tour the gardens until 6 pm.  This castle again starts with formal gardens.  Note the cedars that are all trimmed. It takes three gardeners days to prune them.  The woodlands were breath taking with many blooming Rhododendrons.  The white one really stood out this time of day. After the garden we continued to the hotel which took hours due to traffic and windy steep roads. Very rugged countryside.  Finally arrived at 8 pm just in time for supper.  Our hotel is across from the Irish sea.

Visit to National Botanical Gardens & Aberglasney

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Saturday,  May 22, 2010

Feeling more rested this morning. It is another sunny and very warm day.  Too bad I did not pack any shorts.  Today we visited the National Botanical Gardens of Wales. This year is their 10th Anniversary.  Very impressive.  They have lovely Japanese Gardens and the largest Glass house in the world.  I have included a few photos for you to view. 

After the visit to the Botanical Gardens we travelled to Aberglassney.  We were to have lunch  there for about an hour and then tour the gardens.  Lunch took over 3 hours long. Very nice day with lots of tourists and they just could not handle a group. Our tour guide kept coming to check on us.  We were to leave at 3:30 pm and that is when  our tour started.  What a lovely place.  It is restored garden that had been neglected. They even have orange trees. Part of the house collapsed so they covered it and converted it to an inside tropical garden,

Travel Day

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Departed Canada for London England at 8:40 pm. Good flight but what does not able to sleep on the plane. Funny how at home I can sleep easily on the couch and miss the entire 11 o'clock news.  We arrive in London at 8:30 a.m London on Friday,  May 21st.  It is a beautiful sunny & warm day. This is the first warm weather they have had all spring. All the plants are several weeks behind their normal schedule.

We get on the tour bus to travel to Wales.  Take the M4 expressway and go over the Cause Way Bridge to get to Wales.  Lunch at "The King of Prussia" restaurant.  Served a very English meal of Pork & Applesauce with Apple pie covered in custard for dessert.  I certainly could has pasted on the custard which smothered the pie.

After lunch we went to a private garden of Mrs. Boyle.  This garden is recommended by the Royal botanical gardens as  one to have on your to see list.  It was amazing.  Everything grows so much larger here.  Leave the garden at 4 pm for a three hour bus ride to Swansea which ison the south coast of Wales. We think we might go out to explore the city but after being awake for30 hours that did not happen. We feel asleep and woke up at 10:30 pm. We then watched some local T.V. until around 1 a.m and then went back to sleep.