Bodnant Garden
About
About 6km up the valley from Conwy at Tal-y-cafn, Bodnant is one of the National Trust's largest and most visited gardens: roughly 80 acres running down a hillside above the river, with plant collections gathered on expeditions over a century ago. The set piece is the Laburnum Arch, which flowers for a short window usually in late May and pulls a crowd that the lanes around Tal-y-cafn are not designed for. It is the standard half-day trip out of Conwy for anyone who has done the castle and the walls, and it is the one entry on this site that sits meaningfully outside the town, so treat it as a drive or a bus ride rather than a walk.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Around 80 acres of garden with collections from early twentieth-century plant-hunting expeditions
- ✓The Laburnum Arch, which flowers for a short window usually in late May
- ✓The Dell and the river gorge below the terraces
- ✓A National Trust property, so free to members
Tips
- →Check the National Trust's own updates for the Laburnum Arch window rather than guessing the week; it is short and it moves with the season.
- →The garden is on a steep hillside. The walk down into the Dell is easy and the walk back up is not.
- →Listed hours are 10:00 to 16:00; confirm on the property page, since garden hours change through the year.
Best Season
Accessibility
A steeply terraced hillside garden. The National Trust publishes an access statement for the property; some areas are level and others are not.
More Attraction Activities
Conwy Castle
Edward I's 1283 castle above the river, one of four components of a single UNESCO inscription.
Plas Mawr
An Elizabethan merchant's townhouse of 1576 to 1585 with its original plasterwork. Closed 2 November to 28 February.
The Smallest House in Great Britain
72 inches wide by 122 inches high, on the quay. Lived in until 1900. Bring cash.