COVID 19 UPDATE:
The garden, the courtyard and the garden coffee shop have reopened since July 10th 2020. However entry is only permitted if you have pre-booked via The National Trust.
We finally visited Powis Castle (in Welshpool, near the Welsh border). We drive past it each year on the way to our holiday cottage, but this year we took advantage of the nice weather and took a detour.
Walking through an archway into the courtyard you are greeted with a spectacular view of towering red bricks smothered in the greenery of wisteria and other rampant climbers. Much to the children’s delight, there are also peacocks milling around looking for dropped food to steal!
However the best is yet to come, as when you glance over to your right you can see that you are incredibly high up, but people seem to be making their way over to a path to walk ‘down the hill’.
‘Down the hill’ is in fact a breathtaking series of terraces, featuring long herbaceous borders, manicured yew trees and the most amazing planter displays. It was a fairly warm and sunny day when we visited, but our walk through the terraces felt positively Mediterranean!
Once at the bottom you find yourself walking adjacent to the most magnificent green grass alongside an orchard and then through to another breathtaking garden area with a much longer border. There was a lady kneeling by a wheelbarrow quietly weeding the border *
Right at the bottom, in front of the terraces is a large grassy area flanked by woodland. There was an interactive World War One exhibition taking place, which we walked around before heading back up.
This time, we decided to walk via the wooded area instead of the terraces, as we all needed some shade! We stumbled across a large pond which had the most impressive Gunnera growing around it!
At the top, all hot and puffing, we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream (we can thoroughly recommend the lemon meringue pie flavour!)
Before we left, I had a sneaky look around the second hand book shop and came out happy after spending just £2 on these gems.
Considering we didn’t even enter the castle or explore the grounds thoroughly, I can definitely recommend a visit!
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/powis-castle-and-garden
* I desperately wish I was her
Please leave a comment to let me know if you’ve been to Powis Castle or if you plan to go in the future.
It really is a beautiful place.
Bye for now
On Saturday we visited the Gardeners’ World Live show at the NEC in Birmingham. It was a brilliant day out. Lots of inspiration, advice and of course retail therapy on offer. An added bonus is that your ticket allows you free entry to the BBC Good Food Show which is held next door. Lots of free samples on offer!
Girl Gardener 