Powis Castle and Garden

Yucca filamentosa at Powis Castle, August 2014

A decade ago, when I was doing a gardening correspondence course, I chose to write about the gardens of Powis Castle, which is perched high on a narrow ridge near Welshpool in Mid Wales. But I wrote about it without ever having been there and it has taken me until now to make the journey.

We visited in August this year and as it belongs to the National Trust and we are members, it felt like we got in to see everything free!

There is no doubting the magnificence of the gardens, which fall in terraces cut out of the rocky hillside, down to the valley below. It may well be Britain’s finest example of a late 17th century Baroque garden, with the higher levels inspired by the formal gardens of France and Italy. The precipitous terrain meant it largely escaped becoming a fashion victim of the 18th century, when formal plantings were swept away in favour of open parkland.

The Italianate Aviary Terrace, with the Orangery Terrace below…

My favourite feature of the gardens is the wonderful planting of the herbaceous borders, but the castle itself is so imposing that I’d better say something about its history before showing you the flowers.

I thought the castle had been built of the “old red sandstone” I so love in my homeland of South East Wales, but a bit of digging tells me it is made of the rock on which it stands, known as Powis Castle Conglomerate, of Silurian age. It’s still a form of sandstone, but with bits in it. And it still looks very red to me…

Inside the courtyard…

The castle began life as a medieval fortress, built of wood, for Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, prince of Powys, who was fighting off the princes of Gwynedd in the north. In 1274 the castle was burnt down by Llywelyn, a prince of Gwynedd who had declared himself prince of Wales. It’s all ever so complicated but it looks like Gruffudd and his family were very much on the side of Edward I, English conqueror of Wales and not very popular in these parts! It seems to avoid saying this in the guide books, but it makes it pretty clear on Wikipedia. Edward gave Gruffudd’s family back their land, to rebuild Powis Castle, after Llywelyn, known as the last native prince of Wales, was killed.

A view of surrounding countryside, looking east towards the Severn Valley, in the direction of England

The castle stayed more or less in the ownership of the same bloodline, although passed on through females, and eventually it was in the hands of the Herbert family, a long line of Anglo-Welsh barons. At various times some of them were known as Earls of Pembroke, Worcester, Beaufort, Carnarvon or Powis. The peerage is so complicated and, although I find it fascinating, I am also a little bit sickened by all these centuries of rich landed gentry lording it over us. Just saying…

The Herbert family coat of arms, with the motto Ung Jay Serviray (officially Ung Je Serviray), meaning One Only Will I Serve…

But the castle is magnificent. It was extended or improved at various times between the late 16th century and early 18th century, at times when the family had the money, but they were sometimes a little unlucky in their financial investments and took the “wrong” side (Royalist) in the Civil War.

The flat land at the foot of the terraces was at one time a huge water garden built in continental style with the help of French gardener Adrian Duval, after the Herberts returned in 1703 from their exile with King James II in France.

In the time of George III Powis Castle and a big debt were left to a nephew of the line, Edward Clive, son of Robert “Clive of India”, on condition he change his surname to Herbert. This connection is why there is a small museum at Powis Castle displaying much Indian military memorabilia.

A tiger cannon from Seringapatam, South West India, captured in 1799…

In the decades around 1900 the castle and gardens were restored by George Herbert and his wife Violet Lane-Fox, who was responsible for a formal fountain garden at the bottom of the slope and for some of the colourful border plantings. George had several family misfortunes – one son was killed on the Somme in World War I, another died in a plane crash during active service in World War II and Violet died after a car accident in 1929. When the Earl died in 1952, he bequeathed the castle to the National Trust.

View from the lowest gardens at Powis Castle…

Today we approach the castle from behind, from a car park to the west, but when the terraced gardens were first built, the approach was from the east and as you climbed up to the castle itself you would see all the terraces below, this secret valley having been screened until then from the south and west by a wooded range, from the east by tall trees and to the north by the castle itself.

This is the approach to the castle from the car park at the back…

A glimpse of the courtyard – we’ll be back later

The front of the castle, from which the gardens fall down in terraces…

We ambled down from the top of the garden to the bottom, but with our eyes constantly drawn to the castle above…

Wonderful herbaceous border plantings

Container of fuchsias in a niche…

Among the obvious features of the castle gardens are 14 very old yew tree “tumps” (from the Welsh twmpathau, meaning mounds), which have to be regularly clipped to keep them in shape. These yews date back to the work of architect William Winde in the 1680s.

Looking up at those solid old yew trees…

But maybe they aren’t so solid – this is the inside of one of the smaller yew-tree tumps…

Here are some of the plants we saw – if I identify them exactly it’s probably because there were plenty of labels!

Watsonia pillansii…

Eryngium…

I think this is Eryngium yuccifolium…

Distant mountains…

Looking up at the castle and Italianate Aviary and Orangery Terraces…

Wet dahlia…

Globe thistle or Echinops – attractive to bees…

I’d call this a thistle, but I expect it’s a Cardoon or globe artichoke, Cynara cardunculus? Fellow blogger Philip Strange tells me it’s definitely a cardoon but not an artichoke and I find the artichoke is a cultivated version, Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus

I’m assuming this is a Sedum – I love the colour and texture…

Cosmos bipinnatus, I think…

Rose hips…

I thought this was the silk-tassel bush, Garrya elliptica, against a wall, but Chloris tells me it’s Itea ilicifolia (see comments)…

Grapevine leaves, maybe?

Euphorbia valdevillosocarpa…

Wine-dark Sedum xenox…

The texture of the Sedum is mirrored in a smoke tree on the Japanese-maple-clad slope below…

Cotinus coggygria or smoke tree – very like the one in my own garden, so it could be ‘Notcutt’s Variety’…

Raindrops on Cotinus leaves…

View beyond the Japanese maples…

Looking back up at the castle…

Below the castle is this three-bedroomed holiday cottage, called the Bothy…

Fuchsias…

I guessed this was a very big Campanula but Chloris tells me it is Platycodon grandiflorus, known as the balloon flower because of the big, round buds – I see it is in the Campanulaceae family, but in a separate genus…

Near the Bothy is a small orchard with many different old varieties of apple tree…

I think this is Malus ‘Laxton’s Superb’…

The apple trees are very old and covered in lichen and moss…

Bottom gates of the castle…

Coat of arms of the Herbert family again…

We wandered back up to the castle along a different herbaceous border…

Helianthus ‘Capenoch Star’…

Wonderful Helenium Sahin’s Early Flowerer…

Achillea filipendula ‘Gold Plate’…

Dainty double-flowered nasturtiums…

Helichrysum ‘Sunshine’…

The castle towers above Japanese wisteria…

A peacock on a breezy balustrade…

In the courtyard is this impressive statue, which I have seen described as Perseus or Fame – I think it was once set in a formal garden at the bottom of the slope…

A shield depicting Medusa’s head…

We did look around the inside of the castle, but it was rather depressing, crammed full of portraits of dead ancestors. There were too many to appreciate any of them individually. And because many of the items don’t belong to the National Trust, they protect everything with gloomy lighting and a strict “do not touch” policy here – no photography either. I was barked at by a guide when I accidentally brushed an inlaid marble table with my finger when asking him what a certain feature was!

I enjoyed the little Clive Museum of Indian artefacts a bit better, as you could focus on the items in their glass display cases and there weren’t any crowds of visitors.

After a rather good sandwich in Lady Henrietta’s restaurant, named after Lady Henrietta Clive, we headed back to the car park.

There are many big trees around the castle car park. This is a sycamore…

The peacock came to say goodbye…

Bye-eeeee!

Here’s the official National Trust page for Powis Castle and here’s the Wikipedia entry.

Thanks to Chloris and to Philip Strange for correcting a couple of my identifications. Here are their blogs:
The Blooming Garden
Philip Strange Science and Nature Writing

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