£1.2m funding to restore 'hidden' walled garden

A historic 18th Century walled garden which once grew fruit and vegetables for the Bishop of St Davids is to be transformed using £1.2m of funding.

The Tywi Gateway Trust, which has managed the restoration of Bishop's Park in Abergwili, Camarthenshire, since 2017, has received financial backing from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Three historic glasshouses will be rebuilt along with a gardener's bothy or shelter, while the new restored area will host community and education events along with public performances.

Betsan Caldwell, chair of the trust, said it was in many respects a secret garden "hidden" behind its stone walls, and that people had not been able to access it due to its state.

The 18th Century walled garden at Abergwili will be transformed with £1.2m in funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

Project manager Louise Austin said the project was about "learning from the past while creating something meaningful for the present".

"We want visitors and volunteers alike to feel a personal connection to this place, and to draw inspiration and experiences from it that can help them in their own lives today," she said.

The Tywi Gateway Trust plan to host a variety of events at the walled garden in Abergwili

There are plans to create a "living archive" of those who worked at the garden over the centuries.

The handwritten diaries of Gwenonwy Davies, the eldest daughter of Bishop John Owen, who grew up at the palace, suggest pineapples were once grown at the walled garden.

"We grew pineapples for years," Ms Davies, who was born in 1887 and died in 1981, wrote. "Also, we had a lovely vine house, divided into two parts so there was a sequence of grapes. Another small house had orchids and lots of maidenhair fern growing in it."

The transformation of the walled garden will take around 30 months

Since 2018 the trust has been working with volunteers to clear rubbish and growth, plant new fruit trees, and attempt to make the walled garden a useable and productive space.

The restoration plans have also received £300,000 match funding from the Welsh government's Community Facilities programme, £150,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation, £100,000 from a heritage philanthropist in Wales and £20,000 from the Pilgrim Trust. The whole project has an overall value of around £2m.

Ms Caldwell said members were "thrilled by the opportunity to share not just the garden's physical beauty, but also to draw on its very soul - the stories, skills and quiet wisdom of those who once made it thrive."