{"id":12559,"date":"2013-06-13T11:30:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T10:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=12559"},"modified":"2013-06-13T00:52:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T23:52:23","slug":"a-walk-around-the-national-botanic-garden-of-wales-towy-valley-carmarthenshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/a-walk-around-the-national-botanic-garden-of-wales-towy-valley-carmarthenshire\/","title":{"rendered":"A walk around the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Towy Valley, Carmarthenshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"National<\/p>\n

Situated near Llanarthney in the Towy Valley, Carmarthenshire, is the the\u00a0National Botanic Garden of Wales, which is both a great place to visit and an important centre for botanical research and conservation.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0site covers 568 acres (2.30 km\/2) and is slap bang in the middle of nowhere, located deep in the lovely Welsh countryside betwixt Carmarthen, Llandeilo and Ammanford, and 8 miles from the nearest railway station (at Carmarthen).<\/p>\n

Tasked with\u00a0developing, “a viable world-class national botanic garden dedicated to the research and conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable utilisation, to lifelong learning and to the enjoyment of the visitor,” the\u00a0NBGW opened in May 2000.<\/p>\n

The National Botanic Garden of Wales is set on historic parkland, dating back around 400 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Here’s the scene by the entrance which was designed by Norman Foster & Partners.<\/p>\n

The inverted roof of the building is made from Canadian red cedar, and as its centrepiece has a water sculpture called \u2018Thirty Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety Eight\u2019 by Marion Kalmus.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

The Circle of Decision & The Rill, a\u00a0pebble-lined fountain which\u00a0is fed by water that snakes down the length of the Broadwalk along a winding pebbled Rill.<\/p>\n

Apparently inspired by the nearby River Tywi, the Rill was built and designed by Anthony Jellard Associates and Hal Moggeridge.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

The glass dome is the world’s largest single-span glasshouse, measuring 110\u00a0m (360\u00a0ft) long by 60\u00a0m (200\u00a0ft) wide.<\/p>\n

Inside the greenhouse there’s six zones showing plants from California, Australia, the Canary Islands, Chile, South Africa, the Mediterranean Basin.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

I’ve no idea what this thing is!<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

Whereas this is definitely a flower of some kind.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

Sparrows snacking on leftovers \u00a0inside the dome.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

Wales’s rarest tree, Sorbus leyana. There are only 17 of these trees in the wild, each clinging onto steep limestone cliffs in the Brecon Beacons.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

Principality House, the\u00a0only part of William Paxton\u2019s mansion<\/a> that remains today.<\/p>\n

It was once the servants\u2019 quarters, brew house, laundry and kitchens.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

Sculptures around the gardens.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Looking across to the stable block, which also houses the restaurant, shop and gallery.<\/p>\n

We had Welsh cakes and coffee which were very nice indeed.<\/p>\n

More info:<\/strong><\/p>\n

National Botanic Garden of Wales,
\nLlanarthne, Carmarthenshire SA32 8HG
\nTel:\u00a0(01558) 668768
\nEmail: info@gardenofwales.org.uk
\nWeb:\u00a0gardenofwales.org.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Opening hours<\/strong> (please check before setting out)<\/p>\n

April –\u00a0September 10.00am \u2013 6.00pm
\nOctober –\u00a0 March 10.00am \u2013 4.30pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Situated near Llanarthney in the Towy Valley, Carmarthenshire, is the the\u00a0National Botanic Garden of Wales, which is both a great place to visit and an important centre for botanical research … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17,193,198,16],"tags":[616,618,1194,617],"class_list":["post-12559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photos","category-places","category-wales-places","category-wales","tag-carmarthenshire","tag-gardens","tag-wales","tag-west-wales"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/national-botanic-gardens-011.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-3gz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12559"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12567,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12559\/revisions\/12567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}