Plas Brondanw () in Garreg,

Llanfrothen Llanfrothen () is a hamlet and community in the county of Gwynedd, Wales, between the towns of Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog and is 108.1 miles (174.0 km) from Cardiff. In 2011 the population of Llanfrothen was 437 with 70.1% of them abl ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

, was the family home of

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architec ...

, creator of the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

village

Portmeirion Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village, and is now owned by a charitable trust. The village is located in the com ...

, and elements of similar architectural styles can be seen at both locations. It is a grade II* listed building. The gardens, in a series of garden rooms enclosed by yew hedges and open lawns, linked by carefully planned vistas, is one of only three Grade I listed gardens in Gwynedd. Plas Brondanw stands on the road to the tiny village of

Croesor Croesor is a small village in Gwynedd, Wales, located at the foot of Cnicht, in Cwm Croesor, in the community of Llanfrothen. The Croesor Tramway travelled along the bed of the cwm, before rising steeply to Bwlch Rhosydd via Croesor Incline. To ...

and the distinctive

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

mountain named

Cnicht Cnicht is a mountain in Snowdonia which forms part of the Moelwynion mountain range. Features Its appearance when viewed from the south-west, i.e. from the direction of Porthmadog, has earned it the sobriquet the "Matterhorn of Wales", albe ...

, within the

Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

History

The house was built by John ap Hywel in about 1550, and another member of the family, William Williams, made various improvements in 1660. The names Williams and Ellis became linked together in 1807 when the Reverend John Ellis married Jane Bulgin, who was heiress to the Williams estate. Clough Williams-Ellis inherited the run-down Plas Brondanw from his father in 1908, when he was aged 25, and set about restoring both the house and the gardens. The house itself had by this time been split into

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

s, and the garden had been turned into allotments. In 1951 the property was badly damaged by fire, and this event, and the subsequent restoration of the property, is commemorated by a flaming urn statue, mounted at the top of a waterfall. The restoration was completed by December 1953. Also across the road, but within the grounds of Plas Brondanw, Williams-Ellis had constructed a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

named Folly Castle. A plaque records that the castle was "a wedding present from the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V ...

to Clough Williams-Ellis and Amabel Strachey in 1915." Located on a small hill, it affords good views of the surrounding landscape. Scenes from the film ''

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness ''The Inn of the Sixth Happiness'' is a 1958 20th Century Fox film based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a tenacious British woman, who became a missionary in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Directed by Mark Robson, who receive ...

'' and the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' episode ''

The Five Doctors ''The Five Doctors'' is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', produced in celebration of the programme's 20th anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago ...

'' were filmed at the folly.

Visitor information

The gardens are open to the public for a small fee. The former stable building was converted into a cafe and craft shop in 2011.

References

External links

*
Plas Brondanw on the Portmeirion web site

BBC News north west Wales - Brondanw
{{coord, 52.95926, N, 4.06184, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SH616422), display=title Tourist attractions in Gwynedd Gardens in Wales Llanfrothen Grade II* listed buildings in Gwynedd Houses in Gwynedd Registered historic parks and gardens in Gwynedd Grade II* listed houses in Wales

History

Visitor information

See also

References

External links