As part of the Cadw Open Doors 2022 scheme this September, we took the opportunity to visit Dyffryn Gardens for the first time since my birthday in March to make the most of the stunning gardens during some lovely late summer weather.

Dyffryn Gardens is a peaceful oasis on the outskirts of Cardiff, and covers more than 55 acres. The Edwardian gardens are a restoration garden, on a path to excellence. With year-round seasonal highlights the gardens feature the best woody collection in the National Trust.

Upon entering you can discover intimate garden rooms including the Pompeiian garden, Paved Court, Reflecting Pool and Mediterranean garden. The enormous great lawn is bordered by seasonal bedding and a croquet lawn. There is also a large glasshouse, statuary collection, and arboretum featuring trees from all over the world as well as the Log Stack natural play area for kids.

Designed by eminent landscape architect Thomas Mawson in 1906, the gardens are the early 20th-century vision of coal magnate John Cory and his son Reginald.

The Open Doors scheme from Cadw allows for more than 200 of Wales’ historic sites, landmarks and hidden gems to offer visitors free entry, events or guided tours to visitors during the month of September.

It’s all part of Open Doors — Wales’ annual contribution to the European Heritage Days initiative, which invites heritage organisations, private owners, local authorities and others to open their doors or offer activities to the public free of charge during September.

Funded and organised by Cadw, the ever-popular festival of Wales’ built heritage will this year, encourage Welsh residents and visitors alike to explore some of the country’s lesser-known and smaller-scale sites ― several of which are usually closed to the public.

Dyffryn House has been wrapped in scaffolding since July 6th, allowing for some much needed external repair work to be carried out. Repairs to the buildings external stonework will include repairing the limestone façade, replacing the lead sections on the roof, and restoring the joinery on the external windows. This will allow the building to remain watertight and preserve it for many years to come. This essential repair work has come about though a grant of £100,000 whcih was received from The Wolfson Foundation to part fund the repairs to Dyffryn House.

It was great to enjoy a few hours again at Dyffryn Gardens, no mater how may times you have visted before the gardens always feel fresh and inviting due to it always being developed and evolving throughout the seasons, which is testament to the National Trust and the way it’s managed.

All photographs were taken on my Canon R6 paired with a Canon 50mm f1.8 USM lens, allowing for a nice mix of wide as well as detail shots of the flowers and gardens in the golden September sunshine.

A big thank you to Cadw and the National Trust for the Open Doors scheme which has allowed a great number of people to visit and enjoy the gardens, potentially for the first time, which will hopefully entice them to make a return visit in the future as paying customers to help with the ongoing upkeep of this magnificent building and its gardens.

I hope you enjoy these photo’s and I look forward to visiting again with the approcahing change in seasons, to see how the gardens will change in colour and style as Autumn approaches. Keep an eye out for a future Dyffryn Gardens based post.

Find out more about Dyffryn Gardens by visiting the National Trust website below.
Dyffryn Gardens