-
Bodysgallen, Bodnant, and Powis Castle, Wales
- University of South Carolina Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Bodysgallen, Bodnant, and Powis Castle, Wales JUST WHEN I FEEL THAT I HAVE LEARNED all there is to know about the English language, I come upon Welsh, where “ll” is pronounced as a “cl.” Wales is unique, with its ancient flavorful Celtic language, sympathetic and friendly people, and rolling, sheep-filled green pastures. Like the Scots, the Welsh, in modern times, have been able to obtain their own Parliament with power over local issues such as language. All road signs are in Welsh as well as English. Bodysgallen, our base for visiting castles and gardens in northern Wales, is a beautifully restored seventeenth-century castle. The atmosphere is elegant, yet homelike . There are three comfortable sitting rooms, each with lovely old portraits, deep sofas, and guests enjoying the luxury of reading, chatting, or meditating. Breakfast was a treat with its black pudding, eggs, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, and sausage. At our first luncheon we met an attractive, well-to-do couple, who had arrived in their private helicopter for the day to celebrate her birthday. When I asked him how he liked Prime Minister Brown, he responded, “You should know the answer; he should put on the uniform and lead our troops in Afghanistan.” My spouse quietly kicked me under the table, and I again remembered my mother’s words, “Never talk politics or religion.” Later he invited us to visit his garden near Chatsworth and offered to bring us back by helicopter. The succulent salmon and lamb were served with great style. Sun was glinting onto the mullioned lead-glass Elizabethan windows, which looked out on the two hundred lush acres of gardens and woodland. Later that day I found Gwyn, one of three gardeners, who was digging cheerfully in the walled vegetable garden. The garden was filled with raspberries and currants for the restaurant’s chef, although the patches of rhubarb had already been depleted for the kitchen. Yellow and red daylillies were intermixed with beds of zucchini and lettuce. We wandered from the vegetables, down a woodland path where the grass path was edged with white Queen Anne’s lace and lavender loosestrife . The view over pastures to the Snowdonia Mountains filled the eye with softly outlined blue and gray ridges. Another path led back to the castle along a stream edged with green hostas in lavender and white bloom. Our own small three-story cottage, the Gingerbread House, overlooked the oldest garden on the place, a seventeenth -century knot garden. The walled rectangular garden presented a colorful, controlled view. The box-edged circles, triangles, and domes were filled with lavender rosemary buzzing with bees, alternating with yellow-flowered, gray-leaved 120 England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland santolina. The mix of lavender, gray, and yellow produced a colorful, painterly impact . There are more than nineteen cottages on the grounds and sixteen bedrooms within the castle itself. I ended each day with a walk to the spa to enjoy the steam bath, the hot tub, and the heated salt-water swimming pool. Given daytime temperatures in the low 60s, a warm and inviting swimming pool was indeed a luxury. One day I hiked up to the obelisk, located in green pastures above Bodysgallen Hall. I found locals out walking with dogs and a couple riding two stylish gray horses. When I asked the way from Oliver, one of the doormen at Bodysgallen, he offered to take me to the starting point. In the dark of the oak trees, I asked if there were any bears. He responded, “Why, no, Madam, we have no bears; but Wales has many dragons!” Undeterred, I sallied forth to the top of the hill. That afternoon, with blue skies and brilliant sun, we ventured the six miles to Bodnant garden. Bodnant is in the Conwy Valley with vistas of the mountains of Snowdonia. We entered near the half-timbered Victorian mansion whose nineteenthcentury glass house was still filled with tender plants. Steps with balustrades lead down to a huge pond filled with pink water lilies. The intense sun turned the rosy colored lily pads silver. Borders filled with hydrangeas in white, lavender, deep purple , and blue lined the beds overlooking this fish-filled reflecting pond. We ambled down another flight of stairs and discovered the pin mill with its reflecting canal. Sitting on the William Kent–styled bench, we observed a couple with a young son who delighted in catching frogs. He had found a frog walk consisting of fiveinch -wide wooden steps...