Penmaenucha (nprn 28639) is situated on the south side of the Mawddach valley west of Dolgellau, with views over the estuary. The house (now a hotel) is set within a roughly triangular park which consists almost entirely of mixed, ornamental woodlands (700287) which forms a setting for the house and garden. It is a well preserved nineteenth-century terraced garden with later water garden and some good planting.

The garden now consists of several small, varied areas of different character, created fairly recently, partly out of the former kitchen garden since relocated (700288). All have paths, both formal and informal, gravelled, slate and grassy.
A short, lawned, viewing terrace on the north, on a gravelled terrace around the house on the north and east, is one of the oldest elements. This and the two main terraces on two levels on the east, with balustrades and retaining walls, complete the intricate, formal area around the house. The upper main terrace is roughly rectangular with a central path, borders round the edges, and lawns. The lower terrace is also more or less rectangular (both taper on the south side), its long axis at right-angles to that of the upper terrace. It is gravelled (replacing slate paving) with a central circular pool and fountain surrounded by an arrangement of beds, and with a border along the west side.

In addition, there is the steep bank between the house and the drive, formerly wooded but now cleared and replanted; and a large lawn and tennis court to the south-east. To the south is a wooded area with streams and ponds, which lie between this and the house. The ponds are irregularly shaped, a single pond divided by a causeway. The woodland immediately south of them contains small natural streams enhanced by culverting and the creation of tiny pools and waterfalls, with narrow, stone-edged paths, and was probably part of the original nineteenth-century design. The tanks which used to provide the water supply for the house are at the top of this slope, now overflowing into the streams which ultimately join and flow into the eastern pond, over an artificial, stepped waterfall. A small lawn and areas with recent plantings adjoining the house on the south side, together with the car park, replace a Victorian shrubbery in this area.
To the immediate north-west of the house is the sloping herb garden, from which an iron foot-bridge crosses to the first floor of the house. The herb garden has a sundial at its centre surrounded by small rectangular beds for herbs. It is flanked on its south by a lawn with trees and a central rose bed.

Sources:
Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 236-42 (ref: PGW(Gd)36(GWY).
Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map: Merionethshire XXXIII.14 (1901).

RCAHMW, 22 June 2022

Site Record

Penmaenuchaf Garden, Penmaenpool