The Van, or Y Fan, is a substantial Tudor mansion situated on a ridge to the east of Caerphilly, on a north and north-west facing slope overlooking the town (nprn 18638).
The gardens and grounds lie to the north-east and south-west of the house. There are three main components. First, the entrance court to the west of the main block of the house; second the walled and terraced garden east of the house; and third a walled area on the slope below the house and court, to their west, formerly part of the ornamental grounds. A deer park was recorded by Rice Merrick as being enclosed in about 1578, but its whereabouts is unknown.

The house is approached by a sunken lane from the south, replacing the disused original drive from the west. The lane, lined with partly-ruined stone walls, runs north-east uphill past the east wing of the house. Between the lane and the house is a triangular area of lawn with a large monkey puzzle tree at the east end; the west end is bounded by a steep turf scarp down to the former drive. The entrance court, dating from the late sixteenth century, is a large rectangular walled enclosure with the gatehouse and an early seventeenth-century range on the west side. 

The terraced garden, probably late sixteenth century, is an enclosed rectangular area against the east side of the house. It lies on ground rising to the east, divided into a narrow upper terrace and a broader lower one. Walls of coursed rubble vary in height, up to 3m high on the north, in which there are former entrances. Along the east side of the garden is a raised revetted terrace about 3.5m wide and about 1.3m high. The garden is abandoned and the only vegetation is seedling sycamores and a large oak in the south-west corner. This garden may once have included a second compartment.

The third main area of the grounds is a large, roughly square field to the west of the house, on ground sloping to the west. It is surrounded by a partly ruined dry-stone wall. At its western end is a belt of trees, including pines. The 1873/75 map shows this area as well wooded with mixed deciduous and coniferous trees. Although the walling appears ancient the planting was probably nineteenth-century.
To the north-west of the house is a vaulted sunken well chamber. Narrow stone steps lead down a to a circular pool. In the north-east corner of the garden is a dovecot (41543).

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 38-40 (ref: PGW(Gm)13(CAE)).
First edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XXXVII.2 (edition of 1873/75).
Additional notes: D.K.Leighton

RCAHMW, 12 May 2022