Penrice Castle is located within an eighteenth-century landscape park in south Gower (nprn 700166). Gardens are situated to the south and east of the house, on ground sloping gently southwards. On plan the overall area forms a rectangle aligned north-east by south-west, the house in the west corner, and the park beyond. It forms three main sections: an informal area in the eastern half; a formal, terraced garden in the western half; and a formal garden on the site of the demolished 1890s wing of the house.

The eastern half of the garden is largely sloping lawn with informal plantings of specimen trees. A path runs east-west across the top of the lawn with flights of steps at either end. In the centre, curving steps, with a simple sundial in the middle, lead down from the path to the lawn. Informal planting extends to the northern part of the garden where there is a sunken air raid shelter from the Second World War.

The formal terraces are reached from the informal part by steps at the west end of the path, leading up to a higher level. The formal area rises in three levels towards its west end, all bounded by steep grass banks about 1m-1.5m high and linked by flights of steps. The smallest, lower, terrace is a paved area around an octagonal well. Steps on the north side lead to the middle terrace largely occupied by a rectangular pool with rounded ends and surrounded by paving edged with a box hedge. In the pool, two fountains flank a central lead statue of a winged female on a square plinth. The top terrace, in front of the house, is laid out to lawn with a rose bed, and is bounded on the west side by a yew hedge with a gate through into the park. At the west end of the garden a small, circular lily pool is surrounded by a low wall. A recess in the house front, near its east end, forms an open loggia.

The third garden area is located against the east side of the house on its demolished east wing. It is bounded on the north side by the high revetment wall of the forecourt and on the south by a yew hedge. The rectangular area is laid out formally with squared paving and rose beds, each with a clipped bay tree in the centre. Along the foot of the north wall is a raised border of mixed shrub, climber and herbaceous planting. Decorative features include an ornamented stone bench and two iron urns.

Until the 1890s this garden was entirely informal.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Additional and Revised Entries, 54-63 (ref: PGW(Gm)68(SWA)).
Ordnance Survey First Edition six-inch map, sheet: Glamorgan XXXI (1878).
RCAHMW air photos: 955112/48-9

RCAHMW, 16 May 2022