Llanover House lies within parkland in the Usk Valley, about 6 km to the south of Abergavenny (nprn 45084). The present landscape park was formed, in 1826, from two adjacent estates, Tŷ Uchaf to the south-east (265940) and Llanover to the north-west. The gardens and grounds were laid out in the 1830s by Benjamin Hall after the amalgation of the estates. Llanover House, located centrally within the park, was demolished in the 1930s (45084). Ty Uchaf, on the south-eastern boundary, is now known as Llanover House (21032).
The gardens are situated on level ground to the south, west and north-west of the house ruins. The gardens were noted for their rare and beautiful plants (‘Gardeners' Chronicle' 1911) but when the house was abandoned early in the twentieth century, the gardens were just left and they have now reverted almost completely to the wild with only a few specimen trees to show that this area was once ornamental gardens and grounds.

Nineteenth-century maps portray the layout. The area is roughly rectilinear, bounded by the Porth-mawr drive on the north, the service drive and house on the east, and field boundaries on the south and west. The site of Llanover House, close to the estates’ common boundary, was chosen for its woodland location that could be adapted for gardens and grounds. This gave the gardens a canopy of mature trees, in particular oaks. Immediately around the house the gardens were formally laid out with wide gravel paths bordered with flowerbeds, with lawns and specimen trees in the rest of the space. To the west of the house, at the crossing of the central axes, was a circular pool and fountain. To the north of it a wide straight walk cut through the woodland with further paths through the wood, in the middle of which was a large naturalistic pond with a path around it. A small island within it was reached by a rustic bridge, beside it a rustic summerhouse and, nearby, a boathouse. Along the western edge of the garden was a series of natural springs or wells, one of which was called the 'Nine Wells', heavily planted with ferns, bamboos etc.

Little of this layout is visible today (1994), the grounds being generally overgrown. Paths near the house have gone, the pool and fountain now marked by a patch of nettles. The long allee running north from the pool is still open but has lost its formality. The lake and island still exist but all built structures have gone. Some of the trees, ceders for instance, still exist, as does the deciduous woodland in which the grounds were made, but most of the ornamental planting has disappeared.

Sources:
Cadw 1994: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Gwent, 76-8 (ref: PGW (Gt)41(MON)).
Ordnance Survey second-edition 25-inch maps, sheets: Monmouthshire XII.12 & 16 (1899).

RCAHMW, 25 May 2022