Cefn Bryntalch, an important Queen Anne revival house of c.1870 (nprn 28942), lies a short distance to the north of Abermule, west of Llandyssil, on the northern edge of a steep slope overlooking the Severn valley to the north and west. Gardens, believed to be contemporary with the house, lie to its south, south-west and west of the house on terraced ground which falls away to the south-west. They are the only known gardens in Wales designed by G. F. Bodley and Philip Webb. Between 1896 and c1945 it was the home of composer Peter Warlock.

The original, formal, drive from an entrance and lodge (now Bryntalch Villa, 300939), on the road to the south, approached the house from the south-west to the forecourt on the north-east front. The drive ran along the northern boundary of a field containing various specimen trees planted on, or around, two earth tumps. This drive is now disused, replaced by the former service drive, off the same road, to the north-east.

The garden is laid out in a series of formal enclosures connected by paths and steps. On the south-east front is a small, sunken rectangular lawn surrounded by raised straight paths which connect to rectangular raised platforms on the south-west and south-east corners of the lawn. South of the lawn the ground slopes away downhill to the tree-grown field and, to the south-west towards the kitchen garden. Paths lead to an amphitheatre, formerly the site of an aviary, and on to the kitchen garden. Nineteenth-century wooden palings and iron park fencing separate the garden from the field to the south-east.

West of the lawn, on the west side of the house, a stepped path connects on the north to a large split-level rectangular lawn, enclosed by a wooded bank on the north which continues out into the farmland. Beyond the west end of the bank is a medieval motte (306218). Beyond the east end of the lawn is a steep slope (planted up with ornamental shrubs) down to a second  level below, formerly a tennis court but now planted as a wind barrier. The lawns are linked by steps. There are formal walks around and between the terraced areas.

The kitchen garden lies to the south-west of the house (700203).

Source:
Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 40-2 (ref: PGW (Po)29(POW)).

RCAHMW, 24 May 2022