Voelas Hall (nprn 35552) is located in the Conwy Valley to the west of Pentrefoelas. The present Hall (built in the 1950s) is surrounded by a small, wooded, park which lies mostly to the south and west of the house. It was mostly created in the 1860s by Charles Wynne Finch who built a predecessor house nearby and carried out major landscape improvements. Extending to either side of the river Conwy, the park is focused on the river. It is bounded on the south side by the A5 road, and stretches from the Pont Rhyd-y-dyfrgi (Pont Lima in the nineteenth century) at the west end, to Pont Hendre Isaf on the east.

The park was designed to take full advantage of the picturesque value of this part of the Afon Conwy, its winding course and rocky bed, and full use was made of it in laying out both park and garden (266399). The main feature of the park landscape, which merges gradually with the garden, are simple walks laid out along the river, chiefly on the north side. A footbridge that once allowed access to the south side of the river from the garden is now gone. The house is reached by two drives: the first from the west at Pont-y-dyfrgi with a lodge at its entrance, the second from the south across a bridge (1788), formerly a public road until the 1860s when the park was enlarged, which joins the first drive.

The valley slopes to the river are largely wooded with semi-natural deciduous woodland and some coniferous planting. To the south of the garden, and to its immediate west the woodland is largely beech. There is some ornamental tree planting, mainly of conifers. Banks of rhododendrons are a feature of the park, particularly near the house, along the main drive, fringing the woodland south of the river, and in the wooded area to the east of the walled garden. A picturesque river walk from the garden eastwards through woodland crosses several small tumbling streams and on to a small gate on the park boundary.
Most of the layout was in place by the 1870s with some further development, mainly planting, by 1913.

Source:
Cadw 1998: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales: Conwy, Gwynedd & the Isle of Anglesey, 136-8 (ref: PGW(Gd)59(CON).

RCAHMW, 20 June 2022