Lodge Park House and its deer park lie on the west side of the A437 near Tre’r-ddol (NPRNs 3059 & 86800). The grounds contain two distinct kitchen garden areas. The present kitchen garden lies immediately north of the house. Its predecessor lies to the west of the house.

The walled garden probably dates to 1787-91 during a major rebuilding phase. It is a rectangular area, long axix north-east by south-west, bounded by thin stone walls up to 3m high, mortared courses of slate stone with overhanging top. The ground rises gently to the north. In the south wall, nearest the house, is a wide opening with an ornamental iron gate brought from elsewhere on the property, flanked by two utilitarian buildings. Most of the west side is formed by the back wall of outbuildings. The north wall has a round-arched opening in the middle. Outside the north wall are the remains of some buildings which were probably kennels for hounds. An outer brick wall encloses a roofless brick building and a roofless stone building west of it.
The internal layout of the kitchen garden has gone and it is now (c.2000) being laid out for both ornamental and utilitarian purposes.

To the west of the house is an earlier kitchen garden and orchard shown on an estate map of 1787/88 as a rectangular enclosed area divided in two, the nearer half being a kitchen garden, the further half orchard. Its layout can be traced clearly today and some ornamental planting of a Victorian or Edwardian character indicates that the area may have had a more ornamental use during those periods. The area is grassed, bounded by woodland on all but the east side. The main former enclosure is divided into two halves by a scarp overgrown with trees and shrubs, including cherries, sycamore and Rhododendron. The upper, eastern, half is roughly levelled, the western (former orchard) half is more sloping. The east side of the upper level is bounded by a low revetment wall of semi-upright stones, similar to the deer park wall and therefore possibly contemporary (seventeenth century).

Source:
Cadw 2002: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, 136-9 (ref: PGW Dy61(CER)).

RCAHMW, 26 June 2022

Site Record

Lodge Park Kitchen Garden, Tre'r-ddol