Penpont, located in the picturesque Usk valley, is one of the most historic and important houses in Brecknock (nprn 16026). It possesses a small landscape park (301202), formal and informal gardens; and a walled kitchen garden with heated glasshouses including a former pinery (422153). It is remarkable for the survival, in a highly picturesque situation, of its early nineteenth-century park and garden, influenced by Repton, with remains of an earlier formal layout, including some of the first larch trees in Britain. Features continue to be put into the park, including a maze.

The garden and grounds lie mainly to the south and east of the house on ground sloping up to the south. The gardens are largely informal, with the remnants of an early formal layout. They have been developed over a long period, since 1660, and features from all phases remain. The earliest structure is the bridge, built in c.1660 by Daniel Williams (23751). Although primarily functional, this forms an important and picturesque element in the landscape of Penpont.
In the mid-eighteenth century, Penry Williams II carried out a considerable amount of tree planting around the house, and in particular European larch. The larches, possibly planted in the 1740s, were among the first to be planted in Wales and some of the earliest in Britain. There is also a moss house, now derelict. By the early nineteenth century, the gardens had become more informal with the creation of the large lawn, with its fringing trees and shrubs and wooded area.

A further component of the garden area is to the south-east of the house, abutting the main road (A40). This is a fine piece of woodland set around the old Llanspyddid Church (12303). The kitchen garden is located on the north side of the river. 

Sources:
Cadw 1999: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, (ref: PGW (Po)21(POW)).
Ordnance Survey six-inch map sheet: Brecknockshire XXVII.SW (1887).

RCAHMW, 12 July 2022