Once overgrown, derelict and vandalised, Carmarthenshire's Aberglasney Gardens, is now one of the UK's finest gardens. Aberglasney was lovingly restored and opened to the public 25 years ago, after being left abandoned for several years. After decades of vandalism and architectural theft, the property was purchased by Aberglasney Restoration Trust, the money donated by an American benefactor, Frank Cabot.
The history of the mansion and its surrounding gardens goes much further back than just its years of abandonment, with a mention of ‘nine green gardens’ at Aberglasney in a poem dating from medieval times. And the document history of Aberglasney starts during the reign Henry VIII. READ MORE: I've eaten no sugar or ultra-processed food for six months - now there are three foods I can't live without The historic grade II* listed mansion at Aberglasney has been home to many colourful characters over the last 500 years including a famous poet, artists and a bishop.
However, it fell into disrepair in the years after the estate was broken up in 1955, and the mansion was on the brink of collapse before being rescued by the Aberglasney Restoration Trust in 1995. The restoration project was the brainchild of William Wilkins CBE, who had previously founded the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, and he oversaw the master plan for the restoration and re-creation of the gardens and the mansion. Aberglasney finally opened to the public on July 4, 1999, and restoration work has been on-goin.
