Tales from Wales #8 :: Picton Castle Gardens

Hi there everyone 😀

Though we didn't actually realise it at the time Tuesday ended up being the last of our 'planned' days out whilst we were in Pembrokeshire back in October.

We were off to Picton Castle Gardens and had no real idea of what to expect ... but it was part of the Gardeners' World magazine 2-for-1 entry so we had to give it a go.

We were soon parked up and in Maria's Courtyard Restaurant having lunch, where we had a good look at the map to see what there was to do ...

I can't actually recall if the castle was open during our visit, I don't think it was, but I believe that guided tours are available when it is open. Our visit was definitely more focused on the outdoor areas, though we did start with a look at the castle from the outside ...

... and very pretty it was too.

There is also the Mansion of Mystery on site ... which is a set of escape rooms, though we weren't trying these out on our visit ...

The main reason for our visit was to see the gardens and from what we'd seen so far it looked like we were going to be in for a good bit of autumn colour ...

We didn't really explore the East Garden at all, but headed through the woodland in search of the walled garden ... we do both love a walled garden ...

It was a lovely walk through the woodland, with plenty of hydrangeas still in flower ...

... and plenty of fairy doors to hunt for too ...

Eventually we hit the walled garden ...

Whilst not the best time of year for garden visiting the walled garden was still lovely and there was plenty to see ...

... and a few busy bees still going about their business ...

Through the walled garden and out the other side was the glasshouse ...

... and a fernery ...

We were then heading back through the West Garden towards the main courtyard, passing the Jungle Garden and The Maze, which we didn't take our chances with ...

Back at the main courtyard we had a quick look round the lawnmower exhibition ...

That was nearly it for our visit, though we did have a quick look round the Welsh Owl Garden, which I actually found very sad and didn't really like it much at all. Such beautiful birds, in such small spaces ... it just didn't feel right to me ... we didn't stay long ...

From here we made our way back to the car and set off to try and find Llawhaden Castle ... which we'd spotted from the main road on a previous outing ... but I'll tell you about that in another post 😀

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