A Step Back In Time Vl: National Botanic Gardens of Wales.

I bet you're all thinking 'gosh how come every Sunday in Wales is nice??! Just remember that I do have a very good imagination!

My partner's sister and her husband were staying with us. They love it here after the hustle and bustle of life in Newcastle.

There was the usual ; eating breakfast, showering, etc.etc. etc.

Isn't it strange because years ago when my kids were small ,at one point there were Nine of us living in the same house, Pheww!!!!!!!!!!

They were the days of 23 loaves of bread and a large sack of spuds every week!!!!!

The  picture below comes to mind....................................!!!!!! Ha ha!!!

Here I go again waffling as usual. Oh dear me!!! Question: Will I ever overcome my talent for waffling??

Answer: No.

Now then to get along with the day........................................

We had already decided that we were going to The National Botanic Garden Of Wales not too far away in Llanarthne in Carmarthenshire.

 

Oh no hang on I've just remembered another one I saw the other day i.e Online shopping.

Ha Ha It's so funny isn't it???

"Excuse me are we by any chance ready????" Dai getting impatient. Can't men be sarcastic when they want to be??????

To make matters worse Pat says "it will have closed by the time we get there.!!! "Ha ha ha!!"

"Oh yess hahaha !!" I add. Do you get times when you try your best to be in a good mood but the words just grind out !!!! Ouch!!!

I am not sarcastic though, no never I have a very good reason to be a little miffed. Of course I do!!!!

We were zooming through the welsh countryside. I know I usually say flow, but I'm a little fed up of flowing therefore today we are zooming.

"This car is ever so comfortable to travel in ." Pat said."Isn't it dear?" she prmpts ever patient hubby Terry.

"Yes dear!" he replied.

I then remembered  that they hadn't been in our Mondeo before. When they were down last we'd still had the Subaru.

I thought I would have missed our Subaru but I have to say that we don't. I think it was a car that Dai had been hankering after and just had to have one. He'd  now worked it out of his system.

I know nothing about cars but i do know that The Mondeo is so much cheaper to run and there a few more benefits.

There she is quite a beauty isn't she.

Now then no more waffling and I sat back and enjoyed the scenery while pointing out different landmarks to Pat.

We soon arrive and after the usual finding loos etc we go and purchase our tickets and of course our guide book.I have so many different ones at home I could begin my own library, and let's put a stop to this waffling or I'll just go on and on and on.....................................

Now then a quick read before we began our day of new discoveries :

The National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW) was situated near Llanarthne in the Towy Valley, Carmarthenshire, Wales.. The garden was both a visitors attraction and a centre for botanical research and conservation, and featured the world's largest single-span glasshouse measuring 110 m (360 ft) long by 60 m (200 ft) wide.National Botanic Garden of Wales.

NBGW seeks "to develop a viable world-class national botanic dedicated to the research and conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable utilisation, to lifelong learning and to the enjoyment of the visitor." NBGW is a Registered Charity reliant upon funding from visitors, friends, grants and gifts. From 2008-2009 onwards, the garden will be receiving £550,000 revenue support per annum from the Welsh Assembly Goverment. Significant start-up costs were shared with the UK Millenium Fund.

Source: National Botanic Gardens of Wales. Wikipedia.

The Middleton family from Oswestry built a mansion here in the early 17th century. In 1789 William Paxton bought the estate for £40,000 to create a water park. He used his great wealth to employ some of the finest creative minds of his day, including the eminent architect samuel Pepys Cockerel, whom he commissioned to design and build a new Middleton Hall, turning the original one into a farm. The new Middleton Hall became ‘one of the most splendid mansions in South Wales’ which ‘far eclipsed the proudest of the Cambrian mansions in Asiatic pomp and splendour’.Paxton created an ingenious water park. Water flowed around the estate via a system of interconnecting lakes, ponds and streams linked by a network of dams, water sluices, bridges and cascades. Spring water was stored in elevated resoviors that fed into a lead cistern on the mansion’s roof, allowing Paxton’s residence to enjoy piped running water and the very latest luxury, water closets. Middleton Estate was described in a 19th century sale catalogue as ‘richly ornamented by nature, and greatly improved by art’ but fell into decline in the early 20th century. The house burnt down in 1931.

History of the garden

The idea for a National Botanic Garden of Wales originated from the Welsh artist, William Wilkins, whose aunt had described to him the ruins of an elaborate water features she had discovered while walking in the local woods at Pont Felin GatUnder the guidance of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, an application was made to the Millenium Commision to fund Britain’s first national botanic garden for 200 years. The Garden was opened to the public for the first time on 24 May 2000, and was officially opened on 21 July by the Prince of wales In 2003, the garden ran into serious financial difficulties and in 2004 it accepted a financial package from the Welsh Assembly Government, Carmarthenshirer County Council and the Millennium Commission to secure its future. The site extends to 568 acres and among the garden's rare and threatened plants is the whitebeam Sorbus leyana 21st Century approaches to recycling and conservation have been used in the design of the centre: biomass recycling is used to provide heating for some of the facilities such as the visitor centre and glasshouses.

Source: National Botanic Gardens of Wales. Wikipedia.

First to catch our eyes was The Great Glass house. This spectacular dome is the single span glasshouse in the world and was designed by Norman Foster & Partners.. It lies in the Welsh countryside like a giant dew drop.

For the first time ever under the same roof , there are plants from five Mediterrenean climate regions of California, western and South Australia, Central Chile, the western cape of South Africa and the Mediterranean basin itself (in which we include the canaries and other neighbouring islands off the western Atlantic coast.) are grown in separate geographical zones.

Oh my goodness me what a wondrous place, what magical beauty. Have you ever witnessed such beauty that you have stood rooted to the spot and it seems that time has stood still.

I will never forget this beautiful moment, ever!!!

I took a quick look in my gude book:

Designed by Kathryn Gustafson (who also built the Princess Diana memorial fountain in Kensington Park), this landscape covers 3,500 square metres, with rocky terraces white sandstone cliffs and gravelled scree slopes, intended to conjure up an imkage of the natural landscape of these regions.

"Shall we sit down for a while?" Pat said, while the men turned to her with a look that said 'wimp!'

"Yes what a brilliant idea," I agreed with her. We found a bench and picnic table a little further on, andthe men who had scorned Pat's suggestion a little earlier sat down very quickly with a resounding sigh.

"Hmmm not tired men ??!!!!!!" I had my two minutes of childish victory, nothing better. Ha ha!!!

I dived into our picnic bag and we had a couple of sandwiches and a much needed cup of tea.

Terry had a cigar and myself and Dai sat there just like two goody two shoes: Oh yes we had given up , and hadn't had a single cigarette since December 2nd 2009.

They say that there no one worse than a reformed smoke. Well I can't begin to thinkwhere people get that idea from???!!!!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm strange isn't it what conclusions some people come to!!!!!

"Oh let's go over there to the Ice House!!" Pat says and we all look over to where she is pointing to.

"Oh my gosh!!" I gasp, thinking that I had already seen so much beauty but this was something else!!!

It was quite warm now so I tied my fleece round my waist and arm in arm with Dai walked up to the Ice House.

Apparently after another quick glance into my guide book , this Ice House was used by William Oaxton's srevants as a fridge. They stored ice here there from the lakes to keep vegetables cropped from the Double Walled Gardens cool.

All of a sudden it turned very muggy. Pat and Terry were beginning to find it all a bit much and decided to find a nice shady cafe.

"There's one just over there " Pat pointed to a cafe nearby.

"I think i could do with a nice cool drink in the shade too." Dai gladly agreed.

However I didn't feel the need to find some shady cafe and felt an inclination to walk into the doubled walled garden nearby.

"Would you mind terribly if I didn't join you?" I asked not wanting to offend anyone. "I would like to take a walk through the gardens over there."

"Of course not " they all agreed. "Come over to the cafe after" . Dai said with a hug.

As they walked away I made my way over to the gardens.

I suddenly felt weary and sat on a wooden bench by the entrance.

All of a sudden a great thick mist enveloped me, even before I had time to sigh it was instantly gone and I brushed mud and grass away from my work breeches

"Sorry to be so rude ,I must introduce myself: We are in the year of 1824 and I am William Paxton present owner of this grand establishment.

 There's nothing I like better than to potter around in the garden when I have a few minutes to spare."

"Let me tell you a little more about myself, and how I came to be the present owner."

"Over yonder is Middleton Hall and it was built by Henry Middleton in the early 1600s."

"He was the High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in the year of 1644."

"Excuse me I must wipe my brow!!"

"Now then where was I ?" "Oh yes I was telling you about  Henry Middleton and his family.. His son Christopher and his grandson Richard were High Sheriffs of the county in 1668 and 1701 respectively."

"However Richard's son Henry died childless and thus his sister Elizabeth inherited the grand estate."

"She was married to Thomas Gwyn of Gwempa and they had one son Richard Gwyn who in turn inherited the estate in in the 1750s"

"Sadly he fell into debt and the estate was passed on to his son Francis Edward Gwyn. Francis lived beyond his means and in 1766 Middleton Hall was sold to pay off debts."

"Now then it is at this point that I come into it because in 1789 I bought it for £40,00 and I have turned it into a home farm!"

 "Between 1793 and 1795 I had a new mansion designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell."

"Follow me, watch the steps wouldn't want you to injure yourself!!"

 "Do you see the new mansion is of a neo-classical design." " The whole estate is so grand and I would not have achieved this without the expertise of architect Samuel Lapidge and engineer James Greer. "

"It has been so nice talking to you all but I am afraid that I am not in the best of health these days and I must retire for a short while." "God bless you all."

The day suddenly became a little fresher and the mist lifted. Now then I'd had enough of exploring so I'd better be on my way to find the others.

However they were walking towards me......................................

"Goodness me you were a long time!" Pat said. "We were getting quite concerned about you!"

"Sorry if I worried you but I had an interesting time exploring the gardens!"

As I looked over to the front door of Middleton Hall I am sure that William Paxton stood there with a look that said 'our secret.'

After a lovely day so much enjoyed by all we made for home, I was dozing as I usually did after our 'journeys' and from the side of me came more snoring. Oh yes Pat was out for the count as well.

It was about 10.30 when I sat by my faithful friend and went about finding out what I could about William Paxton and guess what yes everything added up exactly as he had narrated yesterday.

In 1824 Paxton died so he could not have lived for very long after my 'visit'. Oh that's a little sad. The remainder follows :

Biography of William Paxton

William Paxton was born in 1744, the son of John Paxton, chief clerk to rich Scottish wine merchant Archibald Stewart.

The family moved to London when Paxton was three years old.

At the age of twelve Paxton joined the Navy as a captain`s boy on HMS St Albans. In 1760 he joined HMS Thunderer as Midshipman, the lowest officer rank. In 1764, at the age of twenty, Paxton left the Navy to join a private British merchant ship as a `free mariner` based in India.

In 1772 Paxton returned to England to train as an assayer (a valuer of coins) in order to help to control the monetary situation in Bengal. Two years later Paxton became Assay Master to the Bengal Presidency. In 1778 Paxton became Master of the Mint. During this time Paxton began to work for colleagues and friends as an Agent. He generated his own fortune by charging commission on the financial transactions made on their behalf. In 1785 Paxton returned to London to establish his agency there. During the 6 month journey home he met Welshman David Williams with whom he became friends and from whom he received an invitation to visit Wales. Shortly after his return Paxton`s agency established itself as a merchant bank.

Paxton married Ann Dawney in 1786 and their first child was born a year later. Paxton was to have another ten children.

In 1793 Paxton was admitted as a Burgess to Carmarthen Borough.

During the early 1790s Paxton had tried and failed to be elected to Parliament in Newark on Trent.

Paxton stood at the 1802 election in Carmarthenshire representing the Whig cause against the Tory James Hamlyn Williams. In the run up to the election Paxton spared no expense. He bought the voters 36,901 dinners and 25,275 gallons of ale, and spent £768 on blue ribbons, among other costs. He lost the election by 46 votes. Two months later he was elected Mayor of Carmarthen. Paxton took his lobbying duties seriously and brought pressure to bear to bring about the introduction of fresh piped water to Carmarthen. He also started The Loyal Carmarthen Volunteers.

In 1803 Paxton was knighted.

In 1803 the MP John George Philipps resigned his seat in Parliament in favour of Paxton. Three years later Paxton took the Carmarthenshire seat unopposed. The following year an election was called but due to local opposition Paxton withdrew his candidacy.

Between 1806 and 1809 Paxton`s Tower was built probably to a design by Samuel Pepys Cockerell. Paxton died in 1824 at the age of 80 whilst in London. He is buried in the catacombs at St. Martin in the Fields. His wife died in 1846.

Copyright © 2010 National Botanic Garden of Wales

I hope that you have all enjoyed yourselves on our journey and that you will also join me next time.

Take care and God Bless you all.

I must point out that my transition into William Paxton was purely fiction.

If you would like to ravel with me on another journey please follow links below;