Page 7 - cn-The Art of Style Status STUDIO pres April 2024

The estate was purchased by Henry Pochin, the late Lord Aberconway’s great grandfather in 1874. At the
th
time, the garden and grounds were much as they were in the 18 century. Pochin, with his landscape archi-
tect, Edward Milner, began laying out what he termed a ‘reposeful garden’. This was comprised of spacious
terrace lawns, extending further into the valley sections and adding the Mausoleum and Laburnum Arch.

In 1877, Henry Pochin’s daughter Laura married barrister Charles Benjamin Bright McLaren, MP for Staf-
ford and Bosworth. He became a peer in 1911 and chose the title Lord Aberconway, {meaning Mouth of
the Conway}.

With their business and political commitments keeping them in London, Laura, being equally passionate
about the garden as her father, gave the care of the gardens over to their son Henry after he left Oxford Uni-
nd
versity in 1901 when he was 21. It was Henry, as the 2 Lord Aberconway who envisioned the idea of the
great terraces and supervised the construction work. The garden has continued to evolve through the direc-
rd
tion of the Hon Michael McLaren, whose father, Charles, 3 Lord Aberconway, former President of the
Royal Horticultural Society, guided the development of the garden from 1953 – 2003.

The scene captures the late afternoon light and colours of autumn in the Italianate Garden, which is a con-
tinuation of the Acer Glade. The terrace design repeats the theme of the great series of terraces near the
house. Prominent in the background is the Gothic revival style of the Mausoleum known as ‘The Poem’
which is reached by a set of descending stairs.

Bodnant Gardens, Tal-y-Cafn, Wales. NT