For a change of pace from the mountains, the National Botanic Garden of Wales makes a lovely full day out — 568 acres of restored Regency parkland near Llanarthne, an hour west towards Carmarthen.
At its heart is the Great Glasshouse: a vast, low ellipse of glass designed by Norman Foster’s practice, the largest single-span glasshouse in the world, sheltering Mediterranean-climate plants from six corners of the globe. Elsewhere there are lakes, a walled garden, and the British Bird of Prey Centre, with daily flying displays of native raptors.
It’s an easy, walkable day for couples and families alike — the sort of gentle, green counterpoint to a week of waterfalls and summits.
Worth knowing
- The Great Glasshouse is the world’s largest single-span glasshouse — an elliptical dome roughly 99m by 55m, designed by Foster + Partners.
- It opened in 2000, the first new botanic garden in the UK for some 200 years.
- The glasshouse holds over 1,000 plant species from California, Australia, the Canary Islands, Chile, South Africa and the Mediterranean.
- The on-site British Bird of Prey Centre is the only UK centre devoted solely to native British raptors, with daily flying displays.