Portmeirion Village

Discover the impressive natural landscape surrounding Portmeirion. The subtropical forest at Portmeirion, affectionately known as The Gwyllt (Wildwood in Welsh) features some of Britain's largest trees, secret gardens, a derelict castle and rare flowers. Explore the 70 acres of exotic woodlands with 19 miles of pathways which cut through forests, secret spaces and coastal coves.Discover the exotic Japanese Garden with its pagoda and lily-covered lake. Uncover secret sites like the Dog Cemetery, tangle Wood, Ghost Garden and Shelter Valley.During the main season, our guests will enjoy our free trade ride to the Oriental garden, where they'll find a classic temple overlooking the Chinese bridge and lake. Guests can disembark the train at any point to explore one of the several paths that take them along 16 miles of coastal paths. The views are simply stunning.Many of the unusual species found here pre-date Clough Williams-Ellis. During the Victorian period. former tenants Henry Seymour Westmacott and later Sir Williams Fothergill Cook, a celebrated botanist, planted a mixture of monkey puzzle trees, pines, magnolias, camellias, giant redwoods as well as various rhododendrons on the estate.

By the turn of the 20th century, Caton Haig, a world authority on Himalayan flowering trees, continued Cook's works of planting rare species in the woods, including our famous selection of rhododendrons.Among the 70 varieties of rhododendrons, are the red-flowering Portmeirion-bred cultivar rhododendron, known as the 'Gwyllt King'. Cook also planted a magnificent magnolia campbellii with its enormous pink flowers and several ginkgo bilobas.Castell Deudraeth has a carefully restored walled Victorian garden with lawns, flowerbeds and flowering trees.