A peaceful park adjacent to the River Usk, offering an excellent standard of toilet facilities…
Our View
Owner Catriona Boyle has spent the last 30 years developing the beautiful garden at Penpergwm in rural Monmouthshire. She based the design on the original Edwardian layout, with open lawns, some formal areas, hedges and mature trees, and added two colour-themed terraces linked by an Italianate parterre and a pillared vine-walk. Recent additions include an octagonal brick Golden Jubilee folly with a weather vane and a new summer house, with excellent views from both. There’s a pre-war kitchen garden and a nursery created by Mrs Boyle and Joanna Kerr featuring herbaceous plants, bulbs and half-hardy perennials. Mrs Boyle runs a thriving garden school from Penpergwm Lodge, where the lunches are highly recommended.
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About the area
Discover Monmouthshire
In their bid to control the borderlands of Monmouthshire – also known as the Marches – the Normans built a triangle of castles: Grosmont, Skenfrith and White. At first, they were simple wooden structures strengthened by earthworks, but when the lively Welsh refused to stop attacking them, it was decided more permanent fortresses were needed. All three are worth a visit and the views from the battlements at White Castle over the surrounding countryside to the Black Mountains are stunning, as is all the scenery in this area – consisting of a patchwork of low hills, hidden valleys, fields criss-crossed with hedgerows and small belts of woodland.
Monmouth itself makes a great base to explore the beautiful Wye Valley, as well as being known as the home of Rockfield Studios, where Queen recorded Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975. The largest town in the county, Abergavenny is creating a name for itself as the foodie capital of the Usk Valley, and has held a weekly cattle market on the same site since 1863. Its location just six miles from the English border means it’s often described as the ‘gateway to Wales’.
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