Do you remember our Grow Wild project last year? This year, Tŷ Newydd, with help from GISDA, was fortunate to receive yet another grant from Grow Wild to further transform our gardens. Grow Wild is a project run by the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew and supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

The project is a four year programme to encourage people to plant and grow wild native flowers. Grow Wild believe that all of us can do something positive in the spaces where we live; connecting with wild flowers, plants and the places in which they grow; noticing nature; getting active, learning new things and sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm with others.

This year we decided to transform a small corner of the garden which, in its current state, had very little use. We were inspired by typical ‘zen garden’ designs to create a Pen Garden – a tranquil spot for writers and readers alike to enjoy some peace and quiet to read, write or reflect.

On a rainy Monday in May, a hardworking team of young volunteers from GISDA came to work on the garden. They dug up some turf, chopped down a few over grown shrubs and got to work on setting out a zen inspired garden. It’s amazing how their hard work, a few bags of gravel and a few lavender plants has transformed the space.

After working hard in the garden, the young people took part in a creative writing workshop with Iwan Huws, a poet and singer song-writer famous for being one of the Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog brothers.

Thank you very much to all our hard working volunteers for their work, and to Grow Wild for their support.

Here are a few pictures of our new Pen Garden: