³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

opened in May 2000 and is set on historic parkland, dating back around 400 years.

The garden currently boats the world's largest single spanned glasshouse, designed by Lord Foster and has the best display of Mediterranean climate zone plants in the Northern hemisphere.

In amongst the lakes, streams, marsh, semi-natural woodland, meadows and formal gardens is a wide variety of wild species.

These include over 100 types of butterfly and moth, native plant species, more than 56 varieties of birds, amphibians of all descriptions as well as lizards, grass snakes, slow worms and 20 species of mammal.

The gardens also boast of over 180 types of lichen, many rare types of fungi and 92 varieties of moss.

Large parts of the farmland escaped over-intensive land management during the 20th century and as a result, the old meadows are full of rare plants and fungi.

These include the greater butterfly orchid, whorled caraway and waxcap fungi as well as a large range of invertebrates such as crickets, bugs, butterflies and moths.

Badgers root amongst the mossy grassland for earthworms and otters hunt on the wet meadows for amphibians in spring.

The tussocky nature of some of the grassland encourages voles, which in turn feed barn owls and other birds of prey.

The nearby Waun Las National Nature Reserve has also retained pockets of diverse semi-natural woodland including boggy alder carr woodland.

There is also the drier oak, ash and hazel woods of Pont Felin Gat at the northern end, where bluebell, anemone and golden saxifrage carpet the ground in spring.

These, and small hazel coppices, are rich in birds, ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi and also provide a home for rare dormice.