Wed, August 26th, 2020

The Castle is Back on the Menu, boys!

Over the last couple of weeks, despite the weather’s best efforts to blow us all away, we’ve had lots going on.

Walled Garden Restoration Progress

There has been huge progress over at the Walled Garden Project, thanks to the great team of cheery builders (and let’s not forget their fantastic and impressive beards).

The much loved and long missed pineapples have finally gone back up onto their columns. The work has revealed some fascinating new finds such as a Victorian leather hosepipe, what appears to be a cunning water collection system from the roof, and most importantly of all, we’ve now seen exactly how extensive and large the hypocaust heating system was, which is built into the Garden’s walls. It is much bigger than anyone expected! We are hoping to make as much of this available to the public once the restoration project is completed.

Artisans and Artists

We have also had a lot of interesting arts and crafts going on. We had a lovely visit from Janet Chaplin, who is currently one of our artists whose work is on show in the galleries.  She has been painting in the garden and has been very happy to chat to people who have stopped to admire her work.

Other visitors have been from the Pembrokeshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. They are group of crafts people who promote handspinning, weaving and dyeing. They held a social meeting here at Picton in August to demonstrate their crafts. It was amazing morning to see how cloth and fabrics grow from simple beginnings.

Family Days and New Activities

Even on the less balmy days it has been great to see lots of families enjoying the gardens and our new things for kiddies big and small to do. There are 4 new geocaches in the garden waiting to be discovered and a Puzzle Hunt around the garden, in addition to our already established Fairy Door Trail and the Children’s Garden Trail.

The pop-up event days of Nature Day and Puzzling at Picton have proven very popular. So much so, that we have decided to keep them going after the school holidays end. So, from this Saturday (29th August) our Nature Days will be held every Saturday throughout September. There will be plenty of opportunity to see the baby owls grow up and to meet our latest additions: the African Triped Polecats and the new baby American Barn Owl! A ball of hungry white cuteness…

Castle Re-Opening

Last but not least, and maybe most excitingly of all, the Castle will be re-opened from Sunday (30th August)!

The tours will be very small groups to ensure that we can be covid safe, and only 2 days a week initially (Sunday and Wednesday). It is a great opportunity to see the Castle in a very personal and informal manner. You will be able to take your time with the guide and really explore the main state rooms of the Castle. It is great to be back in action!