Trust set up to save gardens

The Gardens were created in the 1920s and 1930s

Volunteers have taken over the running of a woodland garden to keep it open to the public.

Upton Castle Gardens was in danger of closing as Pembrokeshire National Park Authority found it could no longer keep the 30-acre site going.

A trust will now run the garden, which overlooks Milford Haven waterway and attracts around 10,000 visitors a year.

Opening for the 2005 season on Monday, it will be run almost entirely by volunteers.

Garden manager Mike Candler said the site was run by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority for the past 30 years but increasing demands on its resources meant it could no longer continue.

A charitable trust was set up in November.

"There is no question without that the gardens would be closed to the public," said Mr Candler.

The gardens open for the 2005 season on Monday

"The park authority helped set it up and has given us quite a lot of machinery and put in some financial support to help get us underway.

"We've got a team of about 40 volunteers who are a dedicated group of people."

He said they were people from all walks of life, many of whom were long-time supporters of the gardens.

The gardens were created in their present form in the 1920s and 30s by Stanley Neale, a trawler owner from Penarth, whose daughter and son-in-law own Upton Castle and are among the trustees.

Horticulture is seen as an important way of attracting visitors to the region with Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Swansea marketing the area as One Big Garden.

"It's a woodland garden - there are about 250 species of trees and shrubs," added Mr Candler.

"It is one of very few open to the public in the south of the county.

"To my mind it's one of the best in Wales. It would have been a great shame for it to shut."

Road improvements to the A477 will make access to the site easier and road signs will be put up for the first time to advertise it to visitors.

The trust also wants to expand into areas such as education.