Tredegar House, National Trust |

Last Updated on May 4, 2024

Over the summer we spent some time in Llantrisant Wales, and as part of our time there we spent a day out at Tredegar House, which is a National Trust property located in Newport.

Tredegar House’s history centres on the Morgan Family, who were influential in Newport and the surrounding areas, and played a large part in shaping the social, political, and economic activities of the time.

Tredegar House was inherited in 1664 with Sir William Morgan being the first person to call Tredegar House home, who with his wife made Tredegar House the home we see today.

As soon as we showed our National Trust membership at the visitor centre, we walked through some impressive gates, and found ourselves in The Orchard Gardens.

There are three gardens at Tredegar House, The Orchard Gardens, The Cedar Garden, and The Orangery Garden.

The Orchard Gardens were a highlight of our visit for Ryan, as there were many hidden areas for him to explore filled with bug hotels, flowers, fruit trees, tree trunks to lift and explore under, insects, and old pipes from hot houses that used to supply tropical fruits to the house’s inhabitants.

The next garden to explore before we reached the house was The Cedar Garden, a formal garden with landscaped areas, hedges, a walking path, and a large Cedar tree.

This garden had a stone obelisk in the centre, which was constructed in memory of a horse who carried the first Lord Tredegar during a battle.

After The Cedar Garden we went inside the house, we weren’t able to see the below stairs rooms and bedrooms, as they were still closed for Covid reasons.

However, there were still many gorgeous rooms that we could see, which included The Gilt Room where the Morgan family entertained guests.

This room was designed to impress, and it had a stunning piece of artwork on the ceiling, which you could see by looking into a mirror in the centre of the room so you didn’t have to strain your neck.

We also saw The New Parlour, where games used to be played, and The Brown Room, which had carvings of animals and other creatures in the room’s oak panels.

As we were leaving the house a volunteer told us to return once the whole house is open, as the kitchen has really high ceilings and is really interesting to see as its design is very different to the opulence of the rest of the house.

Upon exiting the house we could see The Stable Buildings, which once inside Ryan rode a pretend horse.

We then walked through The Orangery, situated next to The Stable Buildings, and along the wall was a 42 foot long Cefn Mabli Shovelboard, which was made in the early seventeenth century and is the longest single plank oak table top in Britain.

The aim of the game was to slide large brass discs along the narrow table and the winner was the person whose disk stopped closest to the end.

Just outside The Orangery was the last garden, The Orangery Garden, which was a parterre garden and the house’s smallest garden.

An added bonus to our day out at Tredegar House was the 90+ acres of parkland situated around the house, where National Trust and non National Trust members could access for free.

In the parkland was a café, picnic areas, a lake with ducks and swans in it, as well as a walking path around it, woodlands, natural play areas, and a playground.

I loved our day out at Tredegar House, and would definitely like to revisit.

The highlight for me was seeing how much fun Ryan had exploring The Orchard Gardens, he spent quite a lot of time in this garden, which is something he doesn’t do that often when we visit other National Trust gardens.

Tredegar House is located at Pencarn Way, Newport, NP10 8YW. For more information on Tredegar House please visit their website.

What are some of your favourite day out locations?
I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

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