While waiting for a train, I called in at the Bangor University botanical garden, which is at the end of an improbable road, just by the south entrance to the Menai Suspension Bridge.
Part of the garden was originally laid out by Joseph Paxton in connection with a grandiose scheme to construct a garden suburb next to the new Britannia Bridge, with a massive 500-bed hotel.
Waterworks survive from his scheme and the wonderful Lucombe Oak, a hybrid of the Turkey Oak and Cork Oak developed by Willism Lucombe, a nurseryman in Devon:-
Elsewhere in the garden is a temperate hothouse:-
And I enjoyed the section of Welsh fruit trees, all originally grown on the Vaynol Estate, including such exotic specimens as the The Goose’s Arse, a Victorian cooking apple:-
The Anglesey Pig’s Snout, first recorded in the seventeenth century:-
And the Snowdon Queen:-
Fascinating. I must seek it out and visit. Thank you. I was completely unaware of it.
love the ‘Anglesey Pigs Snout’! Does it just refer to the Apple or is it a reference to Anglesey itself? Wales as the stuffed head and the island balanced on its nose?
Good question. I assume it’s based on the appearance of the apple and where it’s found – analogous to the Goose’s Arse. Charles