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Rare orchids to bloom at annual festival in historic Welsh mansion

09 Aug 2026 2 minute read

Welsh Orchid Festival 2025. Image: Aberglasney and Orchid Study Group

Nation.Cymru Staff

Rare and colourful orchids will be on display at a historic Welsh mansion next month as the annual Welsh Orchid Festival returns for 2026.

Organised by the Orchid Study Group, the Welsh Orchid Festival will be held at Aberglasney Mansion and Gardens on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026.

As well as learning about rare species and popular hybrid orchids, visitors will also be able to purchase orchids, carnivorous plants, orchid companion plants and botanical paintings.

Peter Rees-Jones, Chairman of the Orchid Study Group, said: “We are looking forward to holding, once again, our annual Festival at Aberglasney. It is the perfect backdrop for our event.

“There will be an opportunity for visitors to enjoy the very best of the UK’s orchid nurseries and purchase colourful, rare and unusual orchids, with experienced orchid growers on hand to provide advice and to help you with their cultivation.”

The Orchid Study Group was established in 2005 to provide a focus for orchids and their study in Wales, which has a long and rich orchid history.

Penllergare in particular was home to the pioneer photographer and orchid grower John Dillwyn Llewelyn; son of the famous botanist and owner of the Swansea Pottery, Lewis Weston Dillwyn.

Newly discovered orchids flowered in the region for the first time and it is probable that John was the first to record them by means of photography.

Even today, the name of this influential family is commemorated in the names of orchids such as Eria dillwynii.

Helen Scutt, Aberglasney Gardens’ Director, added: “The Welsh Orchid Festival is held at Aberglasney in conjunction with our Late Summer Fair.

“The two events together will completely indulge our visitors’ horticultural senses as the Welsh Orchid Festival will completely take over the Mansion while we will have plants and produce stalls around the gardens.

“We hope everyone comes to enjoy this unique horticultural experience.”

Entrance to the Welsh Orchid Festival is free of charge when visitors pay the £10 to enter Aberglasney’s Summer Fair, with children under 17 years old having free entry.

The Festival will be open from 10am until 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

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