Gold Medal-winning landscape designers open their garden on 13 September

July 2026

Modest in scale yet rich in content and impact, Craig Ogwen in Bethesda, North Wales, is the private home garden of RHS Chelsea Gold Medal-winning landscape designer Dan Bristow, his wife and Studio Bristow partner Sarah and their young family. Opening for the first time to the public for the National Garden Scheme on Saturday 13 September 2026, visitors have a rare opportunity to explore the garden, chat to Dan and Sarah about its diverse horticultural treasures and enjoy a quiet moment with a cup of tea and cake soaking in the late summer planting.

September is one of the garden’s most spectacular seasons, when bold drifts of Miscanthus nepalensis catch the light with their silky, arching flowerheads, Eupatorium ‘Riesenschirm’ rises above the borders with its stately mauve umbels held on dark stems, and Aster ageratoides ‘Ezo Murasaki’ creates a haze of rich violet-blue flowers that attract clouds of late-season pollinators. Punctuating the planting, the scarlet blooms of Hesperantha coccinea (crimson flag lily) bring vibrant flashes of colour.

Above all, Craig Ogwen showcases a remarkable collection of rare and unusual plants, inspired by years of plant-hunting expeditions. Playing with scale, towering perennials and grasses envelop visitors, while bold foliage often takes precedence over flowers, creating texture, movement and structure throughout the seasons. Set against a rushing mountain river and framed by ancient woodland beyond, the garden offers a dramatic connection between designed landscape and its North Wales setting.

For more about the garden opening CLICK HERE

Lead image: Dan and Sarah Bristow c. Britt Willoughby
Below: views of the garden at Craig Ogwen