Conservatory, Winter Gardens
Castle History - The Conservatory and Winter Gardens
The Craig y Nos Castle Conservatory would have been the place where Patti and her guests would gather to savour the beautiful view to the hills beyond.
The Craig y Nos Castle Conservatory was derelict when we took over the Castle, but it has now been restored and is a popular venue for Wedding Receptions, specifically Wedding Breakfasts. Some before, during and after pictures are shown here.
From the conservatory, Adelina Patti's guests would walk through an aviary of exotic birds (now restored and in use as the Gym - see below) before entering the huge winter garden.
The winter gardens (shown in column of pictures on the right) were all covered in glass to protect the many plants Patti imported from all over the world.
This building was donated to the people of Swansea in her will, and was moved to Swansea where it has undergone a couple of restorations. It is now known as "The Patti Pavilion".
The first make-over, by Anneka Rice, was more of a quickie for TV. The work was not very long-lasting though it served as a catalyst for a more recent and major restoration.
The Council have since spent around £1m considerably upgrading and restoring the building and its future overlooking Swansea Bay is now assured (see pictures below and right).
The winter gardens were another architectural feature built for the Baroness at the end of the 19th century.
In its place at the Castle there is now a very ordinary 1950's building that used to house the South Ward and North Ward when the Castle was a Hospital.
More recently the old North Ward and South Ward has been a call centre office for the cleaning agency business of SelClene. This in turn has been moved back to London, so now the offices are empty and used for storage.
These rooms are available for rent, for offices, training schools, or for any other purpose if someone is interested!
A spacious building with a soaring roof and made mainly from glass, the Winter Gardens were two buildings joined by the Aviary where the Diva would promenade with her guests among tropical plants whilst exotic birds flew within.
A pair of iron fountains fashioned as cranes with multi-coloured plumage shed rainbow light from their falling waters and captivated all who saw them.
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