A beautiful mosaic of wildflower-rich hay meadows and pastures
At the National Botanic Garden of Wales, we’re proud to have our very own nature reserve on site – Waun Las National Nature Reserve, 400 acres of beautiful countryside managed as an organic farm to encourage biodiversity.
Covering over 70% of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Waun Las contains a wide range of valuable habitats that include marshy grassland, wet woodland and lowland meadows – priorities for conservation in the UK and the rest of Europe.
Here, you may come across a range of wild plants, fungi and other wildlife that have disappeared from much of our countryside. Explore our restored hay meadows, which come alive with a beautiful array of orchids and other wildflowers from May to September.
Our Volunteer Conservation Team helps us to monitor wildlife on site, and you can do this to by uploading your findings on the LERC app or iRecord, or sharing with us on social media. Also keep an eye out for our fixed point photography posts which help us to record the changing landscape by sharing your photos with us.
If you want to learn more about the rich history and diversity that the landscape has to offer, follow the free audio trail that will take you on a journey through the ages, and how we’re working to converse our natural and cultural heritage.
Getting to Waun Las
Access is via the Garden’s main Gatehouse entrance. It’s about a 10-minute walk, alongside our restored lakes, to the start of the nature reserve. We’ve created a network of paths across the whole reserve. You’ll need stout footwear as it can get quite muddy and uneven in places.
