I visited Powis Castle in Wales in the summer of 2001.  I hope that this will be the first of many places outside of England itself.  All the pictures on this page are personal photos and as you can see from them it was a beautiful and hot day.  This made the award winning gardens at Powis a pleasure to walk through.  I feel that had it been raining they might not have been so wonderful.  Pick a day with good weather and have plenty of energy for climbing down the gardens.

The picture above is of the castle from the car park and is the first close up view of the building.  From here there is quite a walk to the entrance.  A lesson to be learned is to arrive early in the day so that you can park nearer to the entrance.  

The picture above is what you see when you walk towards the entrance of the castle. As you can see the Statue of Fame graces the entrance.

This statue is not the only one to be found at Powis.  Some of my better pictures of various statues are below.  The second one is a closer picture of the Statue of Fame.

For those who have the stamina to walk down to the foot of the gardens you will find the fountain below.  The houses in the background are also home to a black and white cat who greets any tourists who meet him.

From the higher gardens you can look out over the other gardens and over the Welsh countryside.

The castle itself is open to the public and has a number of State rooms open to the public.  Some of the highlights include the only bedroom in Britain where a balustrade still rails off the bed alcove from the rest of the room.

The Grand Staircase is worth spending a little more time at because of the wonderful painted walls and ceilings.

The Long Gallery is filled with sculptures and ornaments which are on display in the room.

The Billiard Room you will find is no longer used for this activity but instead houses a collection of stuffed birds, most of which date back to c. 1850.

The castle is also famous for Clive of India and has a wonderful museum devoted to him and his collection of treasures.  The number of visitors is limited at a time so you may have to queue on busier days but again it is worth the effort.

Other things available include a cafe, a shop and hardly surprising because of the wonderful gardens, a plant shop.

This last picture was taken of the castle from the bottom of the gardens, just near where the fountain pictured above is.  As you can see the gardens are steep and extensive and it is no wonder they are award winning.