Above Upper Lake – Watercolour painting by Emma Charlotte c.1860

On the west bank of Upper Lake, there used to be a little boathouse (the Shanty) made from old timbers with the front supported by an old tree. In the summer this was decorated with roses growing all over the roof and when photographed was called Fairy Land. It was photographed many times in the 1850s and is shown on a painting by his daughter, Emma Charlotte. The Upper Lake (which John Dillwyn Llewelyn called the Fishpond) was probably John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s favourite location and mirrored the rugged picturesqueness of the steeply sloping valley and diversity of planting on both sides. At one end, damming the river, John designed a waterfall of rough quarried stone that, today, has become the focal point of Penllergare. See further photos: Fairyland, Shanty and Wigwam (from 2008 Conservation Management Plan) (more…)