Golden Grove ( cy, Gelli Aur) is a mansion and estate in the Welsh county of

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, located southwest of

Llandeilo Llandeilo () is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated at the crossing of the River Towy by the A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. Its population was 1,795 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to the westernmost point of the ...

History

There have been three mansions on the estate. The first was built in 1560 by the Vaughan family, which was later ennobled as Earls of Carbery. This was destroyed by fire and replaced in 1754 by a Neoclassical box of fine quality, with a long Doric-columned portico. In 1804, the estate was bequeathed by John Vaughan, the last of the Golden Grove Vaughans, to his Oxford friend John Frederick Campbell, Lord Cawdor of Castlemartin, later 1st Earl Cawdor. He demolished the existing building and built the current house, designed by the leading architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville, to the south-west above the original (begun 1827, completed 1834). Wyatville was simultaneously occupied in the extensive remodelling of

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

for King George IV, and subsequently King William lV, as well as the building of a remarkably similar property, Lilleshall Hall in Shropshire, for Cawdor's cousin,

George Leveson-Gower Sir George Granville Leveson-Gower KBE (19 May 1858 – 18 July 1951), was a British civil servant and Liberal politician from the Leveson-Gower family. He held political office as Comptroller of the Household between 1892 and 1895 and later se ...

, nephew of the

Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made th ...

. Correspondence exists between the two families relating to the huge costs of construction of both Golden Grove and Lilleshall, and the problems in bringing them to completion created by Wyatville's preoccupation with the complexities and demands of his new schemes for the king. Golden Grove remained in Cawdor family occupation until 1935. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, it was occupied by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. Subsequently,

Carmarthenshire County Council Carmarthenshire County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin) is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The coun ...

used it as offices, and

Coleg Sir Gâr Coleg Sir Gâr is a further education college in Carmarthenshire, Wales, with five campuses across the county. The college Coleg Sir Gâr is a large, multi-site, further education college. It is part of the University of Wales Trinity Saint Dav ...

operated it as an agricultural college until 2003. Plans were made to convert the building to a hotel, to flats, and to a convalescent home, but the building remained unused and deteriorating until 2011, when the council sold the house and

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

to the Golden Grove Trust, formed to make the house a destination for art and cultural activities and restore the park. In 2015, it received a grant of almost £1 million from the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

House, gardens and country park

The house has Scottish Baronial features in a Tudor or

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

architectural style, although it is a late Regency, Georgian house and not a Victorian house. It is constructed of Llangyndeyrn limestone, traditionally called 'black marble'. Its national importance is recognised by its Grade II* listing. The gardens immediate on the house include an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

, laid out in the 1860s, and a deer park, both Grade II listed.

In popular culture

The 2017 BBC television series '' Decline and Fall'', based on the

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

novel, was filmed at Golden Grove, and in 2018 the house and park were primary filming locations for the film ''

Six Minutes to Midnight ''Six Minutes to Midnight'' is a 2020 British war drama film directed by Andy Goddard from a screenplay loosely based on a true story by Goddard, Celyn Jones and Eddie Izzard, starring Izzard, Judi Dench, Carla Juri, James D'Arcy and Jim Broa ...

''.

References

{{Authority control Grade II* listed buildings in Carmarthenshire Jeffry Wyatville buildings Country houses in Carmarthenshire