With its lakes and waterfalls, panoramic vistas, secret places and horticultural and botanical riches, Penllergare provided a wide variety of subjects for his camera and his photographic images vividly evoke the Victorian era style.
His son, Sir John Talbot Dillwyn Llewelyn, brought the gardens to their peak just before the Great War and he, like his father was a notable philanthropist and supporter of community activities.
This in turn initiated the award of £2.4m by the Heritage Lottery Fund through its Parks for People programme to support the first phase of an £2.9m restoration scheme focussed on the upper end of the valley.
Guided by the archive of John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s mid-nineteenth century photography, over the next 3 years, the upper lake will be de-silted, and steps, terraces, waterfalls and cascades will be repaired and restored to reinstate the picturesque and romantic design.
The observatory has been leased from the Council, repaired and brought back into use and a hydro-electric generator will be installed alongside the upper waterfall to provide sustainable power for the estate.
A walkway under the M4 will also link with the Forestry Commission forest, more than doubling the size of Valley Woods, as well as providing a ‘green’ route from the Gower to the Brecon Beacons.