Begelly Park Gardens

The Begelly Park Gardens were the brainchild of Ken and Margaret Hester, who brought the site to life around seven years ago.

The area covers approximately 12 acres and was once a working coal mine, employing local labour including women and children to dig the coal out and bring it to the surface. There are two deep mine shafts in the gardens, both approximately 150 metres deep. Coal mining here ceased about the turn of the century. The shafts have been capped and fenced.

When Ken and Margaret first came across the site it was completely derelict and overgrown, the mineshafts had filled with water and it was freely running across the land, turning two thirds of it into bog-land. Brambles, bracken and gorse covered the whole site. Bluebells, campion, meadowsweet, ragged robin and many other wild flowers abound. The site was cleared and drained over the next three years creating a small lake and many other pools and water features.

The gardens are a combination of water gardens, formal gardens, informal gardens, japenese gardens and woodlands.