What to See in Llandeilo - Top Sights and Attractions

Newton House is a Grade II* listed country house situated just to the west of the market town of Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is partially owned and maintained by the National Trust and lies within Dinefwr Park and the grounds of Dinefwr Castle. The original house was built during the Medieval period on a site which has been occupied for at least two millennia. The current house was built by Edward Rice in the Jacobean style in 1660, though extensive changes were made in the 1850s in the Venetian Gothic style. The house played a role in the Rebecca Riots of 1843, when the occupant of the house at the time, Colonel George Rice, received a death threat with an empty grave dug in the ground. After 1956 the property fell into turbulent times when two owners died within the space of a few years. It was sold in 1974, and later fell into disrepair; it was occupied by squatters and thieves who removed beams and furniture.

The house, along with Dinefwr Castle, have since been restored by the National Trust and Cadw respectively. It is a three-storey castellated structure, built from grey stone, with four tall towers in each corner, with sloping slate roofs. The front features a grand central porch. Two rooms are open to the public, including a tearoom and exhibition in the basement and ground floor which contain numerous displays related to the history of the estate and occupants. The deer park which surrounds the property was landscaped by Capability Brown in 1775. The surrounding woodland consists mainly of oak and wych elm. Newton House is cited as one of the most haunted houses in Wales, noted in particular for its ghost of Walter the Butler, a former employee whose tobacco smoke purportedly wafts through the air.^[3]

Park in Wales. Gelli Aur is a country park with 60 acres of wooded parkland surrounding Golden Grove mansion. It was once the home of the Vaughan and Cawdor families. The park featured a number of nature trails, a 20-acre deer park, a 10-acre Aboretum planted in the 1860s. The park was managed for many years by Carmarthenshire County Council. The Mansion features crow stepped gables, a battlemented portico and tall polygonal chimney stacks. The original Vaughan mansion, built between 1565 and 1570, no longer exists. In 1804 the last of the Vaughans died childless and the Gelli Aur estate passed to the Cawdor family. It was they who built the present mansion between 1827 and 1832. The mansion is now privately owned, and a long programme of restoration is underway.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the house has had a checkered history. During World War Two, it housed American airmen. In more recent times, the big house was leased to Carmarthenshire County Council, and one of the five campuses of Carmarthenshire College (Coleg Sir Gâr) was located there.

In 2015, as part of a ten-year plan to restore the destination, a grant of close to £1 million was arranged with the Welsh Government. The first stage including enabling public access to the parkland and gardens with tea-rooms, a play area, educational activities and trails. The match funding necessary for the third year phase of works did not materialise and therefore the majority of the grant could not be drawn down.^[7]