In January 1875 Henry Davis Pochin (1824-1895), a successful Victorian entrepreneur, purchased the Bodnant Estate. A trained chemist as well as an industrialist, Mr. Pochin had invented a means of clarifying rosin to produce coloured soap and he had also developed processes for the production of china clay from Cornwall. He became involved in various industries, and was for a period also an MP. A man of great energy and many talents, he created the famous laburnum arch in the Garden.

Mr. Pochin’s daughter, Laura, inherited the Estate in 1895. She had married Charles McLaren (1850-1934), another MP who in 1911 was created Lord Aberconway by Lloyd George for political services. He chose the title “Aberconway”, which is Welsh for “at the mouth of the Conway”, because of the location of the Bodnant Estate on the River Conway.

Charles’ and Laura’s son, Henry McLaren (1879-1953), was also an MP and a successful industrialist before he inherited the title in 1934 to become the 2nd Lord Aberconway. He devoted his energies at Bodnant mainly to the Garden, which is principally his creation – most notably the five great terraces facing Snowdonia. He developed and managed the Garden for about 50 years until his death in 1953, gifting it to the National Trust in 1949. He was also an enthusiastic and skilled shot, and he built two shooting lodges on the Estate, including an unusual one thatched in heather sited high above the Conway Valley.

His son, Charles McLaren (1913-2003), the 3rd Lord Aberconway and another successful industrialist, similarly devoted his considerable energies at Bodnant mainly to the Garden, which he managed, extended and enhanced for another 50 years until his death in 2003.

The Estate is now owned by his younger son, Michael McLaren (b.1958), a practising QC, who with his wife Caroline is closely involved in the management of the Estate. He is also the Manager of Bodnant Garden on behalf of the National Trust.

Henry the, second Lord Aberconway (1879-1953), who was on the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society managed to persuade the National Trust to accept the gardens for preservation:

Henry persuaded the National Trust to accept for preservation gardens on their own merit as distinct from gardens incidentally acquired with houses. He also persuaded Sir Stafford Cripps, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to exempt gifts to charities from Death Duties after one year subsequent to the gift; this reduced liability was later removed altogether. Hidcote was the first garden to be accepted by the National Trust, and Bodnant in 1949 the second, with a generous endowment by Henry. His son Charles Aberconway further increased this endowment over the years. The house was not included in the gift and the family continues to live in it today. *

*From the Bodnant Garden guide book