From the road, the treasures that lie beyond the pillared gate are barely visible. A short distance away lie a series of grottos, follies, dark tunnels and no fewer than four waterfalls.

There’s a walled garden, a ‘jungle’ and an avenue of yew pyramids. For the views, there are lookout points from which to admire wild woodland and, in the distance, the towering peaks of Eryri (Snowdonia), reports North Wales Live.

This is a place that defies convention, created by a man who overcame nature. When Anthony Tavernor first arrived here in 1996, its beauty was hidden under undergrowth nearly 70 years old. Over time, the bushes and thorns were removed, but the name remained: today, Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens is a must-see for Anglesey locals and tourists.

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So much so that Plas Cadnant was voted the country’s favourite public garden last autumn in a competition supported by the National Garden Scheme. It was recently named the third best ‘hidden gem’ in Wales based on TripAdvisor reviews, ahead only of Castell y Bere in Gwynedd and Insole Court in Cardiff.

But perhaps the greatest accolade lies in the number of repeat visitors: once discovered, the hidden gardens continue to exert an attraction. Anthony, a former farmer from Staffordshire, was himself drawn to the 19th-century property when he spotted an advert in a magazine.

After driving to Anglesey, he took just 20 minutes to look around before making an offer. He realised early on that the restoration would be a ‘labour of love’ and even after two decades and a devastating flood, he was still passionate enough to restore it again.

“Visitors think it’s called the Hidden Garden because they can’t find us,” he said. “But it was named that because when I arrived it was almost completely derelict and had remained untouched for decades.”

Beneath the thick canopy of laurel and rhododendron lie walled pleasure gardens dating from the estate’s heyday. Plas Cadnant and its gardens were created in the 19th century by the Price family, local nobles who owned 3,400 acres of land in North Wales.

The house was built in 1803 for John Price, Sheriff of Anglesey and agent to the Marquis of Anglesey, whose seat of Plas Newydd was only four miles away. The five-acre walled garden was added shortly afterwards, with the valley and upper wood gardens following later.

“The site was near Bishop’s Ferry across the Menai Strait,” explained Anthony. “At that time, Menai Bridge was not a town until Telford built its suspension bridge in 1826. There is evidence of settlement at Cadnant since the Middle Ages.”

The property was divided and sold in sections in the early 1900s. When Anthony bought it, he was left with the 200-acre core. The 10-acre gardens had not been touched since the 1940s.

Using old photographs and tattered Ordnance Survey maps, retired architect Anthony Emery reconstructed the history of the estate and identified the paths and bridges of the River Cadnant, which served as a template for the restoration.

Anthony first turned his attention to the outbuildings, converting them into holiday homes to finance the garden renovation. The renovations were painstaking, slow and invariably on a tight budget. It was like peeling back the layers of another world, he said.

After trees and bushes were removed, hidden treasures were revealed, including a 1930s tennis court, riverside stepping stones and an old mill pool and weir. It took him 20 years to discover a huge sloping slab of white quartz that he only knew must exist because it was mentioned in a 1919 book.

“This is not a checkbook garden,” he said. “Not like some places where they spend millions to create a quick garden. I wanted to do it the traditional way, plant small and let things develop naturally.”

A notable feature is the catenary stone wall of Plas Cadnant. It stretches across a valley enclosed by a walled garden and its graceful curve reflects the design of the Menai Suspension Bridge.

It was this wall that bore the brunt of a catastrophic flood on Boxing Day 2015, when a river raged through the walled garden. The force of the River Cadnant bursting its banks and washed away many valuable plants, as well as stone obelisks, platforms and seating.

Anthony described it as a bereavement at the time. Insurance covered much of the repairs and within 18 months the damage was no longer visible. Prince Charles helped out: during his Welsh tour of the country in 2017, he visited the garden and planted a maple tree to replace one lost in the flood.

Although restored by an Englishman, the garden is still quintessentially Welsh. Groups of fruit trees include the Bardsey apple tree and Anglesey pigsnout, and even some of the more exotic plants were grown by local gardeners. Copper planters are a nod to the Parys Mountain mine near Amlwch on the other side of Anglesey.

Anthony began offering tours and then opened his Hidden Gardens to the public. Before a proper tea room was opened, the initial facilities were rudimentary. “Visitors came into the house to use the toilet and into the kitchen to have tea and cake,” he said.

“I love sharing the gardens with the interesting people who come here. Most are tourists and many are repeat visitors who come back every year when they come for their annual holiday. I have put a lot of work into the gardens but it was never my intention to keep them to myself.”

Last year’s rainy summer did affect visitor numbers somewhat and this year they have been slow to pick up after so much rain. But now that the sun is finally coming out, Anthony says things are “going well.”

In fact, Plas Cadnant’s lush landscaped gardens owe their impressive variety of exotic plants to geology and weather. The warming effect of the Gulf Stream allows the estate’s three valleys, sheltered by the Menai Strait, to support flora not normally found at such northern latitudes.

These gardens have a Cornish feel, which is not surprising considering that the previous owners of Plas Cadnant were related to the Tremayne family of Heligan House, famous for the Lost Gardens. Anthony sees the gardens as his heritage and has initiated confidential discussions about their preservation. “When I’m gone, I don’t want all the work I’ve done since 1996 to be undone,” he mused.

Although Anthony has been tending the gardens for nearly thirty years, he still marvels at their unique beauty and mystical aura. He describes his walk up the driveway from the nondescript street as “entering a secret world.”