Welcome
Welcome to the gardens at Ty Canol.
Ty Canol is a relatively common name for a house in Wales and means Centre or Middle House. This particular house is situated between the villages of Peniel and Rhydardaeau some 4 miles north of the centre of the market town of Carmarthen. From February 1991 this became the home of Viv and Mike Simmons and our then 5 children but was followed within the month by our second son and sixth and final child.
The gardens began their development on Boxing Day of 1991 (Viv and I had Christmas Day off). We had picked up some 1,000 ash seedlings and various other trees numbering around 1,600 in total.
Throughout this site, all photographs and articles relate to the gardens. Photographs have all been taken over the years. As we build the information in the site, we will take the opportunity to date articles and photos from our collection as they relate to the creation of the gardens since 1991. Thus over time, the historical time line will be developed although gulag visitors will see the development in a retrospective manner. Additionally, we will also continue to add recent and current information.
2 Responses to “Welcome”
Leave a Reply
Set in the Carmarthenshire countryside 4 miles north of the centre of Carmarthen at an altitude of 600 feet. Some exposure to the westerly winds blowing from the Preseli mountains but the tree planting in 1991 manage to create a peaceful and still haven in the lower parts of the garden.
All the photographs in this site have been taken in the garden or from the garden (such as some of the photos of birds) 
Mike Simmons 
Loading...
The photos of the garden are beautiful but I’m particularly enjoying the trip down memory lane that is the story of how you created this wonderland. So much of it I don’t even remember! Looking forward to reading (and seeing) more.
P.S. Love the favicon. 😉
Glad you like. Photos are the easy bit, developing the historical narrative is more difficult, largely because I can’t find the illustrative photos! I appear to have digital images from around 2005; must have been when I got that first digital camera. Thus, loads of flower photos (literally thousands to choose from) but not many of the construction. I think they are either available as printed photos or worse still, many may be on colour slides. That’s fine except I then need a slide scanner to digitise the image. I know I took a series of photos to illustrate how we built the circular pond. I’ve written the article but I need to find those elusive photos.