Park Butte

Bute Park is considered the main urban park of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It covers an area of more than 100 hectares in the former possessions of Cardiff Castle, the ancestral nest of the Marquis of Bute. The park was founded in 1873 by the efforts of the Marquis’s chief gardener, Andrew Pettigrew. Descendants of the Marquis donated the park to Cardiff Council in 1947. Located on the two banks of the Taff River, the park provides its visitors with an extensive recreation area, a rich arboretum and a large number of unusual attractions.

The ruins of the Blackfriars Monastery began to be excavated by another third Marquis of Bute, who tried to restore it. Work is underway to reconstruct this monument. Bute arboretum was created in 1947, and its main feature is a large number of “champion” trees, the largest representatives of its species in the UK.

The Lit Mill, a preserved structure on the shore of a mill lake, used to work near the walls of the castle. Soon it is planned to resume its work to decorate this corner of the park and immerse visitors in the atmosphere of past centuries. The park has many wooden sculptures made from old stumps, as well as metal sculptures and stone monuments.