Gelli Aur country park

Golden Grove or Gelli Aur is a closed country park with 60 acres (240,000 m²) of wooded parkland surrounding a mansion. It was once the home of the Vaughan and Cawdor families. The park featured a number of nature trails, a 20-acre (81,000 m²) deer park, a 10-acre (40,000 m²) Aboretum planted in the 1860s, the tearooms and the mansion. The park was managed 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 is not open to the public.

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. The house was empty for a long period.

In 2011, the Welsh Government transferred ownership of the park to a trust to enable public access to remain to the park. The park was then closed for over a year until re-opening in July 2013. Despite these plans, large areas of the park, including the deer park trail and arboretum, were closed by the new owners. The café was also eventually closed.

In 2015, as part of a ten year plan to restore the destination, funding of close to £1 million was provided to the trust by 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. There were also plans to restore and develop the house and courtyards into locations for arts and cultural activities. During this restoration period, it was promised that the park would be open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. In September 2016, the park was closed often and signs pointing to the closed park were removed or painted over by Carmarthensire Country Council in response to complaints from members of the public who followed the signs only to find the park closed.