Llanerchaeron

Llanerchaeron
Llanayron House
Type	House
Location	Aberaeron, Ceredigion
Coordinates	52°13′06″N 4°13′29″W / 52.21833°N 4.22472°W / 52.21833; -4.22472Coordinates: 52°13′06″N 4°13′29″W / 52.21833°N 4.22472°W / 52.21833; -4.22472
Built	1790s
Architect	John Nash
Architectural style(s)	Regency villa
Owner	National Trust
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name: Llanerchaeron (previously listed as Llanaeron House)
Designated	1964
Reference no.	10715
Location of Llanerchaeron in Wales

Llanerchaeron,  pronunciation  known as "Llanayron House" to its nineteenth-century occupants, is a grade I listed mansion on the River Aeron, designed and built in 1795 by John Nash for Major (later Colonel) William Lewis as a model, self-sufficient farm complex located near Ciliau Aeron, some 2½ miles south-east of Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales. There is evidence that the house replaced an earlier mansion. A later owner, William Lewes was the husband of Colonel Lewis's inheriting daughter.

The estate is now in the care of the National Trust. The neighbouring parish church of St Non—also redesigned by Nash—has registers of baptisms and burials dating from 1730 and marriages from 1754.

Much of the historical value derives from the indifference shown by past owners to the farm and outbuildings, which were allowed to remain unimproved and generally untouched with no attempt to demolish or renovate them. As a result it is easy to see and infer exactly where and how essential tasks were performed, often aided by advanced technology, including electricity generated by a water-wheel.

The service facilities include a large laundry and linen-care room, spaces for brewing, butter and cheese making, preparation and salting or smoking of meat and fish, preservation of fruits and vegetables and a full range of crafts. The estate employed carpenters and a full-time stonemason who designed and built whole buildings as well as overseeing the construction of walls, drying platforms and other farm requisites.

Llanerchaeron's walled gardens are home to dozens of veteran fruit trees, some 200 years old, which are part of the working farm's ongoing organic production. These trees are also important hosts for all kinds of insects, mosses and lichens and, coupled with the traditional vegetable and herbaceous flower beds, they are a significant wildlife habitat.