Laura McLaren was brought up at Bodnant and inherited the garden and estate in 1895. ‘A  force of nature, she was not just an acclaimed gardener at Bodnant but a formidable businesswoman, political campaigner and pivotal character in the fight for Women’s Suffrage. She was almost certainly inspired into activism by her mother, Agnes, an early campaigner. Agnes was one of the key speakers at the 1868 meeting of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage, a starting point for the campaign for women’s suffrage in Britain. Laura, then a teenager, was in the audience. Mother and daughter both campaigned for women’s rights and suffrage, as did Laura’s mother-in-law, Priscilla Bright McLaren. Laura passed on the baton to her two suffragist daughters Florence and Elsie.’