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Published: October 8th 2012
The Giant's Head, The Lost Gardens of Heligan
Created by Cornish artists, Sue and Pete Hill.The forecast for today was for a fine morning with storms developing in the afternoon. We thought we'd better get out early (for a change) so we could visit the Lost Gardens of Heligan before the rain hit. These are on a property that was held by the same family for more than 400 years. The impressive botanic gardens, covering around 80 acres and containing many rare and exotic plants, were progressively developed from the mid 18th century until the First World War, when the property was taken over by the War Office and used as a convalescent home for officers. Only six of the property's 22 garden staff survived the war and returned to Heligan. As the family could no longer afford to maintain the property, it was rented out between the wars. During WWII it was again taken over by the military, this time as a US base. In the 1970s, the house was converted into flats and sold (without the gardens). Consequently, the gardens were totally neglected and became overgrown and largely forgotten, until they were 'discovered' in 1990 and the (ongoing) restoration effort begun.
As the day remained unexpectedly fine, we decided to chance a short
The Mud Maid, The Lost Gardens of Heligan
Also created by Cornish artists, Sue and Pete Hill. walk out to Dodman Point, which affords excellent views of the south coast. There is also a huge granite cross there, erected in 1896 by Reverend G Martin as a navigational aid for seafarers - good on him!
The weather still holding, we headed for the tiny fishing village of Portloe. We had high hopes of a late lunch here, but all that was on offer was "A Cream Tea" (in Australia, this would be called "A Devonshire Tea"). As we'd already partaken of one of these at Heligan, we decided to just stay hungry!
As the end of the day approached, the weather was
still holding so we were able to have a very pleasant walk around the fishing port of Mevagissey. One of the oldest fishing ports in Cornwall, dating back to the 14th century, the fleet suffered badly with the collapse of the Pilchard fisheries. However, it is still an active fishing port so it has a distinctly 'down to earth' feel. Once it was too dark for sightseeing, we decided to have dinner, which started out promising: There were good views of the port, a sweet waitress, excellent local beers, tasty Calamari entree and
a fine red wine. Sadly, the mains were the worst meals we've ever had served up.
By the way, the storms never did arrive!
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Deb A
non-member comment
Reckon that the veggies in Pic 5 are all Brassicas with the curly leaved ones being green and purple varieties of Kale (B. Oleracea). Nice to see your photos of the Secret Garden - we didn't get there even though it was on the "to do" list. We stayed in Boscastle while in Cornwall.