Cornwall 4 - Truro - Trelissick Gardens /a spring garden /vegetable tagine

---

When we are on holiday we try to see as much as possible. We try to see different things and I had made my list of places to see and things to do. Trelissick Garden was on that list of to do places. In the past I had visited most of the Cornish sights but this one had passed me by. Perhaps when I was younger I did not enjoy going around gardens . Perhaps this has come to me later in life as I enjoy walking quiet paths and looking at plants that I may or may not be able to grow in my own limited patch. Whatever the reason this was going to be a first for me and a good reason to go was that it was National Trust and we would get in free. We had recently rejoined for another year . This time we gained a cheaper price . Good news for being pensioners and even more so good news for having been with the National trust for the last five years meant we saved over £30 on our membership. We have visited many places near to our home and are running out of places locally to see so this garden was a must if we were to feel we had good value for our money.

Trelissick was first recorded as a place in 1275 - known in the cornish language as Lowarth Trelesyk it means Leidics Farm. Looking at it from a welsh perspective I tried to gain some meaning from the Cornish name and failed miserably . I cannot find anything similar to Lowarth in Welsh . Farm is fferm so there is no resemblence even remotely to that . Garden is gardd so again no clues there. I had to give up.

An old chinese proverb says that "The journey is the reward" and sometimes that is true. Cornwall is the land of high hedges which are grown on stone walls so they appear to float above the road. The hedgerows are full of early daffodils and the gardens full of spring flowers. The new builds appearing everywhere particularly just up the road from us are quite delightful seaside cottages all painted in pretty pastel colours . Some built by the Duchy of Cornwall on Duchy land are pretty Georgian style houses and I would love to live in one. The sea is not far from us. It laps on pristine beaches with almost white sand. When the wind blows which it does often this week the sea foams and rages and throws itself upon the shoreline. The journey is indeed a reward .

Our first stop at Trelissick is the cafe , a bright little place with loads of seating. Being a weekend it is heaving though. The National Trust have not fully opened their sites. The gardens have been open all year as there is always something to see . Their houses are gradually being woken from their winter slumbers. Trelissick has a house and this has recently opened to the public. Dinner was a salad for the driver and for the co-pilot a really wonderful tasty vegetable tagine. It was one the best meals I have had for some while .

After dinner we left the cafe and walked through the gardens doing what we do best - avoiding the crowds. If a group looked as if it were going our way we went the other way. If folks followed us we deviated to another path. Trelissick was big enough to do that . Armed with our map we passed first the pretty gothic inspired Victorian tower now converted to a holiday let. Another way the Trust make some money.

The garden has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1955 when it was donated by Ida Copeland following the death of her son Geoffrey. The Copelands planted many of the flowers including rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias which are now such a feature of the garden. The family were owners of the Spode China factory in Stoke on Trent and many of the flowers grown at Trelissick were used as models for those painted on ware produced at the works. Examples were all around the cabinets in the main house . The garden is full of rare shrubs many of which I did not recognise but they were all set within a large park with woodland walks and views over the River Fal Estuary . It was rather a shame though that the weather was unkind to us and took to being showery as the afternoon progressed . We pondered on visitors and thought that Cornwall had a lot to offer for the overseas visitor . Shame about the damn weather . It was enough to put anyone off.

Quite literally at the water's edge, you can catch the ferry from Truro, Falmouth or the Roseland Peninsula to land at this waterside garden and exotic wonderland. I wish we had in a way. We need to see Truro and this would be a perfect way to see both the small city with its cathedral and shops and this wonderful garden of 40-acre. Beyond the walks are a further 375 acres of parkland and woodland and from the house you can see for miles and miles up the river. It feels as if the open sea is just round the corner. The house itself was ordinary with its white painted portico similar to many other houses of the same style built around Britain. There was nothing special about the exterior and inside it was sparsely furnished. it seemed the contents was sold at Bonhams and the National Trust had to buy back what it could. Not having a bottomless pit of a bank balance only a small proportion of the furniture was brought back to the house and only the downstairs open to the public. What you do have here though is not a fantastic house but a house with a fantastic view.

Staggering views is an understatement . Sweeping lawns to the river edge . The lush terrain serve-up some of the best views in Cornwall. As we walked round the grounds we walked under beech, oak and conifers, tiny daffodils nestling under the canopy, hidden gems of snowdrops, the camellias just starting to show some colour . Red rhodedendrons just starting to colour up, in the next few weeks there will be an explosion of colour. As we walked along Tregothnan View we could see the King Harry Ferry bringing foot passengers and cars across the river saving them a considerable drive around the coast line. We walked to the summer house built to honour gardener Jack Lilley - the end of the trail overlooking a fabulous view. Back to Carcaddon a garden within walls and open parkland . Magnolias dripping with pink and white blooms . The dying blooms dropping as the wind caught them. The floor covered as if with confetti.

I would love to be here in a few weeks when the garden explodes . Today we just saw a fleeting glimpse of its true beauty. But that said I wouldnt have missed it for the world . I have ticked off another fantastic garden.

Tomorrow something different - the rain forests of Central America. Now that is different to an English country garden.

---