A visit to The Lost Gardens of Heligan
A trip to Heligan’s Lost Gardens is a real delight for all the family. Whether you’re a horticultural connoisseur or youngster enchanted by the hidey holes in trees and maze of pathways, the gardens (and tearooms!) will have seasonal treats in store.
Our first trip to The Lost Gardens of Heligan was in Springtime when we had toddlers and older children to entertain. We had a fantastic time. The weather was damp and it was a bit cold but it didn’t stop us. In fact it made curling up in the tearooms afterwards next to the wood burning stove with some tasty fresh home cooked quiche all the more enjoyable.
Heligan’s gardens are beautiful and enchanting at any time of year. Since our first Spring visit, we’ve been back many times in all seasons discovering wonderful and colourful plants and wildlife each time. Scented pathways change with the seasons and there’s usually a new sculpture or feature to explore. The Mud Maid, Giant’s Head and Grey Lady are intriguing garden sculptures and discovering their whereabouts is a great game. Serious gardeners will no doubt recognise the various floral species and relish in the unusual varieties and planting formations but for us it’s a fantastic way to learn a little more about trees and nature and hopefully pass on that enjoyment to our children.
We learnt a lot! There’s not many places where you can wind through jungle boardwalks in this country whilst exotic plants tower over you and the Victorian vegetable garden certainly gave us food for thought. The bird hide is also a great place to while away an hour or so. Informative and interactive, we were able to learn about birds, insects and wildlife whilst watching them in their natural habitats. The Heligan team work hard at conserving the landscape as naturally as possible and we found many ideas can be inspiration for the way we live.
It’s worth taking a whole day to explore Heligan and it won’t matter if it’s mid summer or mid winter, they’ll be plenty to explore. Or do as we do and keep going back to unearth new treasures!
Open all year save for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, The Lost Gardens of Heligan are situated on the south coast of Cornwall at Pentewan in between St Austell and Mevagissy.