The lost valley is discovered. (Lost Gardens of Heligan)

Name: Karael

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Product:	Lost Gardens of Heligan
Date:	10/02/01 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good day out seeing history re-created

Disadvantages: Can't think of any.

Judging by another opinion, I have just read, not everyone appreciates the Lost Gardens for what they are. But I guess this is what makes life interesting - we all see things differently.

I think the gardens are fascinating and so must many others as this is now the most visited gardens in England.

It's a story of discovery and of recreating something from our past. It's bringing history to life if you like. How can this not be of interest?

The gardens were created towards the late 1700's and early 1800's by the Tremayne family. The actual manor house (now apartments) dates back to the 1600's. During the first world war the area was taken over by the War Department and was used as a convalescence home - for officers of course! In the 1940's the American army was billetted here as they rehearsed for the Normandy landings on nearby Pentewan beach.

The gardens became neglected and sort of fell into a slumber, everything was frozen in a kind of time warp. All of the garden buildings simply remained and deteriorated with time. Nothing was untouched a living history awaiting to be awoken.

In 1990 the garden was literally rediscovered and in 1991 work began to restore the gardens to their former glory - exactly as they had been created all of those many years ago. This was a massive undertaking but visitors can now visit these Lost Gardens and see exactly how gardens were designed and looked in the late 1700's.

Heligan is set between St.Austell and Mevagissey in Cornwall and is open all of the year round. There is wheelchair access to a lot of the paths. Dogs are allowed, but on short leads. For up to date information there is a website :www.heligan.com

The gardens are I suppose divided into two distinct areas, the Northern Gardens and the Jungle & Lost Valley. It needs at least half a day to visit everything properly. Needless to say there are toilets, tea room, icecr
eam and plenty of woodland seating if you prefer to take your own picnic.

The Norther Garden has such sections as:

The Vegetable Garden, where Victorian varieties and traditional methods are used. The benchmark date that has been recreated is 1860.

The Northern Summerhouse which is the oldest building in the garden, shown on the plans of 1770.

The Crystal Grotto. In the roof are set hidden crystals.

The Melon Garden which in 1992 still had 34 mature self-set trees. Nature had kept the plants breeding waiting to be seen.

There is also The Pineapple Pit, The Melon House, The Flower Garden, The Sundial Garden and much more.

The Jungle & The Lost Valley can be seen and explored after a Woodland Walk. The jungle contains the largest selection of tree ferns in Britain with dozens of varities of bamboo. Fascinating to see. The Lost Valley is now also returning to it's former state and the scars are gradually healing.

I'm sure I probably haven't given the gardens the full credit that they deserve so I'll quote the words written by George Plumptre in The Times: "Heligan is the garden restoration of the century and the place to know about". You now know about it, so go visit if you can.

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