In the mid 18^th century a Cornish family the Tremayne’s created a botanical garden in Cornwall.  The Gardenesque style garden featured areas and design styles that differed according to the various areas of the garden.  The gardens of Heligan are the most popular botanical gardens in the United Kingdom.  The gardens were neglected after the first World War and it wasn’t until the 1990′s that restoration was done to rebuild the gardens.  Heligan Gardens completely surround the Heligan House and the private gardens of the estate.  It is believed that “ordinary” people, gardeners, worked to make these great and magnificent gardens before leaving for the First World War.  Records indicate that at one time there were twenty-two gardeners at Heligan Gardens.  On your Cornwall holidays you might want to stay in one of the holiday cottages in Cornwall and visit the Heligan Gardens.

With over two hundred acres for exploration, Heligan offers many different design styles and different characters for your enjoyment.

• Victorian Productive Gardens - used in the past to supply Heligan House with its daily fruits and vegetables, cooking herb and plants and flowers.  Today this area still produces an abundance of fruits, vegetables and large quantities of Victorian annual flowers.  Included in the Victorian Productive Garden are walled gardens for growing fruit houses, frames and pits to grow specific and exotic fruits.  The combination of the kitchen garden and the walled gardens are viewed as a “living museum” of nineteenth century horticulture.
• Romantic Pleasure Grounds – Gardens within a garden, over thirty acres in size, includes the Italian Garden, New Zealand, Crystal Grotto and wishing well, Northern Summerhouse Garden, Fern Ravine, Sundial Garden and Flora’s Green
• Jungle - lush sub-tropical plants from days gone by, a twenty-two acre steep-sided valley garden with lust vegetation.  Four ponds dot this landscape with a large collection of ferns, palms and bamboo thickets among the many exotic shrubs and trees.
• Lost Valley - one of the most recent areas opened to the public this area of the Heligan Gardens is rich in native flora and fauna, water meadows and restored lakes and ponds.  There are many rides in this garden along with mature trees, wild flowers and ferns.  You will view lakes and ponds and might site many species of fish skimming the surface of the water or dragonflies and damselflies of vibrant color.
• Wildlife Project and Horsemoor Hide – Allows visitors to Haligan Gardens to view on live and recorded media the intimate dramas of the natural world.  This method using innovative technology affords this up close and personal experience to be captured without disturbing the creatures being viewed.  The gardens and the estate are managed in a way that encourages wildlife growth and survival.  There is also a ‘x-ray studio’ explores the intricate beauty of nature not normally

available to the naked eye.

On your next Cornwall Holiday plan to stay in one of the many holiday cottages available for rental and to visit the magnificent 200 acre Heligan Gardens in Cornwall.