Lost Gardens of Heligan

The Lost Gardens of Heligan sit a few miles inland from Mevagissey on the south Cornwall coast. We spent the day there in early June – sun coming out between showers – and it was an excellent day out.

The story is unusual. The Heligan gardens were among the most ambitious country estate gardens in 19th-century England, the home gardens of the Tremayne family, with around 22 staff working them. When the First World War broke out the gardeners enlisted, and many did not come back. The gardens were locked up and slowly disappeared under brambles and ivy for the better part of seventy years. Tim Smit (later the founder of the Eden Project) and a group of horticulturalists rediscovered them in 1990. They have been steadily reinstated since, as a memorial to the men who once worked there. Their names are on plaques throughout the gardens, which is a very poignant and moving touch.

The gardens themselves are vast. The Kitchen Garden and the walled vegetable gardens are still productive. The Northern Gardens cover the original landscape designs with sweeping lawns, ornamental ponds, and the famous Sleeping Giant sculpture. Below the house the Jungle is a steep subtropical valley with banana plants, tree ferns, palms, and a rope bridge that runs above it all.

Dogs are welcome on leads throughout. The terrain ranges from level paths through the formal gardens to steeper, sometimes muddy descents through the jungle valley. The ladies coped well, but I would think twice about taking a tiny puppy or a very arthritic older dog outside the formal gardens – the terrain can be a bit steep and slippery.

The newest addition is the Leaping Fox sculpture by the Cornish artists Sue and Pete Hill with Hal Silvester. She is huge – the size of a small horse – and remarkable in person. She is carved from Cornish red rhododendron wood that came down at Heligan during Storm Darragh in December 2024. As the wood ages it will fade to a silver tone, which is the artists’ nod to what happens to a vixen’s fur after she has been a mother.

There is a tearoom inside and an outdoor wood-fired food spot near the entrance. Both are dog-friendly outside. The gift shop and plant centre are right by the main entrance.

The ladies clocked up about 2.4 miles and around 1,400 steps on their Pawfits. Heligan is the kind of place you walk all day without really noticing. If you have a Cornwall trip planned and have not been, it is well worth a day.

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