Pencarrow House

Washaway Bodmin Cornwall PL30 3AG Tel: 01208 841369

Pencarrow House winner of National Heritage Award Best Historic House 1997-1998 Historic Georgian House and grade 11 listed gardens, still owned and lived in by the family, superb collection of pictures furniture, porcelain and some antique dolls. Sir Arthur Sullivan stayed here in 1822 and composed the music to Iolanthe. Marked walks through beautiful woodland gardens, past Victorian rockery, Italian garden, lake and ice house, 50 acres in all. Imaginative children's play area with family pets and Cornish slate Wendy house where peacocks strut and display. Dogs and children are very welcome free in the grounds. Craft Centre picnic area, plant shop, self pick soft fruit. Facilities for the disabled.

Location: Four miles north-west of Bodmin, signed off the A389 and B3226 at Washaway.

Opening Times: House, tea rooms and craft centre open Sunday to Thursday inclusive from Easter to October. Gardens open daily during the season.

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Lanhydrock House

Lanhydrock Bodmin PL30 5AD

Lanhydrock House is one of Cornwall's grandest houses set in a glorious landscape of gardens, parkland and woods overlooking the valley of the River Fowey.

The house dates back to the 17th Century including the magnificent Long Gallery with its extraordinary plaster ceiling depicting scenes from the Old Testament. Today a total of forty nine rooms are on view and together they reflect the entire spectrum of life in a rich and splendid Victorian household. You will want to allow plenty of time just for the tour of the house. Surrounding the house on all sides are gardens ranging from formal Victorian parterres to the wooded higher garden where magnificent displays of magnolias, rhododendrons and camellias climb the hillside to merge with the oak and beech woods all around. The park and woods, with a network of footpaths running through them provide a variety of walks and a leaflet is available to help you make the most of the estate which extends to nearly 1,000 acres.

Location 5 miles east of Bodmin off A38. Coffee s hop/ restaurant, shop and plant sales, programme of events. Opening hours: Park and House open from 1st April - 1st November daily except Monday when the House only is closed. Disabled facilities Tel:

Property Manager 01208 73320
Restaurant 0120874331
Shop 0120874099

 

Marwood Hill, 4 miles north of Barnstaple. Twenty acre garden with 3 lakes, camellias under glass, rare shrubs, national collection of astelibe, iris, ensata, and tulbaghia.  Open all year, daily dawn to dusk.  Admission £2.00.  Tel:   (+44) (0)1271 342528

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Rosemoor Garden

Great Torrington, North Devon. Tel: (+44) (0) 1805) 624067

A stunning new National Garden often seen on TV, situated in the breathtaking setting of the Torridge Valley just south of Great Torrington. Rosemoor is designed to delight and inspire all gardeners from novice to professional. Its 40 acres contain a wide range of features: mature planting in Lady Anne's magnificent garden and arboretum around Rosemoor House; a winding rocky gorge with bamboos and ferns along the stream towards the lake; and the more formal area which contains one of the longest herbaceous borders in the country and a wide range of individual gardens; herbs, roses (2000 plants, 200 varieties), a potager cottage, colour theme, foliage and winter. There is also a very popular fruit and vegetable garden. Exciting trails for children, a picnic area and an award winning visitor centre with licensed restaurant, shop and plant centre. Gardens open all year, visitor centre open 2 Jan - 24 Dec 10 - 6 (Oct - Mar closes at 5). Admission charge but free to RHS members.

 

Docton Mill and Gardens Tel: (+44) (0) 1237) 441369. Follow the tourist board flower sign from Hartland to Spekes Valley. A garden for all seasons (depicted on BBC in Spring, Summer and Autumn) with working water mill dated 1249, situated in one of Devon's outstanding beauty spots where garden blends with natural landscape. Eight acres of sheltered wooded valley with millpond, leats, trout stream crossed by footbridges and smaller streams. Cream teas and sandwiches. Plant sales. Open daily 1 Mar - 31 Oct including BHs 10 - 5. Admission charge.

 

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Heligan Pentewan Nr. Mevagissey Cornwall Tel: 01726 844157

"The Gardens that time forgot"
The Lost Gardens of Heligan is the largest garden restoration in Europe, and has now become one of the fastest growing visitor attractions in the West.

The gardens are situated in close proximity to the picturesque fishing village of Mevagissey, and are regarded as a monument to three generations of the Tremayne family. Covering 57 acres and a further 100 acres of ornamental woodland, there is an impressive range of plant breeds and features, including, an Italian garden, a crystal grotto, summerhouses and the Flora Green Lawn surrounded by giant rhododendrons.
Originally dating back to 1780, the gardens fell 'asleep' throughout the two World Wars when little time was allowed for the pleasures of gardening. In 1991, a restoration team ploughed through the mountains of bramble and creeping ivy to discover the forgotten orchid houses, vineries, peach houses and even a pineapple pit. The range of horticultural buildings also discovered, allowed the story of the 19th Century gardening to be exposed.

The gardens have now been remodeled in a Victorian tradition with special emphasis on the walled kitchen garden, which has now become the only working 19th Century garden in Britain, producing peaches, melons and even pineapples.
A visit to Heligan could take 2 hours or more, and still offer new and exciting features and plants each time it is visited. There is also the chance for visitors to purchase some of the plants seen within the gardens at the plant sales area, to act as a souvenir of your visit.

Directions
From St Austell, follow the B3273 towards Mevagissey. The Gardens will be signposted from this road, just past Pentewan.

Opening Times
The Gardens are open daily between 10am and 4.30pm throughout the year.

Parking
There is ample free parking on site.

Features
There is a tea room and toilets area. A plant sales area and a large undercover seating area is available.
Large sections of the garden are suitable for the disabled.
Stout footwear is recommended for wet weather days.
Dogs on leads are welcome.

 

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