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Lost Gardens Of Heligan, Cornwall

Part of the productive gardens at Heligan

In 1987 Tim Smit, a rather frustrated record producer moved to Cornwall with his wife. His intention was to build a recording studio in a farmhouse. Here he planned to record television and film music, and avoid travelling on aeroplanes with recording artists. A local builder, John Nelson, came to renovate the farmhouse and they became friends. John invited Tim to come and have a look at an old estate which had recently been purchased by a new owner. Tim went along, and was entranced by the ruin of the huge Victorian estate garden. Heligan offered the chance to recreate an entire working Victorian garden. As often happens neglect had saved what success and development take away. In other historic gardens the productive areas had disappeared, judged not to be attractive to modern visitors. At Heligan, saved by many decades of decay they could be recreated.

But then the question was asked, why do that? Why recreate the past, when in many ways the past as represented at Heligan was not something you would want to recreate. Walking through the productive gardens I read of the Victorian habit of using arsenic on their plants, not something that anybody would want to do now. And as Tim Smit says in his book Eden, why grow inedible Victorian peas when you can grow tasty modern varieties? Any gardener wants to improve their garden, and using outdated methods for authentic reasons goes against the spirit of gardening in any age. The point is there is no "natural" way of doing things which the modern age has lost. This seemingly obvious point often goes unappreciated. Tim Smit describes walking into Heligan's ruined gardens and seeing an old grape vine growing out of a shattered glass house. Nearby a pair of vine scissors still hung on a nail on a wall. The grape vine represents one of the earliest partnerships between man and nature. Grape vines require pruning to give of their best, and the pruning knife became almost a mythic symbol. The wine god Dionysus was often portrayed holding such a knife. The vine, and all the mythology surrounding it, suggests that in some circumstances nature actually does better with man, grows more strongly because of the pruning and control represented by those scissors Tim Smit saw hanging on a ruined wall. In the early seventeenth century Shakespeare wrote of "pole clipt vineyards" in The Tempest, and those vineyards represented the good side of man's relationship with nature, a beneficial order which gardeners and cultivators imposed. Nature and its cultivation by man are intertwined so that cultivation is itself a "natural" process. Going back to the question why recreate the past, we now might see an answer. Exploring the history of gardening shows that man's relationship with nature need not be negative. Nature does not sit on one side of the equation all organic and politically correct, while man sits on the other with his crop sprays and factories. It's more complicated than that. There are things that have improved in the way we treat nature, and there are things that we have forgotten. But the point is the relationship is a busy dynamic one. In the end the new Heligan became a garden that tried to recreate the good things about gardening from the past, and combine them with what has been learnt since.

 

The Jungle Garden

Work started on recreating Heligan garden on Boxing Day 1992, and by 1994 the productive gardens had been restored making the estate self supporting. As well as recreating the old Victorian productive gardens, the pleasure grounds were reconstructed. In many ways these gardens demonstrate the coming of the modern world rather than a world that had passed. Using travel possibilities opened up by new technology, Victorian plant hunters had travelled the globe, bringing all kinds of exotic plants back to Britain. Many of these plants were grown in gardens enjoying the warm climate of Devon and Cornwall. Plant hunter and director of Kew Gardens, Joseph Hooker, brought back rhododendron seeds from his expeditions to the Himilayas, and gave some of his stock to Heligan's Tremayne family, who were friends of his. Today while rhododendrons suffer in their own countries due to clearance and fuel cropping, "the gardens of Cornwall contain the widest range of Himalayan species rhododendron outside their countries of origin" (Eden P28). This suggests that Heligan is something of a Noah's Ark for diversity being lost to the standardisation of modern farming methods. On the other hand the whole point of the work at Heligan was to rescue a garden overrun by nature. It seems strange to say it, but the experience of a garden like Heligan suggests that it might be a mistake to believe that nature left to itself will always protect diversity, the great watch word of the conservation movement. Before restoration the Heligan handbook describes the gardens as being choked by laurel, which is virtually indestructible and grows anywhere. After restoration we have an environment in which many different species of plant are given a chance. Go to the ancient yew forest at Kingley Vale in Sussex and see how densely packed trees shut out light and leave the ground beaneath them virtually barren of other plants. Go to Lydford Gorge in Devon and see what seems to be a primeval area of nature, which is actually managed by removing some of the natural tree cover to allow in more light and encourage plant diversity. This is a complicated topic, but it could be said that primarily the effort at Heilgan was about controlling the depredations of nature, not man. It all comes down in the end to whether you view man's role in nature as ever helpful. Heligan would suggest an optimistic view that in certain circumstances, it is.

Then as a final twist in the story, it was while working at Heligan that Tim Smit saw a quarry pit on the estate and began thinking about what would become the Eden Project. While great effort at Heligan went into controlling nature, the Eden Project was to demonstrate what could be done in controlling what man had done to a natural environment. The Eden Project would be a massive undertaking designed to turn a barren worked out clay pit near St Austell and turn it into a garden. The Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan are two sides of the same coin, man's control of nature, and controlling man's use of it.

Heligan has hundreds of acres to explore, from productive gardens growing over 200 varieties of mostly heritage fruit, to Victorian pleasure grounds, to a subtropical jungle. On the wider estate you can explore the Lost Valley, sustainably managed woodland, and traditional hay fields. The estate is actively managed to encourage wildlife. As well as viewing wildlife on the estate, there is live and recorded video footage to watch. The practice of charcoal burning, once used to produce fuel necessary to smelt iron, is demonstrated in the Lost Valley. The Woodland Walk is also well worth a look with its striking woodland sculptures. There is a programme of seasonal events including tours to look at spring wildlife, harvest celebrations, outdoor theatre in summer, and candle-lit tours at Christmas.

 

There is a tearoom shop and plant centre. The kitchens use Heligan and locally sourced meat and vegetables.

 

 

 

Opening Times: Open daily except 24th and 25th December.

April to September, open daily 10am - 6pm, last entry 4.30pm

October to March, open daily, 10m - 5pm, last entry 3.30pm

Address: The Lost Gardens Of Heligan, Pentewan, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 6EN

Directions: Click here for an interactive map centred on Lost Gardens Of Heligan

Access: There are dedicated parking bays near the entrance, with adapted toilet facilities at the reception area, and within the gardens at the Steward's House. Shop, tearoom and plants sales area are all suitable for wheelchair users. Manual wheelchairs are available to borrow on a first come first served basis. Ask for advice before exploring in a wheechair - some areas, particularly in the Jungle and Wider Estate are not accessible. An armchair tour is available in the conservatory opposite the plant sales area. Information is available in large print and braille.

Contact:

telephone: 01726 845100

fax: 01726 845101

web site: http://www.heligan.com/

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