Report on Visit to Pencarrow 7th OctoberOn a beautiful Autumn day 7 of us met up at Pencarrow House and a decision was made to have a tour of the house as well as the gardens. The house is Grade II listed with 500 year’s of history and is still occupied by the same family that settled there in the 1500’s.
William Molesworth the 8th Baronet with the nickname ‘Our William’ was known as a bit of a radical and was famously sent down from Trinity College, Cambridge for challenging a tutor to a duel believing he had insulted one of his friends. The duel did take place but neither party were injured.
Lady Molesworth-St Aubyn lived at Pencarrow for 4 decades until her death in 2023 and is greatly missed for her kindness, friendships and a wicked sense of humour.
After the very interesting and informative tour of the house we had our lunch break some of us opting to eat at the cafe where we sampled delicious food, whilst other’s enjoyed their picnic sitting outside in the sunshine.
William the 8th Baronet created the mile long drive to the house that runs through an early English encampment and ancient woodlands. There was extensive planting including specimen trees from the America’s, one of which is the Monkey Puzzle Tree. He designed the Italian garden with the quatrefoil fountain and sunken flower beds, and also constructed the first Victorian rockery in England with the rocks being brought down from Bodmin moor. The Grotto and glasshouses with the latest heating system were also William’s idea. At one time there were over 30 gardener’s working on the estate. Today there are 2 full time gardener’s and several volunteer’s.
Although the sunken gardens may have gone the gardens around the house were pristine and looked beautiful in the sunshine. We wandered up past the Grotto and the rock garden making our way up to the lake which has a large lily pad area. One lonely Moorhen was spotted but no ducks.
Some of the trees are beginning to show their autumn colours, but there were still a few flowering shrubs around. The Quince bushes next to the house were laden with fruit as seems to be the case for many fruit bearing trees, shrubs and acorns this year!Report on Trebah and Glendurgan Gardens Visit 3 September 2025This month’s garden visit saw 5 members who braved the elements to visit Trebah and Glendurgan gardens. Despite the warning for heavy rain and strong gusts of wind, on arrival the sky cleared and the sun came out for us.
We set off for the walk down the garden valley to the Helford river beach passing ‘Alice’s Seat’ constructed of support poles with a thatched roof. There are some speciality trees including the rare Tepa which is over 100 years old, Japanese Maple and many Chusan Palms and Soft Tree Ferns.
The Gunnera are enormous and look quite spectacular. Apparently you have to look out for fairies amongst them!
You cannot fail to be impressed by the Hydrangea valley. Although our hot summer has brought about an early change in colour to the flower heads, the recent rains have encouraged new blooms and have reinvigorated the bushes.
Crossing over the pretty bridge you get a birds eye view over the Mallard lake down towards the river. No Mallard’s were seen but several large Koi carp were spotted in the lake.
Having arrived at the beach and taken in the view we made our way back up the valley passing the water garden and some extremely tall bamboo.
After a visit it to the shop and a look at the plants for sale we made our way to Glendurgan for our lunch.After a very enjoyable lunch at we set off to wander down through the more natural looking garden at Glendurgan. The Century plants (also know. As American Aloe) were quite impressive by their size. Sadly we had missed the areas of wildflower meadows as they had been recently harvested.
Walking down the valley towards Durgan we passed tree ferns and large leafed banana plants.
At the heart of the garden is the ancient Cherry Laurel maze which has been in situ for nearly 200 years. However, for various reasons we gave the maze a miss on this visit and having a walk around the hamlet of Durgan and the rivers edge we made our way back to the top of the valley. After an enjoyable day we made our way home.Report on visit to Fan Cottage, Lerryn on Sunday 17th August 2025
This month’s garden visit was to a NGS garden, Fan Cottage, Piggy Lane, Lerryn, a one acre garden in a stunning setting with views over the river Lerryn.
It was a beautiful sunny day and there was much to interest visitors, including a very productive vegetable garden, fruit & apple trees, shrubberies & borders, wild life pond and a fascinating Bonsai display.
Report on Visit to Lanjeth Nursery and Water Gardens. 15th July 2025.
On a slightly cooler and blustery day 13 members of the Garden Visits Group met at Lanjeth. We were welcomed by two of the four Partners there, Dave and Steve and Steve then gave us an extremely interesting talk about themselves, the start of their project, where they are now and their hopes and aspirations for the future.
Steve then took us on a guided tour around the gardens where they have already made an impressive impact on what, 3 years ago, was a completely overgrown 13.5 acre site of virtually waste ground hiding some 130 ponds, now with many up and running projects and many more in progress. They have registered as a CIC (Community Interest Company) which they hope will allow them to apply for grants and funding to spend on projects that will benefit the community and allow free and open access to all.
Steve proudly showed us the huge nursery greenhouses they have virtually rebuilt, their forest school area, several of the ponds they have uncovered – currently full of beautiful water lilies, their Christmas Tree hire nursery and many quiet and peaceful areas with seating where people of all abilities can just to sit and enjoy nature, both flora and fauna. There are also are a couple of areas which have been set up for sessions of a more holistic and wellbeing nature.
We returned to the café they have built and enjoyed a light lunch and were then free to wander the gardens some more if we wanted to and visit the nursery to buy plants.
A very enjoyable and quite different garden visit, which was of great interest to all of us.
Report on visits to Roseland House, Chacewater and Cornish Lavender, Nr Perranporth, on 17th June.
Our garden visits this month were to two venues in glorious sunshine. Thirteen members enjoyed starting at Roseland House, Chacewater owned by Charlie & Liz Pridham since 1983. They began working on the garden renovations in 1984 and since then only two specimen trees and a few fruit trees remain from the original garden.
Major works were carried out to extend the height of the boundary wall by 3’ partly for safety reasons having a young daughter on a pedal bike and also to give the property more privacy. We split into two groups and were given a tour by both Charlie and Liz around the garden answering our questions on the various plants and giving us information as to where in the world they originated from. The garden now contains 120 National collection of clematis, 100 varieties of climbing rose and 50 specimens of honeysuckle weaving through each other plus an abundance of other plantings to give a cascading effect of colour and scents. A real feast for the eyes. The Victorian conservatory houses the largest honeysuckle flower that many of us had ever seen with a most heavenly scent. There are two ponds with white water lilies coming into bloom. The greenhouse and polytunnel house a specialist climbing plant nursery where several members made purchases with very welcome advice from Charlie for successful planting. Liz provided us with a very welcome tea/coffee and tasty homemade cakes.
On leaving the garden we strolled up to the Millenium Green to eat our picnics and enjoy the sunshine before leaving Chacewater to go to our next venue.
Although we arrived early at Cornish Lavender, Nr Perranporth we were given a very warm welcome and invited to have a wander in the lavender field. However, our host Tina arrived and we were all soon seated to listen to an introductory talk as to how ‘Cornish Lavender’ came about.
Tina took a massaging course to find common ground and deepen her relationship with her Mother who was a massage therapist, aromatherapist and reiki practitioner. On the course Tina learnt about the therapeutic, healing and relaxing qualities of essential lavender oils.
The family moved into the farm in 2015 and In 2017 the land was tested to see if it was suitable for growing lavender, which it proved to be. In 2019 three varieties, Maillette, Grissom and Folgate, were planted, self propagating from this original rootstock to develop more plants.
We were shown the three types of flowers and noticed their different colours, scents and informed of their different uses, be it for blisters and burns or to invigorate you or to help you sleep. We were shown how and advised when to take cuttings and how to plant them and also told about the rule of eight for harvesting on the 8th August, although Tina prefers to do it on the 10th. Tina also works her planting with the moon cycles. A new distillation kit has been purchased for this year’s harvest.
Tina explained how to prune our lavenders so that they don’t become too woody.
We learnt how to make lavender infused vodka and gin which apparently turns black during the infusion process and then golden using dried lavender buds. A few names for the drink were suggested causing merriment.
After a delicious lavender cream tea and a wander around the lavender field we headed to the shop to purchase the essential oils, pillow sprays, soap etc., of choice before travelling home feeling very relaxed still in glorious sunshine. A perfect day!
N.B. Volunteers are very welcome at Cornish Lavender.
Report on visit to Antony, Torpoint on Tuesday 6th May 2025
The Garden Visit Group’s May outing was to the fabulous Antony woodland garden and woodland walk. Ten of us spent a very enjoyable morning wandering around the woodland surrounding Antony House and its magnificent landscape garden with sweeping views over the River Lynher. Blue sky and sunshine showed off the trees, shrubs, plants and wildflowers brilliantly. Carpets of bluebells, wild garlic and campion nestled within the greenery of the tree canopies, with camellias, azaleas and many other plants providing splashes of vivid colour as we walked along some of the many paths around and across the woodland area. Some of Tim Burton’s 2010 film Alice in Wonderland was filmed at Antony, and we were struck by the contrast between the lush woodland areas and the formal setting of the garden surrounding the 18th century house. The wisteria in full bloom and wall of white roses were particularly lovely and emphasised the very different aspects of the estate. The visit was rounded off by refreshments in the café – most welcome, particularly by the group who decided to explore the woodland area further before taking a break, and like Alice, had a bit of an adventure of their own getting rather lost amongst the trees and intersecting paths. So near but it seemed so far at the time and never was a cup of tea and the smiling faces of the rest of the group more appreciated when we made it back to civilisation! A fun and good day was had by all in this beautiful spot on a glorious late spring day.
Report on visit to Polventon, Fletchersbridge on Wednesday 23rd April 2025
Our second visit of the 2025 programme was once again to Fletchersbridge – this time to Polventon. Eight of us enjoyed a wonderful afternoon - a private visit for the NGS - to this splendid woodland garden. After a grey and damp beginning to the day, the sun came out for us as we arrived, showcasing the garden in its spring glory of colour, with mature rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas, not to mention the proud show of primroses, bluebells and wood anemones. We were struck by a sense of peace and tranquillity, invoked by the sound of birdsong, running water of the stream and small waterfall, with the backdrop of some very handsome horses grazing in the paddock on the slope above the garden, framed with pretty blossom and foliage. How could it get better? But it did – wonderful refreshments served with bone china tea service (carrot cake, highly complimented). Bliss! Many thanks to our very hospitable hosts, owners David and Bernadette, who made us feel so welcome on St George’s Day.
Report on visit to The Lodge, Fletchersbridge on Saturday 29th March 2025
We began our 2025 programme with a visit to The Lodge in the hamlet of Fletchersbridge. 14 of us spent a very enjoyable afternoon wandering around this impressive riverside garden, open for the NGS. Although a disappointingly grey day weatherwise, we admired a colourful array of trees, shrubs and spring bulbs providing a perfect frame for the house, a remodelled Gothic Lodge originally part of the Glynn estate. The camelias, magnolias and primroses throughout were particularly pretty, and provided a welcome promise of spring. We also loved the water garden with ponds, waterfalls, sculptures, and a resident colony of Canada Geese. The afternoon was rounded off in the usual way with tea and cake – care of the Friends of Bodmin Hospital.
Thank you to owners Tony and James (and the geese!) for sharing their lovely garden with us.
