Cornwall – Creative Gardener

Travelogue : Lost and Found

Welcome to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. It is another garden in restoration that makes you wonder how could an estate of that magnitude disappear into rubble? Money, time, loss of family traditions, a world war-in this case it was all of the above.

Hell eee gan, not misspelled, but more an attempt to phonetically write how our charming garden docent Graham told us it was pronounced. The emphasis, to correctly say it, is on the middle syllable. I shall always remember him politely chiding us, but I will probably forever say it wrong.

IMG_2125 poppy heligan names — A field of Flanders poppies *(Papaver rhoeas*) on the West Lawn framing a breathtaking view to the Cornish countryside in the distance.

Welcome to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. It is another garden in restoration that makes you wonder; how could an estate of that magnitude disappear into rubble? Money, time, loss of family traditions, a world war and a hurricane-in this case, it was all of the above.

Then a machete wielding man started hacking away at the tangled mess. His brain started thinking restoration. So began the adventure of Sir Tim Smit. Reading stories you will find most thinking him part visionary, part insane, and actually part rock and roll. He is as much a marketer and PR master as a passionate garden creator: “If you truly believe in something and you can get three others to believe in it too, it will happen. If you love something, provided you’re not a freak, they’ll be millions of others that love it too. Then, the only remaining issue is a marketing one”. He has added billions to the Cornwall tourist economy by creating two gardens that visitors flock to by the thousands. Heligan was one of the first projects that brought him into the gardening limelight. Eden was the other.

heligan stone — Glimpses of old stone throughout the gardens reveal its past

heligan veg — The true gardens of Heligan were the productive ones. The Kitchen Garden, The Melon Yard and the Flower Garden.

IMG_2030italian — A private retreat in the Italian garden built in 1906

IMG_2047mud maiden — An iconic shot of one of the features of Heligan. The Mud Maiden along the path of the Woodland walk

IMG_2156jungle — A turn towards New Zealand (the portion of the garden, not the country!)

Next travelogue:
If these walls could talk: Castles in ruins and beloved restoration

Travelogue: Should I know Doc Martin?

Port Issac aka Portwenn. A picturesque fishing village made famous by the TV series Doc Martin.

I was told I should watch Doc Martin before I traveled to Cornwall. I don’t typically watch much TV (except for my Downton Abbey fix), so it didn’t happen.

Ok fine…what is all the fuss connecting this TV show with this seaside village? I logged into Netflix and ummm; is this what they call binge watching? I am hooked and I love seeing all the places I walked during our visit to Port Isaac aka Portwenn. For now, I am trying to stay away from the spoilers because season 7 is on. I am still in the episodes where Doc and Louisa barely know each other in season 1.
Along the Rugged Cornish coastline
What a charming village tucked in the side of the Cornish coast. All the buildings stacked into the hillside to face the deep blue sea.

The main part of town is hidden until you round the corner down the walking path. A respite from garden touring, it was a beautiful spot to soak up the sun, and grab a Cornish pastie from the cute little bakery (which I suspect will show up in a future episode of the TV show). We behaved very much like American tourists, almost getting plowed by cars zipping through the narrow streets as we breezed in and out of little shops that I now see on the TV show. Every turn was a photo opportunity. Now I wish I had watched a few episodes and met the grumpy ol’ Doc so I could be like others and have my picture taken knocking on the door of “his” house.

Next travelogue: A visit to the mud maiden

Travelogue: June in the UK

This first travelogue post is photos of those heavenly fragrant English roses all over Wales and England. It does seem unfair to give you a look, but not a smell of how a rose in Britain on a warm day in June fills the air with perfume.

Many have asked how my trip was and sometimes I feel speechless because I can’t put it into quick, casual conversation. And if you know me, you know I love talking about gardens. It was many words from travel over 1700 miles on a coach zigzagging across the countryside of Wales, Cornwall and the Cotswolds.

Come along with me for an exploration of gardens of Wales and England, not in the chronological order of travel sense, but the things that inspired me to write something along the way.

Must start here…
Arrival Heathrow, UGH! You know that place where people who are grumpy from flying get pushed into the dungeon of this mega airport to get their passports checked. Emerging into daylight, the swath of English lavender blooming reminded me where I had just landed. The aromatic journey begins.

English Roses
In my gardening realm, all I hear is roses are too hard to take care of and disease”y”, aphid magnets. I tend to agree unless they are the tough ol’ Rugosas. I have moved into a new place recently and there are a few old rose bushes (not Rugosa!) that are fabulous and now after this trip I have fallen in love with growing roses again.

IMG_0391 webrose shadows — casting shadows on the walls of Kiftsgate manor

The “Kiftsgate” rose at Kiftsgate Manor was not in bloom as we had hoped. It was just its rampant, huge tangle of crazy that I remember from a visit in 2005, but as we walked through gardens over the next few weeks, it seemed like every other rose in the UK was blooming! Everywhere, scrambling up walls and in the middle of mixed borders, mixing and mingling all over the place.
So this first travelogue are some photos of those heavenly fragrant English roses all over Wales and England. It does seem unfair to give you a look, but not a smell of how a rose in Britain on a warm day in June fills the air with perfume.

IMG_3781 thalictrum at sissinghurst — A sweet tango with *Thalictrum*

IMG_3976 roses and hedges — Roses and hedges, so very Sissinghurst

rose collage again — Kiftsgate, Sissinghurst, Aberglasney, Veddw, Heligan, Eden

Join me on my blog for more photos and musings from my trip.

This trip was one of those I looked forward to and panicked as well, it is one of the busiest times of year for my landscape design business but a chance to visit and study gardens and the renovation of properties lost in the past to ruins. Two places were on my bucket list and we saw so many more that I never knew should have been on my list.

Next travelogue post: Check marks on my bucket list

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