Heligan (The lost gardens)

 A fine Rododendron on Flora's Green

Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829) was a member of a landed family in Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan Estate near Mevagissey. He is credited with initiating the creation of the set of gardens around Heligan House that are now known as the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Things changed after World War 1 when the the then owner, Jack Tremayne, rented out the estate and moved to Italy. The house was rented out and the estate entered a period of decay. In the 1970s the House converted to flats and sold off.  The long decline of Heligan was only arrested from 1990 onwards.

We walked into Floras's Green but decided to walk away from the formal gardens (of which we have seen a lot lately) and explore the Lost Valley. We walked along the Lower Sunken Lane and the Georgian Ride ...

 

 ... to emerge by the site of the intriguing Charcoal Sculpture. It was commissioned in 2011 from local sculptor James Eddy to  celebrate 21years since the Garden was rediscovered. The sculpture is expected to change and decay over time.

 

Not far away is a second installation: In nature's hands.  It is the work of Jasmine Fassenfelt and Rebecca Knight and was installed in June 2021. It is a wonderful thing, especially when viewed in the right perspective.

 

We walked along Butler's Path and skirted Heligan House. I felt I had to take a sneaky photo to get some sense of what it was like.

At the beginning of Woodland Walk we stumbled on the wonderful Grey Lady. It consists of a wire framework with plants climbing up, making an ever-changing image.

 

 

 A little further along the path we came to the surprising Mud Maid. It was created by Sue and Pete Hill in 1998. There is a framework of timber and netting covered with mud, cement and sand.

We didn't see the final sculpture, the Giant's Head, but I thought it would make sense to include it in this post.

To complete our walk we returned to the Flora's Green area and passed what seemed to be a mangrove swamp.

And then to the delightful Northern Summerhouse, accessed through this inviting gateway.

The final picture is of this hedge, shaped to provide a viewing point down to the sea.