Glendurgan

 More lovely Rhododendrons

Soon after seeing Trebah, we moved on to nearby Glendurgan, a National Trust garden.  The garden was laid out by Alfred Fox in the 1820s and 1830s. It has the same character as Trebah in that two loosely parallel paths lead downhill through a valley to the Helford River. 

The feature which is distinctively different is the Maze. The original maze was laid out in 1833 to keep the Fox children amused.

 

More recently a major restoration of the Maze has been completed. The steps and paths were improved to make them more robust. The 173 steps within the maze were replaced with durable stone alternatives.  The wet Cornish climate and well-trodden paths were causing water to build up and floods in places, these areas of the path were restored to cope with the 80,000+ visitors each year. 

We naturally tried the maze but found it to be very challenging and neither of us could find the way to the middle (the circular hut in the photo above). We didn't notice any other adult do it either, but we did see two young kids complete the maze - somehow following instructions from their father who was standing in a strategic position outside the maze.

We headed on downhill, passing these intriguing shoots ...

... to briefly leave the grounds of Glendurgan and reach the Helford River and the hamlet of Durgan.

We had been this way before in 2014 when we were doing the Falmouth to Helford Passage section of the Coast Path. I couldn't resist taking the same picture of the Old School House that I took in 2014.

After a short while on the beach we headed back into Glendurgan and follow the other path uphill. We were delighted to our first Peacock butterfly of the year.

 

This is the view as we neared the Maze with the Manor House in the background.