The Lost Gardens of Heligan
Jul. 17th, 2019 05:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
The Lost Gardens of Heligan were part of the Heligan estate near Megavissey. After many of the estate gardeners were killed in the first world war, the gardens were neglected and became massively overgrown, hence the 'lost' part. In the 1990s, they were restored to their former glory with a lot of hard work - there are fascinating displays of photos showing just what a disastrous state they were in. The gardens were a pretty innovative place duiring Victorian times - they now house Europe's only remaining functional pineapple pit, where pineapples are grown in a glass house warmed from above by the sun and from below by rotting manure piled in a tunnel underneath. Those gardeners certainly earned their keep!
The Giant's Head along the Woodland Walk. This is based upon the root ball of a fallen tree, too large to easily dig up and remove, so they grew plants into it and made it a living sculpture.
Who needs a sculpture when you can just have trees?
The most famous living sculpture at Heligan - the sleeping Mud Maid.
At the end of the Woodland Walk is the West Lawn, a giant meadow that was smothered in wildflowers, with views across to the small town of Megavissey.
The beautiful fern-filled Ravine.
The Italian garden.
A classic white border.
One of the gardeners' sheds in the Melon Yard.
A classic bee bole wall.
Heligan House was sold off and converted into flats years before the gardens were restored. It can be glimpsed beyond dense trees from the public parts of the garden.
Some parts of the gardens are still nearly buried in plants, but in a deliberate way :-)
Insanely lovely borders along the outside of the walled garden.
The gardeners' bothy, which now houses a memorial to the gardeners who died in the first world war.
Inside one of the original glasshouses.
Sweet peas inside the kitchen garden. They smelled even more amazing than they look.
I don't know what this is, but I loved it, the white flower standing alone amongst the green.
We barely scratched the surface of the gardens at Heligan - there are over 200 acres, and there are TONS we didn't make it around to. The bits we did see were stunning, and completely justified their reputation.
The Giant's Head along the Woodland Walk. This is based upon the root ball of a fallen tree, too large to easily dig up and remove, so they grew plants into it and made it a living sculpture.
Who needs a sculpture when you can just have trees?
The most famous living sculpture at Heligan - the sleeping Mud Maid.
At the end of the Woodland Walk is the West Lawn, a giant meadow that was smothered in wildflowers, with views across to the small town of Megavissey.
The beautiful fern-filled Ravine.
The Italian garden.
A classic white border.
One of the gardeners' sheds in the Melon Yard.
A classic bee bole wall.
Heligan House was sold off and converted into flats years before the gardens were restored. It can be glimpsed beyond dense trees from the public parts of the garden.
Some parts of the gardens are still nearly buried in plants, but in a deliberate way :-)
Insanely lovely borders along the outside of the walled garden.
The gardeners' bothy, which now houses a memorial to the gardeners who died in the first world war.
Inside one of the original glasshouses.
Sweet peas inside the kitchen garden. They smelled even more amazing than they look.
I don't know what this is, but I loved it, the white flower standing alone amongst the green.
We barely scratched the surface of the gardens at Heligan - there are over 200 acres, and there are TONS we didn't make it around to. The bits we did see were stunning, and completely justified their reputation.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-17 05:59 am (UTC)https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/peace-lily/peace-lily-blooming.htm
Heligan is one of those places I wish I'd been to, probably won't get to now, but I'm glad your lovely photos have shown me a bit of it. Thanks for posting them.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-17 01:46 pm (UTC)There are SO many places in Europe I was planning to go to before we emigrated, and now I probably never will. Wish I'd had more free time and money while we still lived there!
no subject
Date: 2019-07-18 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 02:01 pm (UTC)