Heligan170916_60
Heligan House, the former centrepiece of the Gardens of Heligan, now believed to be flats and not part of the Gardens.
The first large building at Heligan, near Mevagissey in Cornwall, was a manor house constructed in the 13th century, but the gardens date from the 18th century, first noted in 1766. For many years the gardens were developed extensively, with a Chinese Garden and an Italian Garden amongst others, but all came to an abrupt end upon the outbreak of war in August 1914. The shelterbelt trees were cut down for the war effort, the house became a convalescent home, almost all of the staff went off to war, and the gardens went untended and soon became overgrown.
The much quoted "it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good" really applies here as it was the devasting storm (the so-called hurricane) of October 1990 that revealed the first clue as to what had been here and set in train a process that is ongoing. Since then, the work of many dedicated people, paid and unpaid, has recreated much of what the gardens once were, in an ongoing project that is the largest garden restoration in Europe.
Heligan170916_60
Heligan House, the former centrepiece of the Gardens of Heligan, now believed to be flats and not part of the Gardens.
The first large building at Heligan, near Mevagissey in Cornwall, was a manor house constructed in the 13th century, but the gardens date from the 18th century, first noted in 1766. For many years the gardens were developed extensively, with a Chinese Garden and an Italian Garden amongst others, but all came to an abrupt end upon the outbreak of war in August 1914. The shelterbelt trees were cut down for the war effort, the house became a convalescent home, almost all of the staff went off to war, and the gardens went untended and soon became overgrown.
The much quoted "it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good" really applies here as it was the devasting storm (the so-called hurricane) of October 1990 that revealed the first clue as to what had been here and set in train a process that is ongoing. Since then, the work of many dedicated people, paid and unpaid, has recreated much of what the gardens once were, in an ongoing project that is the largest garden restoration in Europe.