Owned by the Tremayne family for over 400 years, the Lost Gardens are a great day out for all the family.
Enjoy the gardens near the house including the magnificent Walled Garden which produces an abundance of vegetables and fruit. Signs direct you to The Jungle where paths lead deeper and deeper into the valley, over a rope bridge and past exotics from such countries as New Zealand and Sikkim.
The Georgian Walk at the bottom of the valley is full of dog walkers.
The Tremayne family has owned the gardens and estate for over 400 years. They lease the gardens to the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Heligan House is now separately owned and not open to the public.
Read more
Heligan Manor is first mentioned in 12th century and by 1569, the estate was owned by Sampson Tremayne. The elaborate formal garden of the early eighteenth century was replaced in 1777 by a more natural style with vistas, trees and shrubberies. Further additions were made in the nineteenth century by John Hearle Tremayne and his son. Avid collectors of exotic plants, they created the Japanese Garden – now called the Jungle – as well as the Italian Garden and Ravine.
In 1914, Heligan employed a staff of twenty-three. But after two world wars, the house and garden fell into disrepair. It wasn’t until John Willis (a member of the extended Tremayne family) returned to Heligan in 1990s that he discovered a door in a wall. Behind lay a garden untended for years and frozen in time. Nature had reclaimed the space but the names of the young men who had written their names in pencil on the walls of the Thunderbox Room, remained.
A chance meeting with Tim Smit in 1990 resulted in the idea of restoring the garden.
The ethos of the garden is based on Victorian principles and methods to produce crops.
Read less