Private Gardens of Cornwall

Following our full English breakfast we will travel to the privately-owned garden of Bosvigo. To one side of the handsome 18th century house is a woodland garden whose borders explode with dahlias, roses and nasturtiums. Around the house are several beautifully planted enclosures showing exciting and fastidious colour harmonies. There is also an excellent nursery here selling some rare plants.

After an opportunity for lunch (not included) in the cathedral city of Truro, in the afternoon we visit Trewithen, a garden whose reputation amongst connoisseurs of gardens has always been of the highest, though it is only recently that its great beauty and horticultural importance has become known to a wider public. Despite the loss of many mature trees in the great storm of 1979, it remains very much a woodland garden designed on a grand scale, with evidence of the great age of plant collecting to be found everywhere. Many of the flowering trees and shrubs were grown from seed sent from China, Burma and Assam and are now bigger than their parent plants, having flourished in the mild damp Cornish climate. From the South Lawn, smooth gently curving paths lead into numerous bays and glades, full of spectacular blooms and constantly offering new vistas and glimpses to tempt you on. In spring there is dramatic colour in the huge magnolias and the vast array of camellias.

We return to our hotel where dinner will be served.

Today, following breakfast, we will visit Trelissick, a modern garden which was created within shelter belts planted 200 years ago. The garden is constantly evolving, with new planting and fresh ideas. Trelissick has seen trees grow to maturity, the tide ebbing and flowing, but has become a dynamic, forward-looking estate. The iconic Water Tower was built for irrigation and fire-control; now the lavatories are flushed with rainwater stored underground in modern reservoirs. Heat is extracted from kitchen appliances and the sun to provide hot water and heating. Lunch (not included) is available here.

In the afternoon we move on to the privately-owned 4½-acre garden of Lamorran House, overlooking Falmouth Bay, which has been designed by the owner in an Italianate style, although there are also Japanese influences here. The intention was to create an intimate garden very much in the mould of Mediterranean gardens but with water ever-present, both as a backdrop to the garden and with running water featured in the many pools and streams. Many features are included to divide the garden into intimate compartments which the visitor can explore. Hence there are areas of woodland, a water garden in Japanese style as well as temples and archways in the steeper parts of the garden and a small bridge on which to lean to look out over the bay exhibiting a distinctively Venetian influence.

Dinner is served at the hotel in the evening.

Following breakfast we check out of the hotel and depart for a visit to the privately-owned garden of Marsh Villa, situated in a former tidal creek made famous by Daphne du Maurier’s book The House on the Strand. This three-acre garden is result of years of hard work by the enthusiastic owner – not to mention several lorry loads of manure. The main feature of the garden is the magnificent pond. The water table rises in winter and so marginal planting consists of reed mace, filipendula, lythrum and the ubiquitous flag iris. A passion for perennials brought about the construction of a secluded, rather formal garden set within escallonia hedges. Here there is colour all year round from the tulip season right through to the heleniums and eupatoriums.

Following our visit we will transfer to Launceston, where lunch is available (not included).

We then transfer to the nearby private gardens at Trebartha, on the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor, which feature water, trees and views. Trebartha is an estate that had a lot of Rhododendron ponticum cleared following infestation with Phytopthora ramorum (so-called sudden oak death), and has presented an opportunity for a new landscape gardening project. We will do a circular walk that takes in the pool, cascades, wooded terraces, fishponds and the walled garden.

Following this, our final visit, we depart at around 4.00pm and return to our original departure point where arrival is expected in the evening.