Cornish gardens.

[karl66]

Were off to cornwall friday morning, hope the weather stays nice!!, i think heligan will be the first place were heading, i have to try not to be to selfish as my wife has little interest in tropical garden's & wants to do other things also. karl.

[SueW]

At least the weather's better than it has been down here, Karl. If you can get out of the breeze (which won't be a problem in Heligan or Eden) you'll be fine. Heligan's one of my favourites. Here's a pic from my visit:

[multim]

Heligan is good, although I much preferred it when it was the 'Recently found, Lost Gardens of Heligan'. They have made some improvements such as the raised walkway through the tree ferns. Remember to get your free compass with your ticket, you just might need it! Trebah is a must, I was there last week and the rhodos and acacias were in flower. Astelias are the best you'll see. The ticket allows entry for a whole week. This is my favourite garden as it has it all, even a small secluded beach. Don't expect to see any Brahea Armata or Cycas, they tell me that it doesn't get hot enough for those. Enjoy your trip!

[karl66]

Just been checking the weather in st austall & the next few days are wetter & colder than the west mid's!, look's like pub's, cream tea's & then garden's!. karl.

[dino]

Could be worse eh! At least Eden's under cover

[redsquirrel]

i hope he gets to visit lower keneggy nursery and trevena cross along with hardy exotics and cross common. might find duchy and burncoose too.
first and foremost hes got to go to plantaholics,their site is great with all sorts of goodies,a bit like keneggy.
there are a few more great exotic haunts down there but the names escape me at the moment

[karl66]

Literally just got back, 1 day early!. The weather down there is horrendous, strong winds & heavy rain, we stayed in st Austell but visited newquay, truro,. we planned heligan as our main garden visit but the weather was so bad you could hardly stand up! Now my main gripe is our visit to the eden project.... I am really angry as in my opinion it's not value for money at all & £47 entrance for two adults is scandalous!!, the only part we enjoyed was the rainforest house, the med house was a real disappointment with one brahea amarta, a few chammy's & the usual common yucca's & olive tree's. they have got a lot of plant's from south Africa but there of no interest to me. In Eden's favour the open food kitchen with homebaked products etc was reasonable value but not what I went for. the couple of information centres were also poor. All told a very overhypted/ expensive attraction. karl.

[redsquirrel]

ive often thought the same Karl but in its defence,i will say you might have gone too early to see it at its best.last time we went,we registered the tickets for free re-entry for 1 year and got 2 more free visits out of it.not so bad if you arent a million miles away

[karl66]

Darren we have the same free re-entry ticket's but I doubt we'll get chance to use them in the timescale we have. even going early doesn't excuse what was on show under the dome's!, anyway you live & learn as they say. Next time were heading straight down to st'ives & around that area . Not sure if you saw the jubaea they had outside but it was strangely planted on a steep bank , if it makes a big palm it will not look right at all. The whole place reminded me of a hippy camp!, the price the plant's in the garden centre matched the admission price, £75 for a wollemie pine 2ft tall including pot, £7.50p for a 3litre henchura.. karl.

[Tom2006]

WOW.....they have really bumped the prices up since we went 7 years ago, must have doubled! We went in September and even then I was a bit disappointed with the overall show and we had decent weather. Such a shame the weather was so bad but again its quite common down there, happened to my mum and dad mid summer last year, rain, gales and mist. Heligan is the must see but no point in such bad weather. A big positive Karl, is you now have to go again.

[multim]

Such a shame about the bad weather. This is the main reason why I choose to visit Cornwall and not to move there.. Too much weather, mostly of the wet and windy variety !! I too visited the Eden Project about 10 years ago and was equally disappointed. All a bit weird and expensive. I understand that visitor figures have dropped dramatically over the years as it is 'interesting' and holds one's attention for perhaps half a day, but that is all, and few return again. Trebah, Heligan and the like are so much better.