Lost Gardens of Heligan

Heligan is one of the most mysterious and enchanting estates in Britain. Hidden under a blanket of bracken and bramble for most of the 20th century, a recent restoration project has unveiled an extraordinary Victorian garden trapped in time.

Heligan belonged to the Tremayne family for more than 400 years. At the end of the nineteenth century its thousand acres were at their peak when tragedy struck. All of Heligan's 22 workers were sent to the battlefields of the First World War and only 6 returned to Cornwall. As a result, the gardens were left derelict until 1990 when Tim Smit and John Nelson uncovered this great secret and a project was set up to restore the garden. Today, Heligan is a self-sustaining working estate and tells the story of how it was traditionally maintained. It reflects an exciting time when Britain was at the height of its Empire and people were travelling around the world bringing back with them exotic produce. So take a trip back to the Victorian age and explore Heligan's working kitchen garden, its walled garden full of exotic fruit houses, its 22 acres of sub-tropical jungle and 35-acre lost valley. The Jungle boardwalk is truly superb, with lakes, tree ferns, and many other large sub-tropical plants - you can almost believe you're in New Zealand! Heligan is a veritable treasure in Britain's heritage - it is a living, breathing link to the past. Take a quiz on the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

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