TREBAH/GLENDURGAN

If you take the ferry across the Helford River (summer only) you could end up seriously geographically disoriented if you decide to visit the exotic gardens of Trebah and Glendurgan on the opposite bank. In a county with more than its fair share of wondrous gardens, these two stand out. The reason for the disorientation, apart from the curiously Scottish-sounding name of the latter garden, is that the gardens, like many of the gardens in Cornwall, are full of non-native plants brought to Cornwall by the Fox family who created them. From Monterey Pine, antipodean tree ferns, huge rhododendrons from the Himalayas and Chusan Palms from China in Trebah to the giant rhubarb in the ‘jungle’ of the lower valley of Glendurgan, and 8-foot tall agave plants – one of which was flowering when I was there, a rare occurrence apparently – a visit to these amazing gardens will leave you feeling like you have been on a whistle-stop tour of the world.

Glendurgan is run by the National Trust; Trebah, however, is owned by the registered charity Trebah Garden Trust.

Map of the area.

Glendurgan Garden, Cornwall - geograph.org.uk - 349411. Photo by Tom Pennington, via Wikimedia Commons.