A Day in Heaven and a Morning in Eden

I've just returned from a trip to the UK. Whilst I was there I visited The Lost Gardens of Heligan and The Eden Project.

We arrived in Heligan when it opened at 10:00 am and left at 6:00pm when it closed. I won't go into its 250 year history, you should look it up on the web. It's an incredible place that shows the beauty of formal Victorian vegetable gardens juxtaposed against an astonishing jungle area that one would not think was possible in the UK.

The whole garden represents the height of the Victorian Plant Hunters ingenuity and reach. There are plants from all over the world. There are 150 year old Rhododendrons, huge tree ferns, palm trees and thickets of bamboo growing in a sheltered valley that leads down to the sea. There are perfectly straight, 50 metre long, rows of vegetables and wonderful greenhouses and coldframes.

The joy my friends and I felt as we walked around could not be explained. It is a gardener's heaven.










The next day we visited The Eden Project, I had been three years before but it was definitely worth a second visit. The plants had grown and it has settled down into a maturing greenhouse, all be it a gigantic one. It was still delightful to walk through the Mediterranean and Tropical Biodomes, my friends were particularly interested as they have a house in France in a semi-Mediterranean climate.

To be continued...