The Lost Gardens of Heligan
The Lost Gardens of Heligan were another place on my ‘must-visit’ list. Don’t feel sorry for Charlie, for those that know us well, his interests are beer, motorsport & skiing, (the last 2 are fairly interchangeable in terms of importance) but beer is King, and all 3 are well-serviced.
We checked into Heligan’s own campsite, which I highly recommend. The showers were of ‘boutique hotel’ standard, hot showers with no time limit, huge area to put your things and get dry without having to balance on one foot as you get dressed. There is also an well-stocked farm shop just a minute’s walk away.
The campsite is 2 minutes walk from the Heligan entrance and on entering you are greeted by the Giant.
The formal and kitchen gardens are only a small part of Heligan, the majority of the grounds are taken up by walks down the wooded valley, past a wildflower meadow to the Jungle area. The wooded area has lots of willow sculptures, some adorned with fairies, hidden amongst the trees. My kind of art, I’ve decided. I loved the Jungle area, there is something so primeval about the huge ferns. You could easily get ‘lost’ in the valley and Jungle areas and we spent a good couple of hours walking up, down and across the steep valley.
After the ‘Jungle’ we walked through the children’s play area, where there was a swing, and after my go on the slide at the Tower of London’s Superbloom, I couldn’t resist the swing. I loved a swing when I was young, we had one in the garden, held down with metal pegs, and the challenge was to swing high enough to lift the pegs out of the ground and then at the height of the arc, leap off. Wasn’t quite as athletic but I did leap off…😜
After an excellent lunch in Heligan’s own restaurant with lots of the ingredients from Heligan’s own kitchen garden, we popped back to the motorhome and cycled into Mevagissey. I’ve come to the conclusion that in many of these seaside towns unless you want to stuff your face with fish & chips, pasties, pies, fudge and icecream and buy things that would only look at home in a rented coastal cottage, there is not much to do other than admire a narrow street, look at the boats in the harbour or gaze wistfully out to sea like a Scottish Widow. The tide was out so we couldn’t take a trip. So we walked the streets, admired the boats and gazed out to sea with rather less panache than a Scottish Widow.
The cycle down to Mevagissey was lovely, key word being down, on the way back, however….
Only the steepest uphill defeated me, I had nowhere to go on the gears and I gently stepped out the side door and pushed the bike up the last bit, to find I was in good company, with several cyclists taking a break having pushed up the hill. I think Longshanks himself received a small round of applause as of course, he didn’t push!
We timed our return perfectly as the rain that threatened all day, finally fell!
A certain person has developed a worrying habit on return to our motorhome at the end of a long day, apparently sitting in your pants and a T-shirt is far more comfy than shorts or trackies, the spirit of Onslow lives on, next stage is the acquisition of a string vest… I despair 🤦♀️.
Tomorrow we leave Heligan and move to a campsite east of St Ives Bay, we are hoping that the weather improves as we are both looking forward to a swim, so come rain and shine in the next 2 days we are going to the beach!
RoundandAbout 