Okehampton

In the 1200's Heligan Manor was built in Cornwall. For those of us who live in a country that wasn't discovered until the late 1700's the age of the property is incomprehensible (it has been rebuilt a couple of times over the past 800 or so years). The Americans used it as a base in the second world war and the manor was eventually converted into flats and sold off in the 70's.

But it wasn't really the man made structure of the manor and it's many faces that has left a significant mark in history, but more the human interaction with nature in the garden.

On many occasions the garden was neglected and was left to grow wild amid a number of ownership changes and a couple of world wars.

That was until John Willis came along in 1990 with an ambitious plan to bring the Lost Gardens of Heligan back to life. So armed with not a lot more than a strong heart and a few volunteers the restoration project began in 1991 and in less than 10 years it was fully restored to what I have no fitting words for. They are by far the most stunning set of individual gardens I have ever been lucky enough to spend a day in. There are market gardens with produce that goes directly to their cafes, a jungle complete with Burmese rope bridge, endless flower gardens with some flowers I have never seen and there is a real working farm on site as well.

No blog will capture what it felt like to be there but hopefully some of the photos inspire my friends and family to make sure you don't miss this place if you are ever over this way.

"Rome wasn't built in a day, but then again I wasn't the foreman" - John Willis.Read more