The Lost Gardens of Heligan

The Lost Gardens of Heligan is one of Europe's largest garden restoration projects - 200 acres of Victorian pleasure grounds, productive gardens and sub-tropical valley on the Heligan Estate near Pentewan, just south of St Austell. Laid out by four generations of the Tremayne family from the mid-18th century onward, the gardens were abandoned when the estate's gardeners left to fight in the First World War, and lay forgotten under seventy years of ivy, bramble and fallen timber until their rediscovery in 1990.

Restoration began under Tim Smit - who went on to found the Eden Project a few miles away - working with the Tremayne family and a team determined to bring the gardens back to life without losing their sense of romantic decay. The gardens opened to the public in 1992, and today welcome visitors from around the world to explore the walled Productive Gardens, the exotic Jungle valley, the Lost Valley, and the sculptures that have become Heligan's trademark: the sleeping Mud Maid and Giant's Head, formed from the estate's own soil, and Lowarnes, a six-metre leaping fox carved from Heligan-grown rhododendron wood.

The Productive Gardens are where Heligan's restoration is best appreciated close up: a two-acre walled kitchen garden growing heritage vegetable varieties, restored Victorian glasshouses, and Europe's only remaining working pineapple pit, heated the traditional way by fermenting manure. The Pleasure Grounds nearby include the Italian Garden and the Sundial Garden, laid out for a leisurely stroll close to the house.

Beyond the formal gardens, a boardwalk carries visitors down through the Jungle's bamboo tunnels and banana palms to the 30-acre Lost Valley, a haven for wildlife with lakes, wetland and ancient woodland. Watch for Heligan's two famous soil sculptures along the woodland walk - the reclining Mud Maid and the Giant's Head, both created by artists Sue and Pete Hill - and, further along, the newest addition to the gardens: Lowarnes (Cornish for "vixen"), a six-metre leaping fox sculpture carved from rhododendron wood grown on the estate.

Refreshments are served at the Steward's House Café, an early 19th-century Grade II listed building that was once home to the steward of Heligan Home Farm, along with the Bodega restaurant and a farm shop selling produce grown on the estate. A gift shop and plant sales area complete a visit, and the gardens are Grade II listed on Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens in their own right.