Glendurgan Gardens

Just outside of Falmouth and the village of Mawnan Smith sits a real gem in the National Trust’s collection of magnificent gardens. The Gardens are situated through a long valley that leads down to the Helford river, and it’s this valley terrain that we think makes this a truly magical place. You’re surrounded by the gardens tightly all around, almost to the extent that it’s overwhelming. Add to this the incredible mixture of exotic and domestic species on show.

The gardens are a treat all year round, but if you can only visit once we’d recommend making the trip during Spring when wildflowers bloom across the valley bringing with the heady smells of magnolias, bluebells and primroses and throngs of buzzing as nature reawakens. In summer, to quote Charles Fox’s excellent book, “breaks in a wave of whiteness, with eucryphia, hoheria, myrtus and that ‘bombe Alaska’ of rhododendrons, ‘Polar Bear’, and autumn is awash with bulbs – amaryllis, colchicum, crinum and nerine.” In the winter the colour falls away to produce a moody landscape loomed over by huge trees that go unnoticed at other points in the year.