The Lost Gardens of Heligan Guidebook: Lost

The perfect companion to your garden visit

The new edition of our Heligan Guidebook is centered around the theme of 'Lost,' which is recurrent throughout the history of the gardens. Although 'Lost' seems a strange word to describe a garden which has over 350,000 visitors a year, once upon a time (and not so long ago) the gardens were most definitely lost. In 1990, it took a hurricane and some intrepid explorers to reveal the beautiful bones of a classic Cornish garden; a garden that had been swallowed up by neglect, self-set trees and exuberant brambles. The gardens at Heligan had disappeared.  

As the garden restoration began, many of Heligan's finest specimen plants were still in situ, concealed by overgrowth, and they remain here for you to enjoy today. Suffice to say, it wasn't the plants leaving that, made the garden "lost", it was the people. Alongside the gardeners, the rows of vegetable and forgotten flower beds, Heligan lost horticultural knowledge and skills that had been built up over generations. Heligan lost precious varieties of fruit and vegetables, vital genetic and nutritional capital: our future security, no less. In rediscovering what was lost at Heligan, so much more than a beautiful garden has been reclaimed. 

Alongside informative guides to various sections of the Gardens and Estate at Heligan, this guidebook features a useful timeline of Heligan's history from the building of the Manor in the 1200's to the present day, and a detailed map of the site.  

UK mainland only.