TRELISSICK GARDENS

Magnificent semi-tropical gardens, overlooking the River fal and the Carrick Roads

Accommodation in the local Area

Location: Trelissick Gardens Feock, Truro, Cornwall TR3 6QL Tel: 01872 762090 Opening times: 1st March - 31st October Monday - Saturday 10.30am - 5.30pm, Sunday 12.30pm - 5.30pm (close 5.00pm March and October).

Trelissick is a garden and estate of tranquil beauty with panoramic views down the Carrick Roads. Famed for its tender and exotic plants and shrubs it is a plantsman's delight. The gardens feature walks through 500 acres of parkland and riverside woods. The house at Trelissick is not open, but there is an art and craft gallery, shop and plant sales, restaurants and a fine Georgian stable block. Shop, restaurant and art and craft gallery.

The River Fal and Carrick Roads make up one of the most attractive and unspoilt estuaries in the country. The estate is renowned for its glorious position at the head of Carrick Roads, with panoramic views down the estuary towards Falmouth and the sea and intriguing glimpses boats moored in tidal creeks and small hamlets that have changed little over the last hundred years.

Trelissick is a truly impressive National Trust property; one of Cornwall's premier gardens. Landscaped on many levels the garden has a superb collection of tender and exotic plants with displays of colour throughout the year.

The rolling contours of the gardens, reach right down to the water's edge and can be enjoyed at any time of the year round though the spring blossom is particularly delightful.

In about 1750 a modest two-storey villa was built at Trelissick on the foundations of an earlier building. This house at Trelissick was built in 1750, on the foundations of a much earlier building. Peter Frederick Robinson was commissioned by Thomas Daniell, to redesign the building in 1825; adding a columned portico to the south facade. Thomas Daniell's father had originally bought Trelissick in 1800, with the money inherited from various tin-mining interests.

Thomas Daniell began much of the initial works on the gardens at Trelissick, planting the woodlands that run along the shores of the Fal estuary and creating the shady drives; originally as carriage drives, but now acting as woodland walks. The Gilbert family acquired Trelissick between the years 1844 and 1913, and made many improvements throughout the grounds. The ornamental woodlands, huge oaks and conifers, where in many cases planted during this period.

In 1937, Mrs Copeland inherited Trelissick, and together with her husband, Ronald, created the garden that exists today. The Copelands planted many species that flourish in the mild Cornish air, including an abundance of the tender asian shrubs that are so characteristic of many gardens in Cornwall - magnolias, camellias and rhododendrons - together with many rare varieties of hydrangea; a speciality of Trelissick and a feature of the garden.

Trelissick gets much of its character from the large, spacious lawns. A fine example of a Japanese cedar provides the centre piece, and shade, for the sloping main lawn - whose borders are filled with summer-flowering shrubs and plants. Walks from this main lawn lead you to a summer house and on to a Saxon cross before returning you to the raised drive. As you follow the paths stunning panoramas are revealed to you, across the tree tops into the tropical dell, with its palm trees, banana trees, tree ferns, large-leaved rhododendrons, and other exotic plants.

As you return to the main lawn a small path leads you out of the garden over a rustic bridge which crosses the Ferry Road into the Carcadden area - and a whole new experience. A more recent development with lawns that feature informal plantings of cedars and cypresses. A more open a parkland atmosphere, with abundant specimens of magnolias, camellias, and the ever present rhododendrons. The new Cornish apple orchard has recently been established in this area .