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After a good night's sleep I felt much better this morning. Yesterday's possible cold seemed to have cleared. Phew! I woke up by about 7AM and processed a few pictures while Renée slept. We were both awake and going for breakfast at 8:30AM. Early on there were slate grey skies as expected so a slowish start was desired. It was foggy in places, and thickening and drizzly as we left at 9:30AM for the Lost Gardens of Heligan. The drizzle soon stopped and the cloud lifted a little, but the weather was still rather grey at the Lost Gardens of Heligan when we arrived at 10:20AM.
On arrival I realised I'd forgotten a 25% off voucher that I had picked up at the Eden Project. However I was able to pull up the tickets on my iPhone as proof we were there yesterday and were able to get the discount still. Yay! Having looked at the site map we decided to go along the woodland ride to the Jungle area first. Along the ride there were a few curious sculptures. We soon broke out into a meadow that was the West Lawn, which led us down to the Jungle area that was set in a valley.
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Arriving at the Lost Gardens of Heligan. | Looking around the tea room and shop before we enter the Woodland Walk. | The Giant's Head sculpture. | Walking along the Woodland Walk. | The Mud Maid sculpture. |
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A curious set of wooden objects dangling from a branch. | The Grey Lady sculpture looks like it needs more growth on it. | Looking Southeast along the West Lawn as we descend towards the Jungle. | Long range shot of the hills beyond the West Lawn. I think the houses are part of Mevagissey. | The path to the Jungle. |
The Jungle area was set around some ponds in a sheltered valley and had some board walks to explore. The entrance was lined with some giant ferns straight out of the Jurassic. Then we descended onto the board walks. After crossing some stepping stones at Fern Gulley I spotted some bananas growing. This is proof that this is an impressively subtropical microclimate. A short while later we found the Burma Rope Bridge that we couldn't resist crossing. Then we exited via Gardener's Walk, passing some rare plants on the way as we ascended out of the gulley. What an awesome place this was!
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The entrance to the Jungle. | Giant Ferns look like they came straight out of the Jurassic. | Looking along the Jungle lakes. | The way into the board walks. |
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Descending to the board walks. | A lush Jungle lake. | Exploring the Jungle boardwalks and steps. | Crossing the Fern Gulley stepping stones. |
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Renée enjoying a breather on a log bench. | More views across a lake that look out of place in England! | Bananas growing outside emphasize what a warm subtropical microclimate this location is. |
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This lake panorama between Fern Gulley and the Burma Rope Bridge is dominated by Giant Rhubarb leaves. |
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Crossing the Burma Rope Bridge. | Rare Wollemi Pines. | Another pretty plant. | Monkey Puzzle tree sapling. |
We then headed to the nearby Steward's House for a break and some drinks. On the way we passed an emu enclosure. In the warm humid conditions we were now rather toasty so those drinks were most welcome and helped us cool down. Meanwhile the fog came down again at 11:45AM for a while making the place as mysterious as it's name suggests.
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Emus in the Emu enclosure. | A flower display on the way into the Steward's House area. | The Steward's House. | Doves in the roof. | Fog descending on us. |
We then descended via Sunken Lane and Bottle Dump Hill into the Lost Valley (which felt like it lived up to its name in the fog). We then walked along Georgian Ride, passing a charcoal kiln on the way. Meanwhile cows were mooing away loudly and atmospherically in the background. Further along I found an entrance to a field on the right where some of the cows were, including a calf trying to chew on a hose pipe. At the end of the ride we climbed up over Gillysame towards the Nursery area.
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Walking down Bottle Dump Hill. | Looking at the lake at the bottom of the Lost Valley from the site of the Shepherd's Hut. | Walking Northwards along the Georgian Ride. |
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The Charcoal Kilns. | Some of the cows that had been mooing so loudly giving the Lost Valley extra atmosphere. |
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Looking across Gillysame as we ascend out of the Lost Valley. |
After a quick look at the Heligan Wild Hide we looked at the Nursery where sows were expecting and piglets were running around playfully. Nearby the poultry area had a lot of chickens, turkeys and other birds. Then we went through the Well Area into the Northern Gardens. Meanwhile the fog started to lift again, about an hour after it descended.
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The view from The Hide. | A rabbit near The Hide. | Sows and piglets in the Heligan Nursery. |
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The Poultry Orchard. | Chickens. | Turkey. | Young chicken. | Fog lifting as we leave the nursery and poultry orchard behind. |
In the Northern Gardens We explored the vegetable patches and flower displays. The variety and colour range of both was highly impressive. There was even an impressive pumpkin displayin one greenhouse as well as various exotic plants like pineapples, grapes, melons, etc in cold frames and greenhouses. Then we explored the surrounding rides which led us nicely to back to the entrance.
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The Well Area. | Some of the staff greenhouses. | The Sundial Garden. | Looking into the Flower Garden. |
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Striking flower displays and a central water feature in the Flower Garden. |
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More striking flower displays. | A cool pumpkin and chili display. | Orange Tree. | Grape vines. |
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Male Chaffinch and a Pied Wagtail. | Baby vegetable patch. | Greenhouse full of flowers. | Walking around an area called Sikkim. |
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Walking through The Ravine. | An ornate bench by the View. | The view over the Ravine path. |
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Looking across Flora's Green. | A path under hoop stakes through the vegetable garden. | Assorted brassicas. | Gourds. | This scarecrow looks uncannily like someone I know! | More herbs and vegetables. | A wheelbarrow full of beetroots. |
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More herbs and vegetables. | These leeks smelt amazing from the downwind side. | Raspberries. | Melons. | Pears trained onto a trellis. | Looking back along the vegetable garden hooped path. |
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Pineapples growing in a cold frame. | The Bee Boles. | Heading into the Eastern Ride. | The Wishing Well. | The Crystal Grotto. |
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A wood sculpture in the New Zealand area. | The Northern Summerhouse patio. | The patio view. On a clearer day the sea can be seen. | More flowers. | Reservoir and Ram Pumps display. |
We finished wandering about 1:30PM and exited through the garden centre to the tea room. (It was here that I learnt the plant with the giant leaves is called Giant Rhubarb.) There we had vegetable pasties (yummy!) in the tea room and decided what to do next.
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Exiting the gardens to the tea room and garden centre. | Giant Rhubarb for sale. | Another pasty lunch. Yum! |
In the end we decided to head for Padstow and the Camel estuary. Then we would drive on to Newquay if we had enough time. Back at the car I used the satnav to plot us a nice route North and about three quarters of the way there we cleared the fog and low cloud into clear air and sunshine. We arrived at Padstow Harbour at 2:50PM and parked up on the quay. It was gorgeously warm and sunny here, and we couldn't resist some Cornish ice cream first. Then we did a bit of shopping around the local shops.
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Views of the Camdel Estuary and Padstow Harbour from the South Quay where we parked up. |
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More harbour views. | The harbour from the Northern side. |
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Looking around the roads and shops just behind the harbour. |
At 3:30PM we left Padstow and took the coastal B3276 road for Newquay. This was a fun drive over the cliffs and down past beautiful bays. We got to Newquay at 4:15PM. We had a quick drive around before briefly stopping in a car park to see where we were. However it wasn't a particularly nice place so the stop was very brief and we decided to head back to base.
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Porthcothian Bay. | Mawgan Porth. |
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Watergate Bay. | A rather unspectacular view of Newquay. |
We headed back South under the low cloud and arrived back to a still foggy Falmouth at 5:15PM. After a rest we went down to Pizza Express (near Rick Stein's) for dinner. There was a great view over the harbour from our table. We had some lovely pizzas too while enjoying the view.
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A foggy view of Falmouth harbour from the dinner table. |
Then back at the BnB we opened one of the fudge boxes for dessert. Yum! Then retired for the night and prepared for our checkout from the BnB tomorrow as it was time to transfer to the 2nd BnB of the trip in Penzance.
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