Tregrehan Garden
Cornwall's dramatic temperate rainforest garden, Tregrehan was created in early nineteenth centry by Carlyon family, concentrating on plants from warm temperate regions.
The beautiful woodland garden, which covers 20 acres is situated at Par, which lies about a mile to the east of the town of St Austell . The garden is listed as nationally outstanding on the English Heritage gardens register.
Tregrehan House has been home to the Carlyon family since the sixteenth century. Veteran trees in the parkland date from the first half of the seventeenth century.
Many specimens at Tregrehan have reached exceptional size, with at least two dozen being the largest of their type in the country including the tallest Gingko, among many conifers and oaks especially.
Although not a Botanic Garden in the strictest sense, the Carlyon family has been involved in growing exotic material and exchanging plants with other Botanic Gardens. Records reveal that the family have been ardent horticulturists since the early seventeenth Century.
There is also a more formal walled garden with a fountain pond which is bordered by some fine large Victorian glass houses which date from 1846. The garden is at its best in April & May and with some wonderful rhododendrons and camellias collected over time from all over the world. Tregrehan Garden is best known for its collection of camelias, planted by Gillian Carlyon in the mid twentieth century. An earlier family member Jovey Carlyon, planted many of the now huge trees that provide a sheltered canopy for much of the garden.
The garden is at its best in April and May when the vibrant rhododendrons and camellias collected over time from all over the world, are in bloom.
There is a nursery specialising in rare and unusual plants of species origin propagated from the garden and a shop selling tea, coffee and snacks.
Opening times
Mid March to end May. Wednesday to Sunday.