While Trewithen has a fascinating history, the beauty of all gardens is that they are alive and ever-evolving. Today, our team of gardeners continues to work at creating pockets to delight our seasonal visitors and for the team and family all through the year.  Our focus is on stewardship, in maintaining and making gentle, sympathetic improvements to share with our visitors and eventually to pass on to the next generation to care for.

 

It has to be Spring which comes early in Cornwall and brings so much optimism. We feel lucky to live somewhere where the changing seasons are so evident.  I find a new plant or flower every season - this Spring I discovered Holboellia (Sausage Vine) whose scent wafted over the wall to the stables!

 

We have many loyal local visitors, specialist plants people and those that are visiting Cornwall. Trewithen is in the middle Cornwall, yet only 20 minutes from either North or South coast. We have the Tea Shed, our very special garden cafe where you can have lunch or get a delicious coffee, pick up a birthday card, present or plant to take home with you. You could walk a short loop on flat gravel paths or choose to spend the day exploring.

 

I'm obsessed with the light so my favourite part of the garden changes through the day. In the morning I love looking out over the parkland trees in the east, watching the first sun casting a spotlight onto the house and garden. Later in the day there's a hot spot on a bench in the walled garden where jasmine grows up the wall which is heaven. We've often stood on the South East corner of the garden where you can watch the moon rise through our Henheadhow sculpture, made by our friend, James Wild, from old estate railing we collected. It means Generation in Cornish and its wooden board has the words 'Salvaged from the past, to ground us in the present, with hope for the future'.

When we moved into the house we spent a lot of time looking at the C18th plans of the House and Garden to try to understand how it had evolved. Sam decided to do some 'destructive gardening' encouraged by a letter written by his Great Grandfather who said 'it was first necessary to take the axe and claim air and light for the trees, first for the house and those that live in it, and then for the plants that must share the fortunes with the owner'. We extended the South Lawn and now we are working on a long grass meadow edge between the formal stripey grass and the woodland shrub beyond.

 

We are really lucky to have people we can rely on, who love what they do. Our guides and gardeners are so passionate and knowledgeable. Gary Long, our Head Gardener of 20 years and his team, including an apprentice and volunteers, work tirelessly in all weathers. The flower showing season has just come to an end and we have brought home an incredible 11 trophies which is a real testament to the mastery of the team.

Trewithen is a place often described as peaceful, but behind the scenes (or out among the trees), there is a hive of activity. It takes a true group effort to keep the estate running.

 

Paulownia, the Foxglove Tree, Camellia Isadora, named after our daughter! In the garden we have over 200 species of Camellia, Rhodedendron, Magnolia and Myrtle with wild garlic, Lily of the Valley and moss underfoot. In the Walled Garden, Geum, Dicentra, Tulips, Primroses and Poppies. In the Water Garden there is a carpet of Bluebells, a Paper Handkerchief Tree dangling over the stream whose banks are pink with Primula Candelabra.

 

Because Trewithen is very much a chemical-free zone: everything on our home estate, and within the surrounding land, is organic. It’s our goal that farming practices are always at least restorative, but most often regenerative.  We have a herd of rare breed English longhorn cattle. These are here as part of the practice of silvopasture: integrating woodland into foraging. Elsewhere on the estate, we’re also supporting the natural ecosystem with a thriving bee population across five hives, with more coming soon. We’ve embraced the huge task of making a generational record of condition for all natural capital on the estate, from soil health, water, and air quality to birds, bats, beavers, and beyond. By doing this, and doing it seriously, we can be sure that our stewardship of the land only enhances our habitats and soil health.