From the International Herald Tribune: A lost garden and its traditions rescued in Cornwall.
Heligan is the Rip van Winkle of gardens. Nurtured by successive generations of the Tremayne family for four centuries, it fell into disarray after almost all the workers who maintained it marched off to war in France in 1914. By the end of the 20th century, a jungle of ivy, bramble and laurel had engulfed flower beds and shrubs.
Far from the tourist track near St. Austell, Cornwall, in southwestern England, which is noted mainly for the towering white cones of waste from its kaolin (china clay) mines, Heligan was all but forgotten by the time Tim Smit happened along. Smit, now 50, was born in the Netherlands, studied archaeology in Britain, prospered in rock 'n' roll as a songwriter and promoter and then, in 1987, moved to Cornwall.
Three years later, a chance meeting led to his excited discovery and exploration, sometimes on hands and knees, of the overgrown acres.
He and a group of enthusiastic associates subsequently leased the property and launched a crusade to save what they christened, with an unerring instinct for public relations, "The Lost Gardens of Heligan."
Now, almost 15 years after they began hacking, digging and replanting, the 80-acre, or 32-hectare, garden flourishes anew on its plateau overlooking St. Austell Bay, a tranquil arm of the English Channel. [continue]
Related:
The Lost Gardens of Heligan - heligan.com