The Lost Gardens of Heligan — Attraction in St. Ewe

This was a last stop on our way back to London. We thought we could fit it all in 2 hours, but we were wrong! You definitely need at least 4 hours here to enjoy the whole place. We had been walking everyday for the last 4 days, so we were quite tired. We managed to spend a total of 3 hours here! Majority of the area has down hill slopes. So to get back to exit, you would need to go back up.

We missed the grey lady, giants head and mud maid on the way down the woodland walk! So we had to head back down that way again before we left as the kids wanted to see them. This place has been the talk of the week for them as they wanted to walk along the rope bridge too. So that was our first stop. There was a bit of a queue, but it went by really quickly.

We explored the jungle and the gardens only. The kids spent a bit of time with the animals. We weren’t up for walking the whole map as we needed to drive back to London, which was 5:5 hours away!!!!

There were a lot of “challenging main routes” which we decided to skip and stick to the garden section.

Food wise, it was disappointing. We went around 12-1pm and there were long queues everywhere. Service was slow in the BBQ hut with only the two guys working. For half term, you would expect more staff to cope. We went to the rope bridge and came back after 1:30pm. Food was nearly sold out at a BBQ Hut . They ran out of buns for the kids hot dogs so they substituted with flat bread. There were only 2-3 options here. The bbq pulled pork flatbread was ok, I would have liked to have the sides it was supposed to come with, but they ran out. They still charged full price. There was a jacket potato with Smokey chilli beans. Flavour was there, but again, no sides. I ordered 3 pork flat bread, 3 Smokey chilli beans jacket potato and 2 kids hot dog meals and that came up to £80!!!! In hind sight, I would have probably brought my own food next time as it was not up to that standard.

At the heligan kitchen/takeaway, we ordered some scones to takeaway. These were really nice to have on the car...

Visited yesterday a lovely sunny day got there just as it opened so decided on breakfast plenty of staff all over the place so was thinking quick breakfast and then off we go to explore. The restaurant was hot and humid even with sky lights open, the translucent roof is not good for restaurant as not able to regulate temperature. Breakfast first class but took nearly half hour to arrived but irritating as not that busy. So after breakfast we go to collect pre ordered mobility scooter for my companion only to have to stand and waste another 20 minutes while they got here to fill out a form to join some sort of mobility scheme which could have been done at the time of ordering. So off we go on our adventure having never been before we decided to follow the signage and the map which was quite confusing, the signage is typically British and borders on very poor and the maps seem to be drawn by 12 year olds in an art class. All this said the plants are beautiful and May are stunning so the visit well worth it, but I’m not finished yet!! After about 4 hours a member of staff approached and informed us that we needed to take the scooter back to reception, querying this I said we assumed it was daily hire as Heligan is large and it’s ridiculous to expect to get round in four hours, the guy was very polite but apparently in the small print at the end of lengthly contract it does explain this, firstly we did not go to sign or read contracts went to enjoy garden so this was embarrassing and annoying to say the least. In summing up I would visit again. I would not eat in restaurant because they are too slow, it’s a lovely place for a picnic anyway, also I would not hire their mobility scooter but easier bring your own. Heligan needs to get it together in a number of areas international visitors would surely expect higher standards and quite rightly so, I’m well and truly British and the things I have mentioned can and should be easily rectified to make this beautiful...

Had a brilliant day out at The Lost Gardens! It’s got plenty to do and see from charcoal making to a nice walk through the floral gardens and loads more. This was my first time there and definitely not the last, I bought a membership for £37 as it gives you free access to the gardens and discount on everything there.

It’s very accessible with a big car park and specific bus route to it.

They do regular events in correlation with the seasons such as wreath making, squash and pumpkin and all things root veg picked from the gardens them selves to have a look at, dining experiences and lantern making. As I have become a member I can attend these events throughout the year.

There’s a lot of land to cover, my partner and my self covered about 1/3 of it in 2 hours. We went to the floral gardens, Jungle trail and woodland trail (with some added detours) and it was a blast. The jungle trail is incredible with lots to see and very interesting plants plus a rope swing!

There’s also a farm area with animals such as goats, pigs and horses and in terms of free range animals we spotted pheasants and spent a long time looking for the beavers they have created a habitat for.

My only slightly negative things I can say it’s not ideal for less mobile people apart from the top gardens, there isn’t a lot of signage to tell you where your going either other than maps but I did find it makes it more fun just to explore the grounds.

At the end of it all they have a gift shop and farm shop with butchery (we were too late to check out the farm shop, but I will update this when I’ve been)

Overall a lush experience friendly staff and plenty to do and see I recommend to all.

Didn’t want to post to many photos of all the hidden bits around the site, there’s plenty to explore and find for yourself no matter what...