Back to Cornwall and some horti-culture

In the last post on Cornwall, I mentioned that it is up and down.  This leads to some good cliffs, especially as the main rock is granite.  Combined with a little, sorry a lot of imagination and you end up with Minack Theatre.  It was created by Rowena Cade, who from 1931 until she died in 1983  planned, built and financed it pretty much single handedly. It is not your average person who see their cliff edge rocky garden as an ideal place to literally carve out theatre. Let alone then have the determination and skills to build it themselves. But her efforts resulted in this:

Not a bad place to watch a play, and when you get to the bottom you really see how much work was put into carving it all out.

Even the natural outcrops of cliff have been used

The setting is stunning, rocky cliffs above a series of stunning sandy beaches

But what makes it a must see, on-top of all that, is that since 1998 the free space has been planted up as a sub-tropical garden. Most importantly mainly containing succulents.

It was badly hit by the bad winter a couple of years back, but seems to have recovered and the plants now looking very natural.

lots of very nice plants

No space is wasted, even the flat roof is planted up.

Once you have exhausted the views in the theatre you can walk down (the very steep stepped path) to the beach.

Then to reward you after the walk back up you can have another peak in the gardens on the way to the car park.  There is always something hiding that you didn't notice last time.

The question is, if you went to see a play there, would you be watching the play or the plants?

In the place of succulent Sunday...

I thought a quick trip to the Scilly Isles would be suitable substitute, especially a focus on Tresco Abbey Gardens. The Scilly Isles for those outside the UK are a group of island just off the coast of Cornwall, which is the south west tip England. They are small islands, some you can stay on, others just visit for the day. Getting there from the mainland is by ferry or small plane, which have a certain retro feel to the inside.

Flying in gives you great views of the islands

The main island St Mary's is where most people stay, as it's where the ferry and planes arrive.  From the time you arrive it is obvious that the climate is conducive with more exotic plants; aeoniums, yuccas, agaves and palms are common place.

From there on the transport is more local.

Various size boats ferry you between the islands, usually taking around 15 - 20 minutes. For plant lovers, the first stop is always Tresco and the Abbey Gardens. Again as soon as you get off the boat you know it is going to be good.

It is a gentle stroll to the gardens and you walk past the abbey and get your first idea what the gardens are going to be like.

Entering the actual gardens you cross this japanese inspired bridge.

From there it's view after view, and stunning plants everywhere.  There are too many for one post, so I'll split them up a bit, starting with a quick tour of the gardens and followed up with close ups of some of the plants in later posts. Sadly it was not a sunny day, so please overlook the grey sky.

This is what you reach if you walk straight up from the bridge (looking back towards the it).

Turning right along the path

Along with the plants, the gardens are known for certain vistas containing statues.

Getting into more arid sections.

Looking back into the gardens

Towards the end of the top path, the banks are steep, rocky and full of succulent  inspiration.

Finally you get to the abbey building.

One of my personal favourite aspects to Tresco, is the way the succulents are populating every available surface.

 Just below the abbey are the ruins of the old abbey, which have been taken over by plants.

It is not all succulents though, next to the old abbey, is a little sculpture garden full of ferns

At the bottom of the garden is the other famous sculpture

In the lower part of the gardens, you can walk through fern filled paths, or more open lawns

If you are anything like me, you will end up walking around and around each time noticing a different view, not to mention different plants, which will be part 2.

To give you an idea of the other islands, here are a few general photos on a brighter day.

That is a quick tour of a couple of the islands and an introduction to the gardens on Tresco, next up will be the plants.

A week off

With the new house needing a few major bits of work, it has had to be a cheap year and this meant no overseas holidays. Instead we visited Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. In the right weather this is as good a holiday spot as anywhere.

You have stunning islands

The most famous for plant lovers being Tresco with Tresco Abbey gardens

The great thing about Cornwall is everywhere you look there are stunning beaches

Even the smallest cottages have the odd plant of interest

If you want a bit of culture there is no need to leave the garden, maybe a quick museum trip

Or a bit of shakespear

Needless to say, I was very happy surrounded by all the plants.

It will take me a few days to sort all the photos then I'll do more detailed posts on each of the gardens. One surprise was that I came home without a single plant.  Well there has to be a first for everything.