Trebah Garden

Trebah occupies a steep ravine dropping about eighty metres to the Helford River, and the shelter and the Cornish climate let it grow things that should not survive in Britain: tree ferns in a shaded gully, gunnera whose leaves reach over two metres across so that paths run underneath them, and a hydrangea valley of some hundred thousand blooms in late summer. Charles Fox planted it from 1838 and it went through decline and revival like Heligan. At the bottom, Polgwidden Cove was used in June 1944 to embark the 29th US Infantry Division for Omaha Beach; a concrete ramp built for the landing craft is still there and a memorial marks it. The garden is one of very few in Britain to run a policy of admitting visitors free on their birthday.

What you actually see

• The gunnera tunnel - paths running beneath giant rhubarb leaves.
• The tree fern gully - Dicksonia planted in a shaded ravine.
• Polgwidden Cove - the beach and concrete ramp used for D-Day embarkation.
• The hydrangea valley - around a hundred thousand blooms in late summer.

When to go

March to October; magnolias and rhododendrons in spring, gunnera at full size by midsummer, hydrangeas in August and September. The garden opens year-round with reduced winter planting.

Honest expectations

The garden is a steep ravine and the walk back up from the beach is a serious climb, though a shuttle runs for those who need it. Paths are narrow and muddy after rain. The beach is small and shingle.

Nearby

Glendurgan garden adjoins; Falmouth and the Helford River lie either side.