Trebah Garden

Trebah occupies a steep ravine dropping 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 in flower in late summer. Charles Fox laid it out after his family acquired Trebah in 1831; it declined from 1939, and Tony and Eira Hibbert restored it from 1981 and opened it to the public in 1987. At the bottom is Polgwidden Cove, a small beach that keeps some concrete structures from its wartime use.

The landscape

• The gunnera tunnel - paths running beneath giant rhubarb leaves.
• The tree fern gully - Dicksonia planted in a shaded ravine.
• Polgwidden Cove - the garden's own beach on the Helford River.
• The hydrangea valley - a valley of hydrangeas in flower 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.

Before you go

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.

Key facts