Holiday in Cornwall - June 2025

I thought I would write a brief outline of the splendid holiday that 41 of us had this year in Cornwall.

The destination on our first day was the National Trust property at Lanhydrock. This magnificent seventeenth century house is surrounded by nineteenth century formal terraced gardens which formed part of a scheme of improvements overseen by George Gilbert Scott in 1857.

Following our visit we continued to our comfortable accommodation at the Lanhydrock Hotel set in beautiful surroundings of an extensive golf course.

After breakfast we visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan – these award-winning gardens were asleep for more than seventy years and are the scene of the largest garden restoration project in Europe. The 200 acres were a really magical place to visit and certainly lived up to their claim of being a paradise for the explorer, wildlife, plant lover and garden romantic!

In the afternoon we visited Caerhays Castle, which is surrounded by an informal woodland garden created by JC Williams, who sponsored plant-hunting expeditions to China at the beginning of the 19th century. A guided tour of the castle was also accompanied by a fascinating narrative about the castle occupants who played a significant role in the history of Cornwall.

In the morning day 3 we visited Trelissick, a modern garden which was created within shelter belts on the steep banks of the River Fal and originally planted some 200 years ago.

After lunch we took a cruise on the scenic River Fal and on our way to Falmouth we saw the docks, Pendennis and St. Mawes castle, the mussel farm, numerous large moored vessels and a smugglers cottage said to be over 500 years old.

The final day we travelled to see the house and gardens of Killerton. The estate is set on a steep wooded hillside with the remains of an Iron Age Hill fort on top of it and an interesting chapel in the grounds. Countless trees and shrubs thrive in the gardens including rhododendrons, magnolias, stewartias and maples with a more formal planting near the house.

The highlight of the house for me was a display of 18th- 20th century truly magnificent costumes in period rooms. It was even possible to try the Charleston steps to music and some of our group had a go!

Following our last visit, we continued back to Emsworth where we arrived in the early evening after 4 wonderful days discovering some of Cornwall’s treasures!

I do hope that you will all join me on our next adventure to Somerset and Dorset in June 2026

Vicki King, EHS Holidays Co-ordinator