the classic guide

A guide to the West Country from the people that know…

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Magical gardens, restored by Tim Smit, who later went on to create the Eden Project. There's also a well-stocked farm shop here where you can stock up on local produce.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan
Pentewan
ST AUSTELL
Cornwall
PL26 6EN

Telephone

01726 845100

3 Stars

Sep 2024

Great for family day out

Visited here for the first time in 15 years. If you want a family day out with kids adventure playground, farm animals petting area, restaurant, tea rooms and ice cream then it’s great. If you’re more interested in the plants then it’s disappointing. It’s much more expensive than other gardens which are much more interesting botanically. The plants aren’t as interesting as other gardens and almost nothing is labelled. It’s now more of an adventure/theme park, than it used to be.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Oct 2023

A land of giant mysteries

A true gem of Cornwall, so many beautiful and some gigantic plants/tress to admire in these acres of Cornish lands.
There's so much to see and enjoy walking through the Jungle and fields of beautiful idyllic nature.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Jul 2023

Early morning mindfulness ticket

Bought early tickets for 7 am walk (Thursdays from 6:30am summertime) around the grounds with a free coffee on arrival. Had the jungle to ourselves to explore and photograph. Great start to the day.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Jun 2023

Value for money

Weekly pass for price of day pass, bargain
Recommend cooked breakfast, had a job finishing ours before we travelled home

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
4 Stars

Jun 2022

The Lost Garden of Heligan

A lovely day out, lot’s of walking.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Jun 2022

Mrs French

Beautiful place to visit

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Oct 2021

Lost Gardens of Heligan

One of the highlights of our holiday. Well worth visiting and excellent signage. Refreshments were delicious.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Sep 2021

The best garden visit

Wonderfully well cared for and presented, with a great environmental ethos carried across all specs of your visit, this is one of the very best things to do in Cornwall (even without a sea view!!)

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
2 Stars

Aug 2021

Gardens lost in a sea of people

Looked forward to exploring these gardens but there were so many people there that it was difficult to appreciate it. Expected long queues for rope walk and eventually gave up waiting as movement of queue so slow.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Oct 2020

Don't miss this.

This is a must for anyone who loves flora and fauna, plus a bit of the exotic and adventure! Have been here at least twice and intend to revisit when able to do so.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
4 Stars

Sep 2020

Well worth a visit

A lovely morning out in the gardens. Nice for young children. Good Barbecue food in the gardens.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Aug 2019

Gardens

Lovely place spent a few hours here took some great snaps

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Sep 2016

Great day out

We had a super day here- wonderful for kids,which was a surprise,they had a marvellous time...rope bridge...building a tee-pee and picnicing in it,5 adults and 5 little ones 1,4,5,5, 8.,great open areas a loads of trees and climbing fun.We too liked the greenery and open areas...good, reasonable food on offer...was expecting National Trust like 'keep off grass time etc'...our day was dull and windy but warm and would recommend and return....and guess would be even better on a sunny day!

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Aug 2015

Beautiful gardens and there is something for all the family to enjoy. Great day out!

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Aug 2015

Beautiful place, good picnic area

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Aug 2015

This is a lovely place to explore, with lots of hidden bits to discover. We were there in early August and it didn't feel particularly busy, so there must be lots of room for everyone. Even our teenager enjoyed it.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Oct 2014

Knight party

It seemed every corner we turned there was something wonderful to look at. There has been a lot of thought put into this and we felt it was excellent value for money, great day out.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Apr 2014

Magical

A fabulous walk around the gardens, lovely cafe/restaurant and super farm shop, both of which you can visit without paying to go into the gardens. A great day out.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Aug 2011

A wonderful place to visit, even at the height of summer when there are many visitors. Magical gardens, wildlife and even chickens. Well managed, great cafe.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
4 Stars

Aug 2011

A hit with all the family!

A great day out! The gardens, shop and tearooms had a really upmarket feel about it. Every aspect of the gardens has been put together with real love and devotion. My 3 year old daughter's favourite bit was the Jungle - she loved running down all the boardwalks. It really felt like something from Jurassic Park. A hard walk back up the hill though - especially carrying our 1 year old toddler! My husband's favourite part was the ice cream at the teashop, and mine was the impressive vegetable garden. (Forgot to mention that my daughter cried when she discovered there were no melons growing at this particular time of the year - So that for her was a real show-stopper!!) Would recommend although with caution to wheelchair users - Some of the terrain is quite tricky.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
5 Stars

Jul 2011

Really Lovely Place

Spent all day here and even though it rained a little it really was a lovely day with lots of very special gardens to walk through.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No
4 Stars

Feb 2009

Lovely, magical 'secret' garden. The local, homemade refreshments in the tea rooms are delicious too.

  • Helpful To You?
  • Yes /
  • No

This website uses cookies to store information on your computer. For more information visit our privacy page OK