Trewidden Garden

trewidden garden map

Garden Overview

Trewidden Garden (25 acres, with 15 open to the public) was purchased by Edward Bolitho at auction in 1850. The estate still belongs to the Bolitho family.

Many Cornish gardens are linear, running down a stream or drive. The various members of the Bolitho family, along with their Head Gardeners, have made Trewidden Garden very different and truly special by creating a mysterious and wonderful square(ish) garden with a maze of paths meandering through it.

You will find ponds dotted here and there together with reminders of the industrial mining heritage of the site. Each part of the garden is intimate and different, whether it be the newly restored walled garden, the rock garden with its collection of Erythroniums, the Tree Fern Dell or the pond garden with the Whale’s Tail.

The garden is also home to one of England’s best collections of Magnolias and Rhododendrons – as well as a collection of over 300 Camellias.

Our Camellias

Camellias have been grown here since 1850 and three very old specimens still survive within the garden from early plantings. The wide range of cultivated varieties now growing here is the result of Michael Snellgrove, who was the Head Gardener from 1976 to 2001. He greatly expanded the collection sourcing many from the likes of W. Ackerman, Trehane’s, J. Carlyon and Nuccio’s of California. From the late 1970’s to 2001, Trewidden operated a large wholesale nursery that specialised in Camellias to capitalise on the good growing conditions that exist in Cornwall.

Trewidden was one of the first to grow the ‘Tea’ Camellia in the county. Our original specimen was propagated from Norman Haddon’s famous collection at Porlock, North Somerset in the early 1980’s. Today the collection contains over 300 different cultivated varieties of which 200 have been positively identified and labelled. Those plants with aluminium labels that just display a number have yet to be identified; some specimens may have no label attached to them and they require accessioning in the future.

During the period of the nursery operating, areas of the garden became quite overgrown; so, some Camellias stopped flowering, due to excessive shade, and labels were lost; our ongoing efforts is to re-establish the collection.