The house and gardens of Trelissick are sited above the Carrick Roads estuary on the south coast of Cornwall. The house was built in about 1750 and has been owned by the National Trust since the 1950s.

The water tower with squirrel weather vane

As you would expect in Cornwall there is an abundance of rhododendrons and azaleas enjoying the acidic soil and high humidity. At the end of May however, most of the flowers are over, only a few remaining.

Trelissick holds the national collections for Photinias and Azaras. As I didn’t realise this until after our visit I didn’t pay particularly attention in looking out for them.

The main lawn is at the heart of the garden and centre stage is the giant Japanese red cedar, planted in 1898. Around the lawn are deep borders of perennials such as irises, hemerocallis and more exotic plants such as ginger lillies.

There are many paths leading away from the main lawn. One takes you through an area known as the Dell and on towards the King Harry Ferry across the River Fal.

Others take you further along the Trelissick Peninsula through glades of Camellias, Azaleas, Pieris and Rhododendrons. If you walk far enough there tree ferns aplenty and good views of the river.

The gardens are extensive and I’d love to say we saw all of it - sadly we missed the new orchard and tennis lawn and of course we didn’t go in the house. The lure of a scone with cornish clotted cream was too strong. And just as I was wondering … there was a sign, “Jam first”.

The tea shop and other shopping facilities were as expected, but there was china and the teabag wasn’t drowned in a bucket-sized teapot.

This wasn’t a part of Cornwall I had been too before but it was lovely. Good weather and excellent hospitality from Jennifer and Nick made a great long weekend.