Tregothnan’s sights are set on a new world record for its open garden weekend on 21st and 22nd April this year. In 2017 Tregothnan set the bar high by raising the huge sum of £50,000 for St. Petroc’s Society for homeless people in Cornwall. This April, Tregothnan will aim to beat their own world record and donate the most money ever raised for charity during an open garden weekend.
Historic Tregothnan, famous across the world for pioneering British tea gardens, is open for only one weekend each year. People from all over the country and beyond to flock to this quiet corner of Cornwall, likening the experience to a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “Golden Ticket”, due to the normally private nature of the wonderland inside.
The charity weekend will be raising money for the Merlin MS Centre near St Austell.
The Merlin staff are dedicated to supporting their clients, providing a positive and social experience to give their clients a much improved way of life. Plans to build a new hydrotherapy pool will offer a vital new therapy otherwise unavailable in Cornwall. The centre also provides innovative therapies like pressurised Oxygen Chambers, which can help relieve symptoms such as fatigue and joint and muscle pain and improve general well-being in neurological conditions like MS. A sensory room provides equipment like a cloud pillow and swing to help train clients to use different muscle groups and, in some cases, regain the use of muscles or hearing that had previously been lost. To find out more go to http://www.merlinmscentre.org.uk
Visitors to the charity weekend will not only be supporting this exceptional charity, but will also have the opportunity explore 100 acres of botanical paradise. The Tregothnan garden has a unique microclimate for growing tea and provides the perfect conditions for hundreds of plants and shrubs that you wouldn’t expect to see growing in England – banana trees, avenues lined with tropical ferns and eucalyptus groves boasting many different species native to the southern hemisphere. Tregothnan has been protecting and cultivating the Wollemi Pine, which until 1994 was believed to have been extinct, with the oldest fossil being dated back to 200 million years ago. Add to this a record-breaking Camellia Maze and some of the world’s largest Rhododendrons and your charitable day out becomes a botanical experience unlike any other.
The record-breaking Camellia Maze
One of the most spectacular sites in the garden is the Himalayan Valley. Looking across one of Tregothnan’s tea plantations you will see a Chinese pagoda engulfed in pink and red Rhododendrons. (see picture top). April is the perfect time of year to see the Tregothnan garden full of colourful blooms.
A BBQ, ice-cream, cakes, cream teas, sandwiches and other refreshments are served throughout the day. The pop-up shop will be giving visitor’s the chance to take home some of Tregothnan’s fine produce including the most British tea in history and the rare Kea Plum Jam. There will be music from choirs and children’s games to keep the whole family entertained throughout the day.