Week in Cornwall

I was in Cornwall last week and visited a couple of orchards, lots at the Eden Project; smaller ones at the Lost gardens of Heligan and more commercial ones at the Cornish Cyder farm.

The picture shows some statues in the vinyard at the Eden Project.

The various orchards at the Eden Project were as you would expect well maintained, they had various trees all on differing root stocks. Primarily outside the bio domes they were on dwarf root stocks; most were apple trees. However in the tropical bio-dome they have mango trees as well as pineapple and banana trees, and even tropical palm trees with dates growing. One of the employees managed to get a pineapple from one of the trees with the aid of a machete.

In the Mediterranean bio dome they have olives, various lemon and lime trees as well at other fruits like nectarines and peaches. I put my head into one the nectarine trees and the smell of the fruit was fabulous. I went back for another sniff a couple of times. I was also lucky in that a young girl was singing in the dome, she was very good and made the trip even more memorable.

The picture shows Straw Skeps in a Skep wall at the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

At the lost gardens of Heligan they have established more traditional orchards; they even have an Orchard walk which was limited, as the trees are fenced off. They have a map of the trees listing the varieties that they have planted but you couldn’t get close. They did have chickens and geese in the orchard and they also have what looks like a newly created pond that is establishing itself, as it had a couple of ducks but no noticeable vegetation. I liked the idea of a pond in the orchard as it would encourage more wildlife and creatures like frogs which may help in controlling pests, and entice other larger animals for a drink perhaps. However I don’t know enough about on the matter to comment.

They did have other fruit trees in the various gardens, all very nice and pretty, I just wish I had the time and resources that they have to make mine as nice. I was very impressed with the fruit and vegetable gardens and for ideas the place gives off. It is definitely worth a visit. I had read so much about the place that my expectations were massive, I was a little disappointed on the day but in hind sight it was great.

The Cornish Cyder farm was interesting, but it does look like they are copying the Julian Templeton business model. In that they make cider spelt cyder “the Cornish spelling”. They have started making sprits and even wine. They also make and sell preserves. They have a couple of animals on show to please the kids and my son was impressed with the Shire horse and the various cows.

They had pictures of when Prince Edward and his wife Sophie must have visited, but it wasn’t as good as Julian Templeton’s or on the scale of Julian’s enterprise. Then again when I met him Jullian I found him very charismatic and he was willing to have a chat etc and also showed us around his orchards, and his excise warehouse. The people at the Cornish Cyder company just wanted you to buy stuff and move on. We went for a tractor ride though the Orchards which was very quick. They mentioned that they had a more traditional orchard and tours or the bottling plant were available, but it seems a far more commercial enterprise. People were buying plenty of cider and bottles of Rattler a cyder brand that they sell.