So last summer me and Nathalie decided to holiday down in the South West of England. Starting with a quick stop in Dorset to visit Monkey World (not that surprising), from where, after a night's camping at the excellent campsite Longthorns Farm next door, we headed to Cornwall for a week of camping before returning to London via a one night stopover in Devon. From my research I knew was likely to see quite a few Monkey Puzzle trees but what transpired exceeded even my greatest expectations.
Our campsite East Crinnis Holiday Park just outside the small town of Par is located close to the fabulous Crinnis beach, which had pop-up food and drink all Summer. It was at the gates of the campsite I saw my first Monkey Puzzle tree of the holiday, a rather splendid specimen graced the driveway to the site.
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| Campsite In Par |
As we drove around the area I was convinced I could see a huge Monkey Puzzle tree on the horizon to the North of us. Nathalie wasn't convinced but my hunch proved right when checking the Monkey Map site I discovered a large number of trees were located in the grounds of Tregrehan House just to the North of where we were staying! The only problem was that according to the internet Tregrehan Gardens wasn't open whilst we were staying in Cornwall, however as we were planning a day at the Lost Gardens of Heligan the next day we decided we had nothing to lose if we stopped off at Tregrehan House to see whether we could see the trees or not. Much to my delight it was possible to drive up to the house and there in front of us was a magnificent collection of Monkey Puzzle trees.Their ages ranging from +100 years to new saplings, whether they were planted or a result of natural fertilisation is hard to tell but they were protected by wire and will ensure that there will be a healthy number of trees for future generations to admire. In total we counted 44 trees, which went down with Nat as her favourite number is 4 and any combinations of 4s. This meant my total number of tress seen had broken through the 200 barrier and now stood at 206!
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| Tregrehan House 1 |
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| Tregrehan House 2 |
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| Tregrehan House 3 |
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| Tregrehan House 4 |
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| Tregrehan House 5 |
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| Tregrehan House 6 |
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| Tregrehan House 7 |
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| Tregrehan House 8 |
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| Tregrehan House 9 |
So after such a brilliant morning we headed off to the Lost Gardens Of Heligan where we were spoilt by such a diverse and fascinating gardens. Amongst all the incredible sights, one of my favourites being the Jungle, I was able to locate and see another 9 Monkey Puzzle trees dotted around the gardens.
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 1 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 2 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 3 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 4 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 5 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 6 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 7 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 8 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 9 |
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| Lost Gardens Of Heligan 10 |
So our holiday in Cornwall had got off to an incredible start Monkey Puzzle Tree-wise, far better than I could have hoped. We spent the afternoon in the wonderful village of Megavissey where we went out on a boat mackerel fishing, only to be treated to a pod of dolphins swimming by the boat!
Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 215
