Bicton College & Devon 2016

Returning from our holiday in Cornwall me & Nat decided to split the journey home by stopping off in Devon for one night.  This meant we were able to visit probably one of the most iconic group of Monkey Puzzle Trees in Britain, the Bicton College Avenue.

Originally planted in 1844 the avenue was the longest in Europe at nearly 500m. It truly is an awe inspiring group of Monkey Puzzle trees, with a mix of old and newer trees. Whilst we were checking out all the wonderful trees the college's groundsman approached asking what we doing. Once we'd explained about my (our?) obsession he was not only happy to let us carry on he told me if I wanted one I could have one he'd grown form the avenue's seeds!  Not needing to be asked twice I seized the opportunity and am now the proud custodian of an ancestor of the Bicton College Monkey Puzzle Tree avenue!  Three more trees were seen during our brief stopover in Devon, two outside a pub just down the road from the college and one spotted from our B'n'B in the far distance.

Bicton College

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Bicton College 18

Branscombe

Colaton Raleigh

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 473

I'm Back At Last!

With it being so long since I last updated my blog I've decided that from now on there would need to be some changes if I was to revive this blog from the dead. I have, therefore, decided to make the following changes:

• I will stop updating the sister blog 'The Monkey Puzzle Tree Nut - Monkey Map Catalogue', the amount of work required with the number of trees I need to add and the fact that it is pretty tedious to do means without the extra work I am more likely to keep posting here (only time will tell if this is wishful thinking).
• I have also, for similar reasons, decided to put updates to 'Map Of The Quest So Far' on hold for now. However, there is every likelihood that I will return to the map at a later date and bring it back to life as it is not that time consuming.

• The last change will be I will no longer be posting so much 'chat' as before but will be much more succinct with basic information etc. I'll also not be so obsessed with making sure I label every tree correctly but simply post all the decent pictures I take.

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 409

Eden Project - Breaking the 400mpt Barrier

I was rather excited as we headed off to the Eden Project because I was aware they had planted a huge forest of trees as part of the global effort to protect the Monkey Puzzle tree. Apparently they are the largest ex-situ collection of wild collected Monkey Puzzle trees in the world.

Having spent the best part of the day exploring the wonderful Eden project's main site me and Nathalie set off to locate the Wild Chile zone that is just outside the main area. For anyone interested in just seeing the Monkey Puzzle trees the area is actually free to enter as it is not inside the main complex.

As you walk up the path that leads to the trees you get a glimpse of what is to come as you catch sight of some of the larger trees peeking above the shrubs to your right. However, the first actual sight of so many Monkey Puzzle trees grouped together took my breath away. It took a while for my brain to actually register what it was seeing, Monkey Puzzle tree nirvana!.

Eden 1

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We spend a good while looking around the forest, taking in the magnificent trees and their surroundings. I can't wait to return, especially to see the trees when they have begun to fully mature. So that was the end of our Monkey Puzzle tree adventures in Cornwall 2016 but the holiday wasn't over, our next stop on the way home was to see probably the group of Monkey Puzzle trees I have wanted to see the most since finding out about their existence.

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 409

Cornwall - A Monkey Puzzle Tree Spotter's Heaven

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.

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!

Tregrehan House 1

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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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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