Pine Lodge Revisited 2008 to 2014
Lodge Revisited 2008 to 2014
In 2008 (or was it 2009?) the Clemos sold Pine Lodge Garden and Pinetum to Chang Li. At this time Shirley Clemo had recently completed her new Winter Garden, dedicated to the memory of her brother Bryan. It took three years to complete and its scale explains why. Even then, needing time to fill out, it was already impressive. Our most recent visit to Pine Lodge was in September 2014. By that time the winter garden had matured and filled out superbly. The stag statue which had stood rather lonely amongst rocks in 2009 was now surrounded by luxuriant heathers and shrubs. Colourful flowers and shrubs were everywhere. We had visited Pine Lodge again in 2010 for the snowdrops. At that time, going round the rest of the garden, we had felt that maintenance was poor. Not so on our September 2014 visit when all was immaculate. We have always enjoyed the Pinetum, even when it was in its infancy. Now it is maturing nicely and we were astonished by how varied its colours were. We had both lunch and tea in the (independently operated) restaurant. It had changed hands since 2010 but was still as good - and as good value - as ever. You can eat in the restaurant without having to pay the garden entry charge; many local people do. We also met new owner Chang Li and congratulated him on his care of Pine Lodge.
A small corner of the large Pinetum
More in Gardens
Pinsla Garden
Compared with Cornwall's many major gardens, this one, Pinsla near Bodmin, is decidedly minor. When we went in mid October 2003 we were their only visitors. We rather enjoyed having the place to ourselves, though Pinsla's claims to be a combination of Utopia, Post Modernism and ideal English gardening struck us as a little pretentious. We found it to be a very pleasant, casual acre and a half of mixed planting around a charming lodge cottage - but no more. The 'sculpture' is largely best ignored. There is a good value nursery; good teas served in the garden.
Prideaux Place Garden
We had greatly enjoyed a house tour of Prideaux Place a few years ago. Later we learned that the gardens, which had disappointed us then, were under restoration under the aegis of Tom Petherick of Heligan fame. So in July 2008 we combined a walk from Harlyn Bay to Padstow with a visit to Prideaux Place Garden. We were delighted that so much that had been closed to us before was now open. A sign led us across the bridge over the road to the quarry garden (still to be restored) and to the deer park (a small herd grazing and views over the Camel Estuary to Roughtor and Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor). Not far from the deer park entrance is the newly discovered well that may be St. Petroc's original holy well while, at the edge of the lawn is an ancient Cornish Cross. A woodland walk then leads round to the formal garden. Sensibly no attempt has been made to recreate the original; instead a fountain pool with water lilies is surrounded by simple box-edged beds set in lawned areas. A massive amount of clearing has been done in the woodland areas, an avenue of limes has been planted as have spring shrubs and bulbs. The restoration still has some way to go to reach maturity but is well worth seeing, most particularly in conjunction with the house tour. We enjoyed our usual cream tea on the front terrace.
Probus Demonstration Garden
Describing itself as 'The Really Useful Garden', Probus Garden was established during the 1960s by Cornwall County Council. Its management was later taken over by the Friends of Probus Garden. Sadly visitor numbers have been poor and now there are worries for its future. The County Council, which still owns the site, has done a deal with a Wadebridge garden centre to build a vast garden centre on part of the site while retaining the demonstration gardens. The Friends fear their garden, lovingly cared for by one full time gardener and twenty volunteers, will be 'Chelseafied'. But the garden centre owner insists the commercial link is essential to its future.