Topsy Turvy - in or into a state of disorder: Family Holiday March 2017

A lot happened during this holiday, and work has been insanely busy since then, which is why I'm still doing blog posts in June! I hope you're all still there?

So just one day left and The Lost Gardens of Heligan was our destination.

Some background - the 200 acre Heligan Estate has been owned by the Tremayne Family for 400 years from the mid 18th century. During the First World War at least nine of the outdoor staff went off to join up and never returned. The surviving Tremayne - Jack, deeply traumatised, rented out the house and effectively abandoned the gardens to nature, but never sold the property, so it was in a state of hibernation for many decades. In 1990 a descendent of the family introduced Tim Smit - later to be knighted and founder of the Eden Project - to the gardens. An archaeologist by training, he recognised the hidden structures and what you see now is the result.

Probably not this fellow though. Someone has a sense of humour.

The shenanigans just do not stop ...

It was a pretty grey and chilly day. Spring still just a rumour, but here and there are signs of buds and new growth. Espalier fruit trees, I'd like to see these in a month's time.

No guessing what 'thunderbox' means.

This must have been freezing in winter, thankfully there are more modern facilities available. I do wonder though why they found it necessary to put chicken mesh over the hole?

Most pristine garden shed I think I've ever seen!

You can't improve on a good design.

Brightness in a grey day. Thank goodness for green houses.

Daffodil season. There was an exhibition of different varieties of daffodils - who knew there were so many?

We decided that these look like the inside of chocolate marshmallow easter eggs.

Even drains are embellished.

Heligan's Home Farm has many rare and Heritage breeds - sheep, pigs, poultry, cattle, horses. There are even 2 Emu - Queenie and Edmund. We could only see them through mesh and none of the photos showed more than a shadow in the background. They were in quarantine to protect them from a disease doing the rounds.

Happy bees...

Into the Jungle. Yes, a genuine jungle in Cornwall!

And a Lost Valley, with a Burma rope bridge. It wasn't very far off the ground, but you got the idea. Some gritting of teeth was happening here.

Into the woodland, with fields of more daffodils and beautiful hyacinths.

Meet my sons-in-law, Kean and Matt. Each perfect for the relevant daughter. How lucky is that?

Now this is when things got crazy. I don't know how it even started, but the progression of photographs shows the craziness. It all started quite calmly.

And quite quickly the situation deteriorated.

Makes me laugh everytime I look through them. Matt was laughing so hard, he just couldn't any more.

Never a dull moment.

The Mud Maid of Heligan.

Then, because we were already in that part of the country, we headed off to Bodmin Jail. I found this such a strange place, parts were ridiculously dramatic with awful dummys and props, but other parts were really eerie. It was quite interesting, but I was glad to get out of there.