Spring in Cornwall

I have just spent a very happy week at Duloe Manor, a complex of self-catering holiday apartments and cottages near Looe in Cornwall. The main house was built in the 1690s for the Rectors of the local church. The whole complex is set in lush gardens of around three acres: a few mixed beds contained lovely combinations of saxifrages, irises and other familiar perennials while in less formal areas, swathes of wild garlic provided backdrops for beautiful pink campions as well as English bluebells in full bloom. In the car park several banks of pale yellow primroses remained stubbornly but delightfully in flower! Majestic rhododendrons provided splashes of magenta and purple.

Two features were particularly memorable.  The first was the graceful entrance to the lower areas of the garden created by a group of magnificent oaks. These Lucombe oaks (hybrids of Quercus suber, the cork oak and Quercus cerris, the Turkey oak) were just coming into leaf and promised a substantial canopy in high summer.  The Duloe trees are probably around 250 years old. The variety is named after William Lucombe (active 1720-1780s), who set up one of the earliest commercial plant nurseries in the South West. The trees were particularly prized by local boat builders for the natural curvature of their substantial branches. Lucombe successfully marketed holm oaks, Quercus ilex making them a popular ‘exotic’ for larger gardens in the South of England. We have several specimens of these impressive trees in the gardens of Charlton House.

The second memorable feature was a bed of narcissi. Although most had ‘gone over’, we were lucky that a few were still in flower. These white, delicate, many petalled, Pheasant eye daffodils were gorgeously scented. We were told by one of the gardeners that they are known as ‘Tamar lilies’ and are extremely rare. Specimens, natural hybrids, had been found relatively recently in the Tamar valley where they are still largely confined. He recommended a Cornish bulb supplier but unfortunately they don’t appear to be offering this variety for sale at the moment. So this is something I will be looking out for at Chelsea this year!  

Stella B