Chyverton Garden

Zelah, nr Truro, Cornwall TR4 9HD

Tel: 01872 540324

Fax: 01872 540648

The core of the house at Chyverton was built in 1730 and in 1770 two wings were added by John Thomas, a wealthy mine owner. Over the next 55 years he created a Georgian landscape garden on the property: he dammed a small stream to form a lake, built a bridge and a walled garden and planted 94 acres of woodland.

The first rhododendrons, for which Chyverton Garden is renowned, were planted in 1890; most of them are the old hybrid Cornish Red and many are of an immense size, perhaps the largest in cultivation in Europe. The garden also has notable magnolias and camellias and a fine collection of conifers. In 1924 the estate changed hands for the first time and became the home of Treve and Muriel Holman, keen gardeners who added many exotic plants brought back from plant hunting trips to the Far East and who created a woodland garden.

The whole garden is looked after by their son Nigel, who has encouraged the wild and natural appearance that is such a feature. Some of the plants are named after Treve Holman and Nigel's late wife Elisabeth, and in the memorial garden is a wooden bridge designed by Nigel that commemorates the death of Treve in 1959.