A visit to Cotehele House

[Paddy Tobin]

David,

I have only now caught up with posting of the past few days and so have only now viewed your photographs from Cotehele. It is obviously a very beautiful place in an excellent setting. Of course, Devon and Cornwall enjoy a great reputation for their gardens. Many thanks.

Lesley, Clianthus punicens is regularly grown as a wall- trained shrub here as it is regarded as being tenderish and is given the protection of a wall. However, I have seen plants grown as free-standing shrubs and they generally fare better. The white flowered cultivar is very attractive.

Paddy

[TC]

Your pictures of Cotehele reminded me of one of our visits here in March.  We came down for the Blackpool show and then continued down to Plymouth amazingly getting by Birmingham without the usual 12 mile traffic jams. My main recollection of the trip to Cotehele was wearing all the warm clothing I had with me and drinking coffees laced with rum to avoid hypothermia.  I should have suspected something when I saw that this was part of the catering on the boat.  However, it is a charming spot with a real feeling for history.  Blundering about the house in the dark because they don't allow electric lights is also interesting !
Nearbye Mount Edgcumbe holds the national Camellia collection and at this time of year is certainly worth a visit.  It is interesting to compare the growing season with the west of Scotland.  I reckon that Spring comes about 3 weeks earlier than up here.  The large flowered Magnolias are in full flower in early March, in an average year whereas, up here it is nearer the end of March.  We  forget how fortunate we are in having a long growing season from South To North

[David Nicholson]

Tom, glad the pictures brought back some memories and I thoroughly approve of your remedy for the avoidance of hypothermia. We go to Mount Edgcumbe quite regularly but haven't been so far this year, it's on the agenda for sometime during the next couple of weeks.

You are right about the early Springs down here (and even more so in Cornwall). If I can sort them out I have some pictures of a Magnolia campbellii, a Champion Tree in full and glorious flower. We do tend to be warmer in Winter, and a lot wetter than most places (Glorious Devon, rains six out of seven) but less hot in Summer than the South Eastern side of England. The trouble is, as this is a tourist area, people tend to think we get "holiday weather" each and every day.