Gardens of Heligan: Background information when reading Black Rabbit Hall

Gardens of Heligan

This article relates to Black Rabbit Hall

The grounds of Black Rabbit Hall (In Eve Chase's eponymously named novel) are depicted as lush and untamed, a state of wildness that could be the site of enchantment or of danger. Several times Chase mentions "giant rhubarb" growing wild in the woods around Black Rabbit Hall, a detail that immediately reminded me of a real Cornish garden that seems to share a number of qualities with the abundant foliage encircling Black Rabbit Hall – Heligan.

Heligan was once the home of the Tremayne family, near the Cornish town of Mevagissey. It was a beautiful home surrounded by elaborate, well-tended gardens developed over hundreds of years. But the outbreak of World War I, among other factors, meant that the garden quickly slid into neglect, and between 1914 and 1990, virtually no one even knew that this "secret garden" existed. Only the chance discovery, by one of the Tremayne family descendants, of a door in a garden wall led to the realization that these acres had once been horticultural treasures – and could possibly be again.

Heligan's gardens are still being actively restored, with various thematic areas including an Italian garden, vegetable beds, a series of lakes, a subtropical wild area, with lots of that giant rhubarb, known as "the Jungle", and a "pineapple pit," (a way of growing pineapples in colder climates, which consists of the pineapples surrounded by trenches filled with heat-producing manure and covered in glass walls.) The current caretakers have even incorporated a variety of new thematic and botanical sculptures, which add to the gardens' air of magic and secrecy and serve as a reminder that it's never too late for a season of rebirth.

The Italian Garden, courtesy of Chris Wood
Mud Maid, courtesy of www.trenython.co.uk
The Jungle, courtesy of Melanie Nakisa

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to Black Rabbit Hall. It originally ran in April 2016 and has been updated for the July 2017 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access become a member today.