Paradise found

A LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF A MOST TREASURED SPACE

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Before leaving, several of them signed their names on the wall of a small lavatory behind the greenhouses - now known as the Thunderbox Room beneath the words: “Don’t come here to sleep or slumber.”

It was an informal roll call, left behind when none of them knew if they would come back.

With the work-force gone and post-war society shifting, Heligan entered a long period of decline. By the 1920s, the Tremayne family had moved, and the house was let to tenants. The gardens became wild, glasshouses collapsed, borders disappeared, and structures were swallowed by vegetation.

That might have been the end of the story, if not for a chance encounter in the early 90s. Tim Smit, an archaeologist turned music producer, had moved to Cornwall. He met John Willis, a Tremayne descendant who had just inherited the land, and together they began exploring what remained.