Godolphin Garden is an easy drive away for me and we often pop down there for a walk when doing the supermarket or library run. I know, life is so exciting once you have retired! There are many reasons for liking this garden which I have spoken about before. The lack of crowds, the feeling of it being an ordinary garden with plants suited to the area including allowing native flowers to take their position in the borders and Cornish hedges and among the stone steps around the buildings.
My last visit was in March when spring was just beginning. Three months later it is all change in the garden. Foxgloves, lupins, roses, Phlox, Knautia and Ox-Eye daisies mix and match with other perennial plants. It is a cottage garden and all very soft and romantic. Plants have been selected to benefit bees, butterflies and other pollinators and there is a distinctive buzz as you wander round.

The herbaceous borders in the King’s Garden are overflowing. Where there was once low ground-hugging plants are now towering spikes. The scent of dozens of roses and birdsong fills the air. This sheltered courtyard garden is always the first place I head to and in summer is a real sun-trap.

Sunlight makes the foxgloves glow. Deep rich purple, violet-blue and magenta are softened by clumps of white and pale pinks. Nodding pink-yellow Turk’s cap lilies with their copper hanging stamens stand side by side with the new copper leaves of a rose. A chance planting? Or someone with good plant knowledge.

Moving into the side gardens I am pleased to see the experimental wild flower patch is doing well. I hope that one day the NT will cultivate the large side garden paddock, where the native black bee hives are located, into such a beautiful  sight. They are going to redevelop the old ponds at the top of the garden once the crumbling old out-buildings have been renovated. If these are to be turned into holiday rentals then the money should roll in. I know I would love to stay in a cottage in this garden.

Poppies, corn marigolds, ox-eye daisies, corncockles and cornflowers are among the mixture.

The recent rain and wind has had an affect on the roses here in this less sheltered part of the gardens. I was itching to dead-head some of the balled up heads and mouldy flowers. Meanwhile rich blue Irises, the last of the Peonies, pretty pale Scabious, Knautia macedonica with its dramatic dark-crimson pompoms and sweet-smelling pure white Phlox provide interest and scent in the borders. The garden at Godolphin is being managed for wildlife and to provide a beautiful garden full of flowers and scent for people to enjoy all year. It is certainly one that I enjoy.

Jo’s Monday Walk

• Godolphin Cross,
• Helston,
• Cornwall,
• England,
• TR13 9RE
• Website: Godolphin House