There will be handmade felt products to buy, made by the garden owners, who make and dye their own felt from wool. And as with all gardens opening for the Trust this year there will be a plant stall so visitors can take away a little bit of what they see.

Over the 35 years the owners have lived there, Number 2 has grown from a small cottage plot to a landscaped garden of lawns and shrubberies adjoining eight acres of paddock and woodland. The main garden is divided by mixed shrub borders into separate areas to provide shelter from the prevailing winds while still providing opportunities to enjoy the open views towards St Newlyn East village. Many of the flowering shrubs have been chosen for their wind tolerance.

Part of the garden includes an extensive fruit and vegetable area which has a thriving 20-year-old orchard of traditional Cornish apple varieties, as well as Kea plum trees. Outdoor vegetable beds are now gradually being replaced by protected cropping in polytunnels and new rabbit-fenced raised beds. A particular interest of the owners is the propagation of Ulmus minor var. Daveyi, a locally distinctive form of elm to be seen on their field boundaries.

Beyond the main one and half acre informal gardens, marked by a wild flower border, is a one acre Top Paddock and adjoining six-acre field which provide grazing for the owners’ two horses and a small flock of hens.

The garden continues to evolve year on year with new projects and opportunities, both planned and unplanned and visitors are welcome to explore and enjoy all of the land.

Isabella Hawkes, Community Fundraising Officer for Cornwall Wildlife Trust, says,

“Hundreds of people have already enjoyed the gardens which have opened for the Trust this year, and this is another one not to be missed. Last year a record £21,000 was raised through our Open Gardens event, so when you visit one of our gardens you really are helping with the Trust’s conservation work”.

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To find 2 Trenance Cottages, from A30 (north and south) take the exit signed Mitchell. Go through Mitchell towards St Newlyn East, under the A30 and, past the Cornish Rose Nursery, immediately turn Right. Follow the road for a ½ mile and take Right signed ‘Benny’. Carry on over crossroads, to pair of cottages on a sharp bend. The entrance to the level car park Top paddock is just past the cottages on the right. SW 844 569

Other gardens opening for the Trust this year are: May 19^th Burncoose, Gwennap, Redruth; June 2^nd Little Park Farm, St. Clements, Malpas; June 9^th Boswiddle, Ladock; June 23^rd Lethytep, Penadlake, Lanreath; July 7^th Cornish Cutting Garden, Lower Releath;  July 14^th Arundell, West Pentire; July 28^th Millpool, Cardinham, Bodmin; August 4^th Trenarth, High Cross, Constantine; September 1^st South Bosent, Dobwalls, Liskeard.