Trebah Garden

About the garden

Trebah is a sub-tropical paradise with a beautiful coastal backdrop, set within one of Cornwall’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the result of nearly 200 years of inspired and dedicated creation.   

Discover the magic of this beautiful valley garden with more than four miles of footpaths. Explore under canopies bursting with exotic blooms. Follow vibrant tunnels of colour that cascade down to a secluded beach on the idyllic Helford River. 

Trebah offers visitors a year-round experience. In spring, the garden comes alive with a colourful array of 100-year-old rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias forming a rolling canopy of colour. In summer, the giant gunnera is a must-see for young and old, forming tunnels that can be explored beneath its mammoth leaves, which often grow to be two metres wide – the largest leaves found growing outside in the UK!

In autumn, Hydrangea Valley casts clouds of china blue and soft white across Mallard Pond and in winter, spectacular champion trees dominate the landscape, while plants from the southern hemisphere flower. Trebah is home to nine UK champion trees, either the tallest or of the biggest girth of their kind, including the iconic Chusan Palm at nearly 15 metres high.

2023 saw the addition of the Court Garden; a delightful new accessible walled garden at Trebah. Situated between the car park and the visitor centre, it's the perfect way to start or end a visit and is packed with colour and scent, with many plants grown in Trebah's own nursery.

The unique character of the garden can be attributed to the areas of mass planting of Victorian collectables from around the globe – most plant hunters of this time made collections of one or two specimens whereas at Trebah whole vistas are filled, such as the breathtaking Hydrangea Valley, providing two acres of summer colour. The 'bamboozle' is home to nearly 50 species of bamboo and the impressive mass planting of the Gunnera manicata, or giant rhubarb, which is equally as impressive in winter when it forms an eerie pre-historic landscape as it declines into its boggy bed.