"Victoria Clare" wrote after...
"Miss Perspicacia Tick" wrote :

I am planning to go away late Spring/early Summer (my birthday falls
mid-May) and I've been promising myself I'd visit Eden since it
opened. I'd like to hear others' opinions, was it worth the entrance
fee? Also, any recommendations of budget accommodation would be good,
too. I've been looking at hostels (I'm a member of the YHA) but there
don't seem to be any in the vicinity. Just to give you an idea, my
income is £110pw (that's DLA), so I need to budget rather strictly
(though I have thought it might be rather fun to challenge myself and
see what the minimum daily survival amount would be).

There are hostels in Padstow and Fowey: both are lovely places, though I
don't know what the hostels themselves are like. I suspect you may have
some difficulty getting to and from them without a car though. Buses tend
to be a bit irregular. but you did say you wanted to get fit...

If I were on a strict budget, I think I'd be inclined to skip Eden: it is
expensive, and I'm not sure it's really worth the money, though it does
have the advantage that there is loads of public transport going there
from
all over, so it would be easy to get to.

I think the gardens I've been to are mostly distributed along the South
coast - the north one is a bit less sheltered. Trebah is very pretty, and
I also like Mount Edgecombe (which is owned by Plymouth Council, so free
access to the grounds!)

From memory, I think the Camel Estuary is about as flat as it gets round
here, and you can hire bikes too.

Having literally just arrived back from near Camelford...

I think everyone should do Eden and the Lost gardens of Heligan once and
make up their own mind, that said we both prefer the Lost gardens to Eden
which seemed a bit of a tourist trap to us.
Some excellent gardens in that part of Cornwall though, some NT and others
private. Caerhays Castle, Cotehele, Lanhydrok, Mount Edgecumbe, Tregrehan,
Trebah, to name but a few.
Search the net and see what you fancy seeing, depends on your interests.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London