Trelissick is one of Cornwall’s finest gardens, but it is also becoming one of its most popular. We have been working carefully to create a sustainable future for the whole estate – as well as celebrating its past, protecting nature and helping people to feel part of this special place.
This is an ambitious project that will look at redesigning the car park, creating facilities, restoring woodland, creating better access and a walled garden restoration. Read on to find out more and get updates as the project progresses.
This project will take a few years and will bring a lot of great changes as well as opportunities to conserve wildlife and restore the historic walled garden. Transforming Trelissick means
Year on year Trelissick is welcoming more and more people. As a result, we need to build better facilities for a greater welcome, whilst protecting the estate and natural environment, and bringing history to life.
Since 2016 we have been looking closely at the experience offered as well as undertaking a Conservation Management Plan with key input from experts and national bodies. The ambition is to transform both the experience and enjoyment for everyone who visits Trelissick as well as making sure we can protect and conserve this special place for the future.
The new car park is not planned on the site of the orchard at Trelissick. The new car park planned for Dicky Lane is intended to provide direct access to the northern parts of Trelissick and wider countryside. The area proposed is land outside of the Grade II* listed park and garden, of which much of the estate is designated.
This area of scrub land on which the car park is being proposed does contain some apple trees which were planted here as leftover spares from the creation of the orchard within the private gardens at Trelissick in the 1990s. We make every effort to avoid and minimise tree & vegetation removal as much as possible, but where this cannot be avoided, we have put robust plans in place to mitigate any negative effects.
As part of our car park expansion and increasing visitor access to the north part of the estate, the Trust must ensure a safe crossing point for all visitors across the B3289. With extensive design, consultation and safety assessments we have worked with highways experts to develop a new crossing point to ensure safe access for everyone.
With the creation and separation of two car parks, visitors will be directed, and encouraged, to use either car park depending on the nature of their visit (House/Garden and Woodland/Countryside), whilst visitors will have new flexibility to explore the entire Trelissick estate if they desire - with the creation of new access across the public road, and multiple circular routes throughout the parklands and woodlands.
As the estate becomes more joined up, new corridors will be created for wildlife. Woodland, pasture and parkland will be restored. Grassland and scrub will be sensitively managed to encourage regeneration and provide further habitats for birds and small mammals.
Within the car park development works and North Woodland restoration and management, we have assessed an overall biodiversity net-gain of 33%. The National Trust are delivering net-gains of >100 trees, 400m hedges, 35m of Cornish hedges, and >1ha of former agricultural land allocated for natural generation. We have further environmental gains to come as our plans for the whole project continue to develop - this does not yet include the restoration and planting of the walled garden.
2023
Another key milestone in which we will be formally submitting our plans for the restoration of the Walled Garden, the transformation of the visitor entrance and the restoration of a historic entrance point into the South Parkland from the end of The Street next to the stables and Trelissick house.
A welcoming house and garden set in an estate with stunning maritime views and lovely woodland walks.