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Charcoal from the Lost Valley of Heligan,
Mevagissey, Cornwall.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan are renowned
both for their natural beauty and the romance of their
rediscovery and restoration after seventy years asleep.
In the spring of 1991, the Gardens of
Heligan lay under a blanket of bramble, ivy, rampant laurel
and fallen timber. A year later, the restoration team opened
the gardens to enable the public to share in the excitement
of their discovery.
The award winning gardens extend to some
eighty acres of superb pleasure grounds together with a
magnificent complex of walled gardens and a huge, productive
vegetable garden, all fast returning to their former glory.
More than just a visitor attraction, Heligan is also a
working estate.
Charcoal was produced on the site as many
as 400 years ago. Today, the charcoal is a bi-product of
Heligan’s new woodland management plan that has been devised
to ensure the long-term survival of the woodlands and
improve the woodland ecology. Dangerous or diseased trees
and undesirable plants including sycamore and Rhododendron
ponticum, are gradually being removing and replaced with
healthy tree species appropriate to ancient semi-natural
broadleaf woodland and in keeping with the landscape and
history of Heligan.
Heligan have been assisted by Working
Woodlands who support the forestry industry in the southwest
and have been approved by the Forestry Commission and
certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. This
guarantees that Heligan’s management is sustainable and that
all their timber products including their charcoal are
approved by this scheme. |
