Gyllyngdune Gardens

Nestled between Melvill Road and Cliff Road Gyllyngdune is currently undergoing a £2.3m restoration project, funded in part by the Heritage Lottery and match funded by Cornwall Council and Carrick Leisure Ltd. Gyllyngdune Gardens will reopen in summer 2011 as a flagship project for Cornwall.

Rev. W J Coope created many of the features that still stand today, many of which have remained hidden for several years. These include a Stonehenge-type monolithic arch, beautiful shell-decorated seats and a 9 metre deep quarry garden - which once provided the ideal location to collect and display a quintessential Victorian fernery and natural curiosities from native and foreign locations. Also located in the quarry garden is the shell grotto (or shell cave), another highly Victorian component of the gardens. Another distinctive feature is the miniature building known locally as the chapel, which overlooks the seafront on Cliff Road. The chapel was probably used as a summerhouse from where the family could walk through the custom tunnel straight onto a private beach; known today as Tunnel Beach.

Since the Princess Pavilion complex was built, the more formal walled garden has been regularly maintained and can be distinguished by features including a veranda and listed cast-iron Edwardian bandstand, flowerbeds and a rose walk. However, the same cannot be said for the lower gardens, which have remained overgrown and relatively untouched for many years. Many of the original features still remain in this area. With the unwanted foliage already cut back, specialist heritage craftspeople, gardeners and conservators are set to renovate the lower gardens and open them up to the world once again.