Hello everyone,
It’s December and it remains almost warm enough to walk around in shirt sleeves. This warmth, combined with the mild wet spring has given us a great autumn of colour here at Trebah. Until the recent strong winds the acers have held their leaves, which is really quite late.
Autumn makes way for winter, and with it Christmas. I asked the garden team over lunch what signals the start of the festive period for them and the answer was the flowering of Camelia Nobilissima, an early white camelia which is in flower now. If you’re visiting you can see it down from the Lookout as you gaze over the champion trachicarpus and also on Petry’s path, down towards the Amphitheatre.
The garden has survived the recent strong winds of storms Bert and Conall reasonably well, except we did lose an old rhododendron arboreum just below Tarzan’s Camp on the morning of 1st December. It wasn’t huge, but it somehow had a gnarly character and had sat quite happily on that bank, probably since the 1900s, meaning it’s possibly one of the later Fox plantings at Trebah. If only plants could talk, I’m sure that one would have plenty of stories. It’s somehow sad to see old specimens like this drop and watch as they are cleared away. Winter is not the easiest time to work outside either, so thanks to all on the team for keeping the place looking smart and everything running as it should through the poor weather.
We are putting the final touches to our grotto for the arrival of Santa for the first time in five years from Saturday 7 December. Here for pre-booked story telling style sessions, there are a few tickets left to book online if you’d like to join us. There will be an Elf-trail that the children can enjoy if you’re just dropping in to visit. In Trebah Kitchen, Cath and the team have a fantastic two or three course Christmas menu and are preparing the traditional New Year brunch menu, which will, naturally, be on 1st January.
Thanks, as ever, for your support from us all at Trebah. We will be completely closed as usual on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day to give our staff and volunteers some well-earned time off, re-opening at 9.30am on Friday 27 December.
We look forward to welcoming many of you and your families throughout the festive period.
Happy Christmas to you and yours,
Best wishes, Jon
Trebah CEO
