Prideaux Walled Garden has a long and varied history with the people of Padstow.
The site has been used horticulturally for hundreds of years. It remains part of the Prideaux estate and owned by the Prideaux-Brune family.
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Hand drawn surveys from 1794 show that the Bothy was already operating as a shop, surrounded by several gardens and a 'Pleasure House'. (!)
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In 1870 the garden was fully enclosed; built in the 1890’s the Peach Houses, originally running the width of the terrace, were heated by underground pipes, allowing a year round supply of exotic fruit.
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Into the 1900’s, the garden provided Prideaux Place and the town with cut flowers, fruit and vegetables until after the Second World War. Until the 1980's the Bothy at the bottom of the garden has been remembered by locals for selling anything from produce to bicycles.
The enormous cost of maintaining a walled garden led to its closure to the public in the late 1980’s. In the years afterwards, the site was partially in use but ivy and brambles slowly took over the walls and paths.
In time, the original structures began to deteriorate, including part of the last remaining glasshouse.
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In 2019 Nick and Martha Prideaux Brune took on the restoration project. Much of the early work was structural, uncovering the walls and restoring the semi-derelict gardener’s bothy. Beds, borders and paths were re-instated, following the garden’s original layout.
Photo from 1894 showing the newly built Peach Houses. The adjoining orchard to the right can also be seen, and Gardener's Cottage at the top left. (photo: Francis Frith Collection ©)
The garden post-war in 1948; at this time the Bothy was open as a shop where locals remember buying their fruit and veg. (photo: Carmen Hocking)
The garden in 1990. The left Peach House disintegrated in the late 80s but the walls and espaliers can be seen. The garden was turned over as extra farmland after it's closure.
2023
In the Summer of 2023 we welcomed visitors back into the garden after 30 years of closure. With a focus on regenerating the soil health and inviting nature in with pollinator-friendly naturalistic planting, we are bringing the garden back to productivity, growing with organic and No-Dig principles. A plan for the lower section was designed by the Land Gardeners, re-establishing an ornamental and cut flower garden. The top section is Kitchen Garden and wildflower meadow interplanted with fruit bushes; work is underway to restore the espaliers of apple and pear trees, old Cornish varieties original to the garden. We are a small team of three, plus our growing team of volunteers.
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Martha Prideaux-Brune
Martha has managed the project since taking it on with Nick, coordinating the ongoing restoration work and overall vision for the garden.
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Emma Restorick
Emma is our Head Gardener, establishing our organic and No-Dig growing principles, working with the Farm Net Zero project run by Farm Carbon Toolkit and Duchy College.
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Susannah Mitchell
Susannah joined the project as a garden volunteer in 2021 and now runs our shop in the Bothy alongside programming our workshops and events.