Spring will see a spotlight put on St Michael's Mount - www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk - unique terraced gardens, which open on April 20. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet members of the gardening team, including new head gardener, Lottie Allen. Learn what they do day-to-day and hear about the garden's history and current design.
For many visitors, it is astonishing that a garden exists here, but despite the gales and salty winds, the Gulf Stream tempers the climate so that frosts are a rarity and the rock acts a gigantic radiator – absorbing heat by day and releasing it at night creating a micro-climate in which unlikely plants flourish. Puya, agave and aloe rear out of the bedrock, agapanthus wave their heavy heads, and binding threads of rosemary, lavender and coronilla tumble down the terraces.
A Garden in a Castle Festival (May) will bring the glories of the mount's sub-tropical planting into the castle itself.
With 30 islanders calling the village their home, the mount is a living community. On the village tours (daily at 11am and 2pm) hear about the families which live here, explore the buildings that have played many roles in the village's history, and discover what life here today is like.
At low tide, a cobbled causeway appears from the sea and the mount can be reached on foot. When the tide comes in, boatmen ferry visitors across the water to the island.
Tickets/Opening Times: St Michael's Mount castle, shops and restaurants are open daily (except Saturdays) until November 1.
Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk
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