Daffodils at Cothele

Having just been to see the daffodils at Saltram we thought we would compare their display with the daffs at Cothele.  Being in the Tamar Valley Cothele is renowned for its daffodils and last weekend was their daffodil weekend so we anticipated a good display.  As we drove down the narrow lanes to Cothele we knew that there will be daffodils in the hedges, but this time it was a much more spectacular display than we had seen before.  .

When we arrived at the  reception desk we were told the daffodils were about a week behind schedule because of the cold weather.  As we walked around the gardens we saw many in flower but more still to come. I would have thought they were more than a week late in flowering.  There were lots of different types of daffodils but they were scattered around the gardens and so did not make the spectacular impact that the daffs at Saltram had done.

Since we had last visited Cothele they had installed some sculptures, but we did not think they added anything to the beauty of the place.

There was a tent in front the garden with daffodils from other Cornwall growers which showed the vast variety of this flower.  A very knowledgeable NT worker was manning this stand and she told us that there were 150 varieties at Cothele, flowering between October and May.

After looking around the gardens we decided to walk in the estate.  I asked at the reception if there were any wild daffodils growing in the surrounding woodland and was told there were some in the Danescombe Valley.  So we purchased a booklet detailing short walks around the estate and chose to do Walk 4, a 2 mile walk in the Danescombe Valley.  This was a good path, with only short muddy patches, which was surprising as we have had so much rain lately.  We had walked from Cothele to and from Calstock in the past but never up the path away from Calstock.  It was a pleasant walk along the river and interesting to see industrial remains.  Unfortunately my camera battery was running out so I could not take many photos but did snap one of the occassional daffodils we saw in the woodland.

There was quite a steep climb up from the valley floor up to Cothele, but the views from the top of the valley were lovely.  No doubt they were more far reaching this time of the year because the trees were not in leaf.  There looked like there were lots of bluebell plants in the woods, so I should imagine it will be a pretty walk when they are out.