Opening Dates 2023
Open all year round, check the website for daily visiting times.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays from 6 November
Christmas closure: 23 – 26 December
Specialist Garden Tours with head gardeners, Claire Batten and Jeff Rowe, are available to book via the website.
Facilities
Dogs allowed on short leads for Theatre and Garden Visits
Step free access to upper areas of site only (see website for details)
Toilets on site
Refreshments available
Free car park. Coaches not permitted.
The Minack Theatre Garden is small in scale compared to other Great Gardens, but it contains a wealth of plants that are rarely seen outdoors on mainland Britain. The location literally on the side of a cliff offers breath-taking views across Porthcurno Bay and creates a unique mix of geological and climatic conditions, which enable exotic plants to thrive.
Located within the dramatic setting of the Minack Theatre, the garden is made up of a series of raised beds, each one named after a Shakespearean character. Winding paths and flights of steps weave through the upper areas of the theatre among a patchwork of exquisite, sub-tropical specimens and in summer, curtains of Delosperma and Drosanthemum clothe the rocks in vivid shades of pink and purple.
When Rowena Cade created the Minack Theatre Garden she landscaped the area around the terraced auditorium, but the exotic planting that exists today was developed in the late 1990s. It is now under the care of RHS Gold Medallists, Claire Batten and Jeff Rowe, experts in the cultivation of succulents, Proteaceae and other exotic species who have developed it into a dramatic show garden worthy of the setting. The Minack Theatre Garden is home to one of the largest collections of Aeoniums in the country and is current taking part in a Royal Horticultural Society plant trial on the species.
Microclimates within the garden shelter tender plants from South Africa, South America and the Canary Islands, including such delicate beauties as Aeonium, Aloe, Crassula, Echium and Protea.
‘Of all the gardens I have visited in my long gardening life, none has left me more impressed with the level of cultivation or elevated by the sheer joy it imparts. The impact is emphasised by the backdrop of a turquoise-blue sea, frequently populated by dolphins, whose leaps into the air seem to celebrate the spectacle.’ Alan Titchmarsh © Country Life Magazine, 12 July 2023
The garden lies within the upper levels of the Minack Theatre and the planting is enhanced by the natural granite outcrops and the many etchings created by Rowena Cade in the concrete structures she built on the site, using sand from the beach below.
Throughout the seasons the palette of the garden changes from towering blue spires of Echiums in spring to the vibrant colours of Lampranthus in summer and the iconic blue and white Agapanthus towards Autumn. These bursts of colour stand out from the evergreens that remain the backbone of the garden all year round. Amongst the most dramatic specimens are the Leucadendron argenteum (the Cape Silver Tree), the Aeonium schwarzkopf and Protea cynaroides (the King Protea).
Read about the history of The Minnack Theatre in the link below!
Map
Other Gardens Nearby
Trewidden
Bonython Estate Gardens
