The past keeps resurfacing at Enys house and gardens as volunteers work to rectify years of neglect.

Last week the Packet reported that a 100-year-old bike was found in an area that hadn’t been entered for a century, and since then ornate gardening labels and |paraphernalia were discovered by |gardeners working to unearth the Victorian glasshouses and restore the walled garden.

The team has also uncovered a trunk full of belongings from a Second World War Dutch marine, and years of Enys family ledgers and documents, but more work and more volunteers are needed.

Danni Dixon, head gardener, said: “We need more volunteers, for gardening, woodworking, general stewarding and |the kiosk.

“We have people who normally do a regular day; Wednesdays are our busiest when people come down from 10am to 3pm and do a stint.

“Everyone has got their different skills: It’s not just weeding, we have got more physical jobs.”

Finds at the house include items from the time the house was used to station troops during the Second World War, a tribal mask, a herbarium documenting the flora found by former Enys occupant John Davies Enys, and other artefacts from the travels of the Enys family who lived on the estate.

As well as Danni, there is another volunteer Ben Evans who stays at the |property, and a researcher Clare who is documenting what is discovered, including looking through old estate documents.

Danni said: “Recently we found some really ancient maps. They show the |development of the estate, how it changed after the fire to the way it is now. They show that the walled garden went all the way up to the house.”

The walled garden is one of the areas which Danni hopes to reopen to the public in the future, although it will take |more work.

Danni said: “I’m hoping to bring the |natural gardens back, not too developed. To get the walled garden open, and |other areas.

“It’s a bit like a garden for people to come every year to see the development, and come back next year to see what else has been done. Which people enjoy.”

She said although the estate has always had a gardener, it became neglected after the First World War when many of |the estate workers went away to join the armed forces.

She added: “I want to take it back to a wilderness, a bit like Heligan. Though I think it’s better.”

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