Centre for Nature Futures
Open the door to the unexpected
Step away from the familiar. Get a little lost. Make room for what comes next.
There is a certain magic in not quite knowing what lies around the next bend.
A path disappears into the trees. A conversation takes an unexpected turn. Something that had been quietly waiting finds its way into the light.
At Heligan, we have always understood that some things are worth getting lost for.
Here, amongst the wild edges of a rediscovered landscape, the Centre for Nature Futures offers a place to step beyond the everyday. To gather, to wander, to wonder a little. To leave the door ajar for whatever might find its way in.
Bring your people. Bring your questions. Bring the beginnings of an idea.
Whether you are looking for a place to gather, a day to share or a new path to explore together, our Nature Futures team will help you find your way.
Who knows what might grow from here?
Find your place
Some places invite you to arrive with a plan. Others leave you wondering where the day might lead.
The Centre for Nature Futures is a little of both.
Set within the landscape of The Lost Gardens of Heligan, our contemporary event spaces offer a place for meetings, conferences, workshops and gatherings of all kinds. Beyond the windows, the landscape carries on changing, growing and quietly doing its own thing.
Perhaps you'll come to work through an important question. Perhaps you'll bring together people who rarely have the chance to sit around the same table. Or perhaps you simply need somewhere that feels a little removed from the world outside.
Whatever brings you here, there is room to make the day your own.
The Seedpod
Room to gather. Space to think big.
Our larger event space, the Seedpod offers a light-filled, flexible setting for corporate meetings, conferences, presentations, workshops and larger gatherings.
Accommodating up to 175 people in theatre-style seating, with a separate, smaller space for more intimate sessions, the Seedpod gives your event room to take shape. Audio-visual facilities, a self-contained kitchenette and views across Heligan's orchard and wetland landscape bring together the practicalities of business and a setting that feels a world away from the everyday.
Whether you're bringing colleagues together from across Cornwall or welcoming a wider audience, the Seedpod offers space for ideas to be shared, conversations to unfold and new possibilities to take root.
The Lodge
A smaller space for closer conversations.
Sometimes, the best things happen around a smaller table.
The Lodge is our more intimate event space, accommodating up to 30 people. Suited to smaller meetings, focused workshops and close-knit team gatherings, it offers a quieter setting in which to listen, reflect and let ideas find their own direction.
Use it for a dedicated meeting, a smaller group within a wider event or as part of a bespoke nature-connected experience.
Whether you need the generous space of the Seedpod or the more intimate setting of the Lodge, our Nature Futures team can help you find the right fit for your people and your plans.
Room to gather. Space to wander. A place to begin.
A DAY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
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Somewhere to get lost
Away from the familiar rhythms of the working day, there are paths to wander, conversations to stumble upon and ideas waiting to be found. At Heligan, getting a little lost can be the beginning of something wonderful.
Our bespoke corporate away days invite your team to step into the story of The Lost Gardens of Heligan. To reconnect, find fresh inspiration and see what might grow when the everyday falls away.
Every away day begins with a conversation about your people and what matters to them. From the welcoming spaces of the Seedpod or Lodge to nature-led activities, guided experiences and seasonal food prepared by our Head Chef, Tom Hannon, we'll help you shape a day that feels entirely your own.
A day of discovery
Find one another. Step beyond familiar roles and rediscover the people beside you.
Lose the usual perspective. Give new ideas space to wander and unexpected thinking room to grow.
Reconnect with nature. Explore the living landscape and discover the wisdom held within it.
Find time to pause. Leave the rush behind and allow a little breathing room.
Be part of Heligan's story. Discover a place shaped by nature, forgotten paths and the remarkable possibility of renewal.
Let the day find its own way.
Perhaps there's something to celebrate, a new chapter beginning or simply a need to spend time together somewhere different.
Whatever brings you here, we'll help you create a corporate away day shaped around your team, with room to explore, time to reconnect and the freedom to follow a path less travelled.
Come with a purpose, or come without a map. You never know what you might find when you get a little lost at Heligan.
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A little further into the wild
Team building, the Heligan way.
There is another side to the people we work with. Sometimes you meet it on a winding path, over a shared discovery or in the middle of something none of you has tried before.
Our Nature Futures practitioners can lead bespoke team-building workshops and nature-connected experiences inspired by the living landscape of Heligan.
Depending on your brief, the season and the activities available, your day might include:
The art of noticing — discovering the wildlife, plants and hidden details that reveal themselves when we look a little closer.
Learning from the landscape — exploring beavers, wetlands and the ever-changing relationships between living things.
A different kind of conversation — guided walks that allow time for reflection, connection and thoughts to wander.
Making and imagining — creative workshops inspired by the natural world and the freedom to see things differently.
Following the seasons — exploring our connection to the land and the things that grow from it.
Each experience can be discussed with our team and shaped around your group.
No need to know exactly what you're looking for. Sometimes curiosity is quite enough.
Come curious. Leave closer.
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Things take root in their own time
Nature, people and the possibilities between them.
A garden is never quite finished. Neither, perhaps, are we.
There is always something taking shape beneath the surface, a new connection forming, another way of seeing things beginning to emerge.
The landscape around the Centre for Nature Futures offers a place to spend time with these ideas. For businesses thinking about their relationship with nature, their values or the future they hope to help create, it can be a starting point for conversations that are still finding their words.
For others, the value may lie in the simple act of stepping away, looking around and allowing a different perspective to take hold.
Our Nature Futures team can help you explore nature-connected experiences that reflect your interests and ambitions.
You don't need to arrive with a finished question.
Some of the most interesting ones begin here.
A landscape that knows something about beginnings
Lost, found and always becoming.
Heligan has a story of its own.
A garden disappeared beneath the years, its paths swallowed by green, its possibilities waiting quietly out of sight. Then came the rediscovery: the opening of a door into another time, and the extraordinary work of bringing a lost landscape back to life.
That spirit of curiosity and care continues today, through the gardens, the recovering habitats and the work of bringing people closer to the natural world.
The Centre for Nature Futures is part of that unfolding story.
By gathering here, your business becomes part of a place committed to nature-connected learning, education and nature recovery.
For Cornish businesses, it is a chance to meet within a landscape deeply rooted in the county. For those coming from further afield, it is an invitation to discover somewhere a little different.
And if we opened the door?
Let's see where it leads.
Perhaps you have a gathering in mind. Perhaps a team in need of a change of scene. Perhaps only the first flicker of an idea.
We would love to hear about it.
Our Nature Futures team can talk with you about corporate venue hire, bespoke away days, team-building experiences and seasonal catering, helping you explore the possibilities for your group.
We'll discuss which space best suits your gathering, whether that's the larger Seedpod for up to 175 people in theatre-style seating or the smaller Lodge for up to 30 people.
Venue hire prices and bespoke experience costs are discussed individually with our team, so we can understand your requirements and help you explore the available options.
Contact Us
If you'd like to learn more about holding your corporate event or hiring our venues at the Centre for Nature Futures, contact us with your ideas to start planning your perfect experience and we will get back to you with all the information.
Client Testimonials
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Leap Media
That was an amazing team day. We wanted to be surrounded and in nature, to reflect and revitalise ourselves for the year ahead. Heligan was perfect. Everything from the food to our well being walk, through to finishing the day off at the night garden made our end of year review a fantastic experience for the whole team. Thanks to the Heligan team for helping to pull it all together. Simon Thomason, Leap
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