Rare Breed Pig Weekend

Join us at Heligan for our Rare Breed Pig Weekend.

This February, marks 30 years since Tim first discovered Heligan and to celebrate that moment we welcome you to celebrate the thing that first started this story…rare breed pigs!

It all started 30 years ago, not long after Sir Tim Smit and his family had relocated to Cornwall, when the family’s first trip to the county’s Royal Cornwall Show turned into a pivotal moment. They spent most of the day captivated by the rare breeds tent and its inhabitants, and not long after that they rehomed two pot-bellied pigs, Horace and Doris. It was the start of a lifelong love affair of rare breed pigs for Tim and inspired him to create a rare breeds farm in Cornwall.

Whilst searching for land to home his vision of a rare breeds park, Tim came across The Gardens and Estate at Heligan. The discovery of the gardeners’ names on the wall of the Thunderbox Room along with the date 1914, changed the course of travel and Tim was fired by a passion to restore The Gardens. The Lost Gardens of Heligan has gone on to become Europe’s largest garden restoration as well as the ‘Nation’s Favourite Garden’.

Pigs are a massive favourite on Home Farm with staff and visitors alike. We all find it difficult to choose a favourite between our cheeky berkshires, the enormous cornish lops or the chatty colourful tamworths. To also coincide with National Pig Day, we will be welcoming a large variety of pig breeds to Heligan’s second annual Rare Breed Pig Weekend on Saturday 29th Feb – Sunday 1st March. Which piglets will leave you squealing with delight this year?

We hope these characters inspire you to join our campaign to champion our native and rare breeds and that you enjoy this charming event set on the rare breed farm park that is the result of a 30 year old vision, now very much alive.