Tresillian, Near Truro, TR2 4AJ
Tel: (01872) 520000
Email: enquiries@tregothnan.co.uk
Web: www.tregothnan.co.uk
The Tregothnan tea plantation is unique and produces the only tea grown in England
Tregothnan has been home to the Boscawen Family since 1335. The Estate is internationally known as the home of English tea.
Tregothnan puts the English into English tea for the first time in history. We planted the first ever tea in the UK in 1999, to create this inimitable Britishness.
The first 300 bushes took root in the Kitchen Garden. Once past the first difficult few years, tea production becomes a lot easier, but it was soon clear that many more bushes would be needed for a credible tea business – the first harvest in 2005 yielded just 28 grams of tea! The world’s first true English tea was heralded as the ‘new Darjeeling’.
Tregothnan has lands across both Cornwall and Kent, with the Home Estate being located in Cornwall, just a few miles outside the historic Cathedral town of Truro. As a private botanic garden and arboretum, Tregothnan is unequalled, offering a diversity of plants and trees, rare collections, sweeping vistas and peaceful secluded groves.
There has been a house and garden at Tregothnan for a very long time. When John de Boscawen Ros of St. Buryan Parish married the heiress Johan de Tregothnan in 1335, he moved his home from the Penzance area to Tregothnan, where his descendants still live. The Tregothnan coat of arms is set over the front door; 'Tregothnan' translated from Cornish means 'The House at the Head of the Valley.'
The original house, in Plantagenet times, lay to the north-west of the present terrace, where a number of ilexes now grow. It was a two-storey building with a battlemented tower containing an arched doorway. Only the old doorway remains - at the entrance of the present kitchen garden. The original house was 'sacked' in the Civil War, and the present house dates from the time of the Protectorate, as confirmed by the date, 1652, carved in stone over the side door.
The entrance to Kitchen Garden is the only surviving part of the original house and dates back to Plantagenet times. Beyond it the original Camellia sinensis (or tea plant) still grow today.
In 1811, Humphry Repton, Norfolkman and landscape designer, reported to Lord Falmouth that the floors of the house had dry rot and were giving way. His report contained plans for re-building the house and landscaping the grounds. Repton died in 1818 and it was another Norfolkman, William Wilkins, who became the architect enlarging the house in the 1820's. Under his direction, the 1652 manor house was re-faced, re-roofed and embodied in the new and enlarged Tregothnan family home.
The house stands today much as Wilkins intended. Tregothnan, home to the Boscawen Family and seat of the Viscounts Falmouth since 1335, remains a real working estate.
Mounted to the rear terrace of the house are Admiral The Hon. Edward Boscawen's cannons, a tribute to the great Cornish Admiral's victories over the French during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). The cannons were cast at John Fuller's famous foundry in Heathfield, Sussex in the eighteenth century, and his initial 'F' can be seen on a trunnion on each gun. Admiral Boscawen is buried at the nearby church of St. Michael Penkivel which also contains his memorial, designed by Robert Adam.
In May 1880 the Prince and Princess of Wales stayed at the house for their visit to Truro.
Today Tregothnan is home to The Honourable Evelyn and Mrs Boscawen and their family.
Whilst the estate is not normally open to the public, the garden is open once a year for our annual charity garden open weekend.
Two miles south-east of Truro, best approached by leaving the A390 at Tresillian Bridge.
Opening TimesGardens Open Once Annually during April Admission Charged |
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