Lanhydrock House
Lanhydrock House, two and a half miles south of Bodmin and overlooking the richly wooded valley of the River Fowey, is the grandest and most popular stately home in the county of Cornwall, set in a 450 acre estate.The house is reached via a long avenue of sycamores planted in 1648 and is guarded by an elaborate Gatehouse.
The house dates from the seventeenth century but was the victim of a disastrous fire in 1881 which destroyed much of the original building, only the crenellated gatehouse and the Long Gallery with its plaster ceiling depicting biblical scenes was one of the few Tudor features to survive. The house was rebuilt in grey granite by the 2nd Baron Robartes.
The tour of Lanhydrock covers 49 rooms, ranging from the main rooms, with their ornate plaster ceilings, luxuriously furnished in the Victorian style to the maid's bedrooms and the great kitchen, which still contains the original Victorian utensils and equipment.
Unlike most gardens in Cornwall, Lanhydrock is not located near to the coast, but well inland. The gardens were laid out from the mid nineteenth century onwards.
There are 22 acres of gardens at Lanhydrock, consisting mainly of herbaceous borders and formal parterres. In front of the house, the gardens, enclosed by granite walls, are formal and contain some superb urns modellled by Louis Ballin, Goldsmith to King Louis XIV of France.
Behind and above the house is the Higher Garden, it contains trees and shrubs planted in the twentieth century among older specimens. Slopes of camellias, rhododendrons and magnolias verge into the woodland beyond. The estate consists in all of 450 acres of woodland and parkland. The house and estate were donated to the National Trust by the 7th Viscount Clifden in 1953.
Opening times
18 March - 30 Sept 11.00 - 5.301 Oct - 31 Oct 11.00 - 5.00