Antony - Garden and Estate
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The garden is not really large enough to justify a visit for itself only. It is, however, well worth allowing the time to look round the garden after you have seen the house. The views from the terrace at the north front of the house are superb: to the north, avenues offering vistas to the River Lynher; to the east a long avenue leading past a red brick dovecot to a distant temple. The garden itself has a summer garden, a knot garden, a yew walk, topiary of a bell and a tepee, and a colourful small pool guarded by a heron sculpture. At the far end of the yew walk is a temple bell from Burma, flanked by Japanese granite lanterns. Maintenance is all you would expect from the National Trust.
Antony, pool and dovecot from the North Front
View to Antony Passage from the Woodland Garden
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Antony House, Garden and Woodland Garden
Antony House is the ancestral home of the Carew Poles who have been here since the late 15th century. Their present home is a charming early Georgian mansion - but with more Christopher Wren to it than the Robert Adam. Contents, though of no great significance, are most enjoyable - portraits by Reynolds (a local man closely associated with Saltram House in Devon), sporting paintings by Sartorius, Chinese Chippendale furniture, Waterford crystal and Ming dynasty figures. Gardens by the house are pleasant and varied - at one end of an avenue there is an unexpected temple bell from Mandalay - but the best of the garden is the separate Woodland Garden (unlike the house, not National Trust but still owned by the family), a hundred acres with a National Collection of Camellias, the (for Cornwall) inevitable rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias - and glorious views over the Rivers Lynher and Tamar and across to the tiny harbour of Anthony Passage. Anthony House is on the Rame Peninsula, in the far south-east of Cornwall. It is accessible also by ferry from Plymouth on the the Devon side of the River Tamar; a car ferry runs from Devonport to Torpoint, a passenger ferry runs from Stonehouse to Cremyll. In addition to a shop there is also a tearoom but, if you enjoy a pub, best places to eat nearby are the Edgcumbe Arms in Cremyll and the Halfway House in Kingsand.
Caerhays Castle
The Caerhayes Estate has only changed hands once in over 600 years. But for the profligacy of the man who built the castle, it might not have changed hands then. The Trevanions acquired the estate - stretching from Portloe to Mevagissey - in 1370. Nothing is known about the homes they built until, around 1805, John Bettesworth Trevanion hired architect John Nash to build the present house. Nash's extravagance bankrupted Trevanion and the entire contents of the castle, even the lead off its roof, were sold. Eventually John Williams - major Cornish mine owner and banker - bought it in a state of dereliction in 1855.
Cotehele House
We had last been at Cotehele in 1988 so, on a glorious sunny March Sunday in 2003, we decided to re-visit, as we have many times since. Set high above the broad River Tamar, Cotehele was in the Edgcumbe family for 600 years until gifted to the National Trust. There is a lot to see - the House, two Gardens, Cotehele Quay - with a small maritime museum and restored Tamar Sailing Barge - and a working water mill. Thanks to the Edcumbes building a new mansion in 1553 on the Rame Peninsula opposite Plymouth, Cotehele remains a little altered Tudor manor. Its small-scale but rambling interior is furnished mostly with Jacobean oak. Walls are hung with rich tapestries and bedrooms have handsome four-poster beds with crewel-work hangings. Highlights include a massive 400-year-old walnut veneered cabinet with Adam and Eve carvings, an ornate mirror painted around 1700 by Boldini and, in the White Bedroom, a 1688 mirror bordered by entertaining stump-work . There is a short introductory film and a good restaurant and shop. In the east wing there is an art and craft gallery. Try to avoid dull days as the National Trust believes in low light, in order to conserve ancient textiles and paintings.