Between a Lanhydrock and a hard place...

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15 June 2010

Lanhydrock and the Luxulyan Valley

It would be unfair to say that we left the best 'til last because, on this holiday in Devon and Cornwall, we've seen some truly remarkable places and some great houses. However, I think Lanhydrock, set in a densely wooded valley of the River Fowey near Bodmin, must rank among the best.

But was Castle Drogo (Wild Dartmoor) more unusual? Or did Heligan (Lost and found) have more interesting gardens? Did Coleton Fishacre (Topsham is tops!) have more atmosphere? Or was The Eden Project (The garden of Eden) better presented? Or...? Oh, how can one possibly decide without offending someone? Now do you see why I'm between the proverbial (Lanhyd)rock and a hard place?

Perhaps we enjoyed our visit to Lanhydrock so much because this wonderfully grand house had such a variety of interest above and "below stairs", something that most of the others didn't.

Maybe it was because one could easily imagine everyday life in former times, something generally missing from the others (except perhaps Coleton Fishacre).

Or, possibly, it was because the house and its grounds were immaculately maintained and presented to reflect the grandeur of those days - and there were no petty restrictions about photographing the treasures in any part of the house.

Whatever it was, we really wouldn't hesitate to visit this one again and again in the future.

This property, originally built in the early-17th century, was lucky to survive into the 21st. Its isolated position and sometimes unfashionable architecture meant it was considered for demolition in the 1750s and again, after an almost catastrophic fire, in 1881. The owning family diminished throughout the 20th century and, when the National Trust accepted it in 1953, it did so for the landscape value of the park and estate. The house itself was considered a white elephant. However, it has been so well restored and presented that, to our mind, it is the house that is the jewel of the estate.

Its historic connections to the Robartes family, from when it was acquired by ultra-wealthy Richard Robartes around 1620 right up to Julia Agar-Robartes, the last of the family to live in the house and who died as recently as 1969, are complex to say the least. So, I won't dwell on that. Suffice to say that what we see now is down to the 2nd Lord Robartes. Let me explain:

In April 1881, an exposed timber in the kitchen chimney caught fire. Fanned by a strong wind, the flames quickly spread and the Jacobean structure of the building was severely damaged. The 1st Lord Robartes (Thomas James) and his wife, resident there at the time, survived. Alas, Lady Robartes died a few days later from shock and, the following year, Lord Robartes followed suit, reputedly of a broken heart. Before doing so, however, he gave instructions for the damaged structure to be restored to how it was before the fire.

Their son, the 2nd Lord Robartes (Thomas Charles), took over the task, building-in lots of anti-fire measures and commissioning progressive architects to design an interior in keeping with the then more up-to-date style of the Aesthetic Movement. So, here we now have an ancient-looking exterior and a Victorian interior. It was the height of fashion, don't you know?!

Entering by the gatehouse, a former hunting lodge dating from 1651, there's a broad, gravelled walkway flanked by lawns and 29 sentinel clipped yews. There's also a formal parterre with box-edged geometric beds filled with colourful flowers. The wider estate has some lovely herbaceous borders and parkland walks with views towards the valley of the River Fowey. In all, the estate owned and managed by the National Trust totals 367 hectares (910 acres).

The house itself is remarkable in that it has been carefully and cleverly interpreted using genuine items of the Agar-Robartes family's belongings. These have been displayed as if the family and their servants had just gone away for a fortnight's holiday and would be back soon.

I could probably bore you for hours with the detail of this wonderful property. Instead, I'll leave you to enjoy the photographic tour of the house and its gardens, with snippets of information in the captions, which you'll find in the 40 or so pictures below.

*****

After several hours touring Lanhydrock, including quite a few rests on seats in the house and among the herbaceous borders, and a picnic lunch looking out to the parkland, we made our way back to our holiday cottage in Tregrehan.

On several journeys during the past few days, we'd seen a sign to the unusually-named Luxulyan Valley. So, while the sun was shining and as it was on our route, we wound our way through country lanes to the start of the valley at the village of Luxulyan.

We drove slowly through the steep-sided and thickly wooded valley of the River Par on a winding, single lane road. The valley is said to contain a major concentration of early 19th-century industrial remains and was designated as part of a World Heritage Site in 2006. Most of the remains hereabouts apparently result from the endeavours of Joseph Treffry (1782-1850), who owned one of the deepest, richest and most important of the Cornish copper mines and built an artificial harbour at Par. The woods were important too for making charcoal that was needed in large quantities for smelting tin from deposits on the moors to the north-west.

We didn't see much trace of anything remotely industrial until, rounding a bend, we came across a towering structure that turned out to be a viaduct both taller and longer than the one spanning the Mimram valley at Digswell near our home town in Hertfordshire. The one here had been a dual-purpose tramway viaduct and aqueduct used for transporting ore and water to Treffry's works, and it ran for around 5 kilometres (3 miles). It was an interesting sight amid attractive scenery.

*****
Then it was back the last few miles to Tregrehan (An ideal base in a lovely area) for yet another well-earned pot of tea.

Our restful week had turned out to be anything but! We wouldn't have missed a minute of it, however!

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This brings to an end my ramblings about a very enjoyable West Country break. Clearly, we only managed to scratch the surface of Pat's home county of Devon and its neighbour, Cornwall. As always, we have to save something for next time - and a 'next time' there will surely be!

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Photos

Does this ring any bells?
It did when the Robartes family lived here!

The pathway to the house
The house is reached by this wide gravelled path with lawns and clipped yew trees on each side.

Fire precautions
They didn't even have this rudimentary fire engine at the time of the great fire which engulfed the house in 1881.

The gatehouse
...viewed through the clipped yew trees.

In the Luxulyan Valley
The Treffry Viaduct spans the thickly wooded valley of the River Par. There are 10 of these 40 feet (12.2 metres) arches and they're around 100 feet (30.5 metres) high.

Tregrehan Gardens
The walled garden, just a two-minute stroll from the front door of our cottage.

Lanhydrock - the parterre
Immaculate!

The front door to the house
This 17th-century panelled front door is heavily carved in oak with the heraldic devices of the 1st Baron Robartes. It somehow escaped the fire of 1881.

The Outer Hall
Just a corner of it, with its oak panelling and Robartes family portraits.

Wine with every course, of course!
A different wine would be served with each course of a meal. In 1886, the cellars held more than a thousand bottles of sherry, champagne, hock, claret, port, whisky, rum and brandy.

The dining room
Carvings of naturalistic grapes and vines decorate the ceiling, while deep-relief carvings on parts of the panelled walls carry food and drink themes.

The kitchen
The 1881 fire started here and what we see today is the re-created room of 1884. Designed in the style of a college hall, this large room has a gabled roof and high windows to allow unpleasant smells and heat to escape.

The Kitchen Scullery
This would have been a very busy room. Fresh produce from the kitchen garden and game from the estate was received here and prepared by the cook, two kitchen-maids, a scullery maid and a dairy-maid.
Prior to the First World War, the estate employed about 80 staff in total.

A corridor
Watercolours, mementoes and game trophies line the well-proportioned corridors throughout the house.

Almost theatrical...
Through the granite arch into the Lobby, the big game trophies introduce a masculine preserve common to many large late Vicorian homes.

The Steward's Room
The steward controlled the financial aspects of the estate. His room was carefully placed close to the service courtyard door so that tenants could enter the house, pay their rents, and leave without being seen.

The Billiard Room
The 2nd Lord Robartes had a passion for billiards from his time as a student at Christ Church, Oxford, in the 1850s.

Captain Tommy's Bedroom
Thomas ('Tommy') Agar-Robartes, a Liberal Member of Parliament and subsequently a captain in the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards died from wounds received during the Battle of Loos, France, in 1915. His crocodile skin and leather dressing case is shown on his bed.

In the Day Nursery
The Nursery Suite, with its own scullery, bathroom and nanny's room was situated well away from the adult areas of the house. Nanny would amuse the children in her care with tunes played on the upright piano in the Day Nursery.

In the Day Nursery
An elegant doll and a pair of children's shoes.
There was a Night Nursery too, where up to four infants would sleep until old enough to move into bedrooms of their own.

Overflow luggage
Most of the family's luggage was stored in a dark, musty attic room. When they weren't travelling, the leather trunks and suitcases overflowed into the servants' quarters.

Comments

[Rose]

Great photos as usual Mike. Heligan was my favourite over Eden - loved the jungle and the sculptures.

[David]

House sitting in the West Country
You really do get to some lovely places! A great series of blogs. David