Off to Cornwall
- chirp54
- Jun 28
- 2 min read
Back "over the border" we went to our home base for the next week, Flushing, Cornwall. Thanks to the Nation Trust, however, we had a place to stop along the way since out check-in time was 4:00pm. Lanhydrock is a magnificent late Victorian country house with garden and wooded estate. The stone gatehouses welcomed us down a long drive to the car park.

From there it's a long walk to get to the visitor center

where we discovered that it's speak Cornish week.

If you're curious, the QR code takes you to "An Radyo 029" where you can listen to Cornish music and, if you're anything like me, be completely baffled by the Cornish language.
The approach to the estate through the main gate is quite imposing

and the house itself, grand.


The estate belonged to the Augustinian priory of St. Petroc at Bodmin but the dissolution of the monasteries during the 1530s saw it pass into private hands. In 1620 wealthy merchant Sir Richard Robartes acquired the estate and began building Lanhydrock House. There is a parish church dedicated to St Hydroc which stands on the grounds, but was not open. Most of the current building dates from late Victorian times, when the estate came under the ownership of the Agar-Robartes family. A major fire destroyed the south wing and caused extensive damage to the central section. Of the main house only the north wing, with its 116 feet (35 m) Long Gallery, and the front porch building survived intact, along with the original gatehouse, which dates from the mid-17th century.
We visited the many rooms in the house, all of which were quite handsome.
The Dining Room:

Lady Robartes' bedroom with its Meissen porcelain mirror:


View of one of the hallways:

The most memorable area of the house, of course, is the Long Gallery with its Jacobean plasterwork ceiling depicting the book of Genesis.

The ceiling was conserved in 2024, taking months to clean centuries’ worth of dirt and discoloration and to carry out intricate repairs. It would have been impossible to photograph every story and beast, but here are some images I particularly enjoyed.
Noah building the Ark:

The entry into the Ark:

Some of the more than 350 different species of animals and mythical creatures:





Another gorgeous item in the Long Gallery was the Antwerp Cabinet, made of ebony, tortoiseshell, brass, silver, and glass.

I love the way the mirrors in the central cubby hole reflect the columns and tiles, a bit like fun house mirrors.

We exited down a grand staircase.

At the back of the house was the kitchen, one of the largest I've seen in an historic house.


And that was just one of the rooms devoted to food prep. There were also rooms for meat, dairy, and desserts.
All around the property are gorgeous gardens.




There's a 200-year-old thatched cottage that, over the years, has been a home, a tea room and a store for garden equipment.

It was time to go, so we made our way back to the gatehouse

and past the fields where cows were grazing.

An hour's drive brought us to our digs for the week: a fabulous rental in Flushing that I found on Booking.com.


Oh, how I suffer.
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