Trevarno, Cornwall

The gardens at Trevarno.

Not be confused with Trevarno, California

Trevarno is a private country estate in south-west Cornwall, England, situated near the village of Crowntown, 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Helston.

History

Originally developed from 1246 when it was owned by Randolphus de Trevarno, "Trevarno" in the Cornish language means "farm/settlement of Varno." It was then owned by a series of notable families, including the Arundells from the mid-1500 for two hundred years. It was latterly owned by Mr John Oliver, who was the father of Dr. William Oliver the inventor of the Bath Oliver biscuit.

In 1874, the estate was bought by William Bickford-Smith, a descendant of William Bickford the inventor of the miner's safety fuse. William was a rich local businessman turned Liberal politician, who's interests included tin mining and latterly being the chairman and co-developer of the Helston Railway, which ran through the estate. Inheriting a well developed Georgian garden, in a typical Victorian-scietific maner he added to the existing garden to create a merger of Georgian-Victorian styles, adding:

• The sunken Italianate garden, which was redesigned in the 1960's
• The Lake and Victorian boat house
• Fountain Garden Conservatory: a sub-tropical plant preserve, it was formerly part of the house, who's main doors now opened onto the main lawn
• Over 30,000 trees

In the locally mild climate, rare tender plants, trees and shrubs could easily flourish.

Tourist attraction

After four generations of occupation, in 1994 the Bickford-Smith family sold the residual 750 acres (300 ha) estate to the two directors of a local electronics company. Intending to redevelop the estate into a garden-based tourist attraction, the resultant 70 acres (280,000 m²) of publicly accessible grounds included:

• The preserved Georgian-Victorian main gardens
• The Italianate sunken garden
• Walled garden
• The lake and boathouse
• The sub-tropical fountain garden conservatory
• Woodland walks through the Serpentine Yew tree Tunnel and the extensive Pinetum
• A bluebell valley walk, and a daffodil walk which became part of the National Daffodil Collection
• The Museum of Gardening, claimed to be the biggest in England with tools dating back to the seventeenth century.

Open between April and October each year, the estate and attraction employed over 80 people, attracting over 80,000 visitors.

Present

In October 2010, the estates owners put it in the market for £10 million. The proposed sale included the entire 750 acres (300 ha) grounds, including: seven tenant farms; ten additional tenanted houses; the main manor house; two lodges; extensive woodlands; a watermill; and the 26 acres (11 ha) gardens. The owners proposed to retain ownership of the associated organic skin care company. However, with the estate held in a pension trust and with the owners unable to find a buyer, after the retirement of one of the co-owners the estate was closed to the public in April 2012 and sold off as separate lots. The manor house, two lodges, the watermill the gardes and a piece of woodland were marketed as a private residence for £4 million through Chesterton Humberts. By October 2012, a majority of the farms and houses had been sold, as had the core manor house estate as a private dwelling, there by ending the estate's time as a tourist attraction. Not included in the sale was the estate's garden museum collection, a national-level significance collection of tools and memorabilia, which will be relocated to another institution.

Following the sale of the manor house, the Helston Railway which has 1 mile (1.6 km) of track running across the estate lands came to an agreement with the new owners to allow continuation of the operation of their line. This was subject to the closure of the Trevano station, that had been developed with the previous owners to allow estate visitors access to the railway.