Antony House

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Antony

Antony House is the name given to an early 18th-century house, which today is in the ownership of the National Trust. It is located between the town of Torpoint and village of Antony.

The house is faced in silvery-grey Pentewan stone, flanked by colonnaded wings of mellow brick and overlooks the river Lynher. It was built for Sir William Carew between 1711 and1721, (although the family have owned the estate since the mid-1500s) and has continued as the Carew family's primary residence ever since. Sir John Carew Pole gave the house and formal gardens into the care of the National Trust in 1961, on the understanding that the family could continue to reside there for the next 50 years. Currently Sir Richard Carew Pole, president of the Royal Horticultural Society, lives there with his family.

The house and gardens are open to viewing by the public between March and October.

[edit] Collections and furnishings

Antony House hosts a splendid collection of portraits, including a portrait of Charles I of England at his trial, (Charles I granted a baronetcy to the Poles in 1628). The collection contains some of Sir Joshua Reynolds' works, and a portrait of Rachel Carew, believed to have inspired Daphne du Maurier's novel My Cousin Rachel.

Rooms are heavily panelled in Dutch Oak and contain fine collections of 18th Century furnishings and textiles.

[edit] Gardens and estate

The grounds were landscaped by Georgian garden designer Humphry Repton and include the formal garden with the "National Collection of Day Lilies". In the early 1800s, yew hedges and topiary were added to the formal landscaping. Adorning the gardens are stone carvings from North West India, a Burmese temple bell brought to Antony by General Sir Reginald Pole Carew, statuary and more recently acquired modern sculptures, including a water feature in the shape of a cone. This echoes the grand spectacle of the topiary cone nearby, which is almost as tall as the house itself.

Other notable features include a black walnut tree, cork tree, a Japanese ornamental pond and knot garden. The dovecote dates from the 18th Century, while a folly has been added recently in the estate grounds.

The surrounding woodland garden (not National Trust, but owned by the Carew Pole Garden Trust) is noted for rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and magnolias, and surrounding woods provide delightful walks, which extend down to the river Lynher. The Bath Pond House situated in the woodland walks was built in 1789.