The Tregothnan Estate is located beside the village of St Michael Penkivel 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Truro in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
The house and estate is the traditional home of the Boscawen family, and the seat of Lord Falmouth. The original house was built in Plantagenet times and sacked in the English Civil War. The new house has the date 1652 carved in stone above the side gate. It was enlarged in the early 19th century to designs by William Wilkins, the architect of the National Gallery in London.
Tregothnan is famous for its large private botanical garden and arboretum. Tregothnan is not open to the public, but guided visits to the garden may be arranged.
A tea plantation has recently been started on the grounds. Tregothnan is home to the first outdoor Camellias in the UK, around 1800. The first commercial tea was developed from Camellia sinensis in 2001. The first 'English tea' was then sold in November 2005 to Fortnum and Mason of Piccadilly.[1] Also a quantity of custom-made bee hives are situated in amongst Leptospermum "Manuka Bushes" producing Manuka honey with measurable methylglyoxal content.[2] In 1872 the land holdings of Viscount Falmouth, of Mereworth Castle, Maidstone, Kent, were listed in the top ten land holdings in Cornwall, with an estate of 25,910 acres (10,490 ha), 3.41% of the total area of Cornwall.[3]
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