Trerice

Trerice is a small Elizabethan manor house in a quiet valley near Newquay, built in 1573 for Sir John Arundell and left largely unaltered by later fashions because its owners were so often absent. The great hall window still holds much of its original glass across 576 panes, decorative plasterwork ceilings run through the main rooms, and a collection of longcase clocks is dotted about the house, with daily guide talks filling in the Arundell story. Outside there is an Elizabethan-style knot garden, an orchard of Cornish apple varieties and a lawn for Cornish kayles, while children can try on Tudor costumes in the hayloft and hunt for mice hidden around the house. Dogs on short, fixed leads are welcome in most of the garden, though not the potager or mowhay field, and in the hayloft and bookshop. Reviewers praise the barn cafe, the shop and the ample free parking, and note it is a smaller property. One tip from visitors: it sits in a maze of narrow lanes, so follow the brown signs from the A3058 at Kestle Mill.