A trip to Halfords in St Austell was made an excuse for driving a bit further and visiting Trelissick which we had been to only once before in the 70’s (so quite a long time ago..). Then the house was still a private home and there was only limited access to the gardens. What a change we found. The house , now opened on the ground floor by NT, was very interesting indeed, and the very imaginative date trail (for children?) showed off some wonderful locally made artefacts.

The Historic England entry gives a valuable overview, as always, of both house and gardens. Our visit started with lunch outside (a brilliant warm day), a look round the large Gallery (full of paintings and ceramics by Cornwall artists), and then a full circuit of the grounds. One of the guides inside the house had told us that the higher-ups in NT regarded Trelissick as possibly having the best views of any of their houses..who couldn’t agree?

The gardens were really magnificent, unusual plants, vistas all round, lots of colour, and we shall certainly return, as it was one of our best NT experiences.

As we were so near we decided to take the King Harry ferry across the Fal (quite expensive, and not saving us so much as we run on lpg)…the bench statue of someone waiting for the ferry was a nice touch…

and we then had the great pleasure of calling in for a pint at the idyllic Roseland Inn, complete with vintage Bentley at the gateway….all in all well worth a trip to Halfords!