Today we visited Godolphin House and gardens. Godolphin is only a few miles from our caravan site and the village fête was being held in the grounds; I am not sure that the latter was an advantage! Godolphin house was built in 1475, on the site of an earlier fortified dwelling and the family made its money from mining. There were major renovations to the house in 1540. These were probably funded following an incident that took place in 1527. A Portuguese flag-ship ran aground nearby and the member of the Godolphin family who was then in residence, along with a St Aubyn of St. Michael’s Mount and other gentry, claimed the proceeds of the wreck. There was an enquiry, when the King of Portugal attempted to get his property returned. Those heading up the enquiry claimed that appropriating the cargo of wrecks was ‘the custom of the county’ and there was no case to answer. This may be because both Godolphin and St Aubyn conducted the enquiry!

When the National Trust acquired the house about ten years ago, it was in a poor state structurally. The infrastructure does not allow for sufficient footfall to support the house through visits alone, so it was decided to sympathetically convert it into holiday apartments. This means that the house is only open to the public, one week a month; although the gardens are open every week. We were fortunate that our stay coincided with one of the house open days. It is a very friendly house, with a lovely atmosphere. There is some impressive linen-fold panelling and a carved fireplace dating from 1603. I was also taken with a chandelier and an oak table that appeared to have been patched but I failed to photograph this. The Godolphin family have been notable in the horse-racing fraternity and Sidney Godolphin was Prime Minister under Queen Anne.

We walk round the gardens, which are a profusion of cottage garden plants and wild flowers. We make a cursory circuit of the fête and my travelling companion is able to look at the tractors and military vehicles on display, one of which he was responsible for selling. We go on to Trengwainton Gardens, which we were unable to visit yesterday. I’ll be honest, I am a little underwhelmed here, although I should think they are stunning when the rhododendrons are in full flower. Maybe I am just gardened out.