Mount Edgcumbe House & Country Park

Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park sits on the Rame Peninsula at the southeastern tip of Cornwall, its 865 acres of parkland and formal gardens commanding views across Plymouth Sound to Drake’s Island and the Devon coast. The estate has been in continuous use since the Tudor period, and the house itself - rebuilt after bomb damage in the Second World War - is open to visitors during the summer months.

The formal gardens are arranged as a series of themed enclosures: the Italian Garden features classical statuary and citrus trees, the French Garden offers geometric parterre beds, and the English Garden takes a more naturalistic approach with sweeping lawns and mature specimen trees. The Earl’s Garden, restored in recent years, adds a further dimension with contemporary planting within a historic framework.

Beyond the formal gardens, the wider country park encompasses ancient woodland, coastal paths along the South West Coast Path, and open parkland grazed by a herd of deer. The park is free to enter year-round, while the house and formal gardens charge a modest admission fee during opening season. A regular foot ferry from Plymouth’s Barbican to Cremyll provides a scenic approach, and the Orangery restaurant serves locally sourced food. It is a place where history, horticulture and coastal landscape converge in one of Cornwall’s most underrated estates.