Antony House is the name of an early 18th-century house, which today is in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. It is located between the town of

Torpoint Torpoint ( kw, Penntorr) is a civil parish and town on the Rame Peninsula in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated opposite the city of Plymouth across the Hamoaze which is the tidal estuary of the River Tamar. Torpoint ha ...

and the village of Antony in the county of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. It is a Grade I listed building. The house is faced in silvery-grey

Pentewan stone Elvan is a name used in Cornwall and Devon for the native varieties of quartz-porphyry. They are dispersed irregularly in the Devonian series of rocks and some of them make very fine building stones (e.g. Pentewan stone, Polyphant stone and C ...

, flanked by colonnaded wings of mellow brick and overlooks the

River Lynher The River Lynher ( kw, Linar) (or St Germans River downstream from its confluence with the Tiddy) flows through east Cornwall, England, and enters the River Tamar at the Hamoaze, which in turn flows into Plymouth Sound. Navigation The nor ...

. It was built for

Sir William Carew, 5th Baronet Sir William Carew, 5th Baronet (c. 1690–1744) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1711 to 1744. Carew was the second son of Sir John Carew, 3rd Baronet and his third wife Mary Morice, daughter of Sir William Morice, 1 ...

between 1718 and 1724, and ever since has continued as the primary residence of the Carew family, who have owned the estate since the mid-16th century. Sir John Carew Pole gave the house and formal gardens into the care of the

in 1961, on the understanding that the family could continue to reside there. Currently Tremayne Carew Pole lives there with his family. The house and gardens are open to viewing by the public between March and October.

Collections and furnishings

Antony House hosts a splendid collection of portraits, including a portrait of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...

at his trial, (Charles I granted a baronetcy to the Poles in 1628). The collection contains some of Sir Joshua Reynolds' works, and a portrait of Rachel Carew, believed to have inspired

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...

's novel ''

My Cousin Rachel ''My Cousin Rachel'' is a Gothic novel written by English author Daphne du Maurier, published in 1951. Bearing thematic similarities to her earlier and more famous novel ''Rebecca'', it is a mystery-romance, set primarily on a large estate in ...

''. Rooms are heavily panelled in Dutch Oak and contain fine collections of 18th-century furnishings and textiles.

Gardens and estate

The grounds were landscaped by Georgian garden designer

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

and include the formal garden with the "National Collection of Day Lilies". In the early 19th century, yew hedges and

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

were added to the formal landscaping. Adorning the gardens are stone carvings from North West India, a Burmese temple bell brought to Antony by General Sir

Reginald Pole Carew Reginald Pole Carew (28 July 1753 – 3 January 1835) was a British politician. Rt. Hon. Reginald Pole-Carew was born the son of Reginald Pole and Anne Buller of Stoke Damerel, Plymouth, Devon. He was educated at Winchester College and Univers ...

, statuary and more recently acquired modern

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s, including the Antony Cone water sculpture by William Pye. This echoes the grand spectacle of the topiary yew cone nearby, which is almost as tall as the house itself. Other sculptures include ''Jupiter Stone'' by

Peter Randall-Page Peter Randall-Page RA (born 1954) is a British artist and sculptor, known for his stone sculpture work, inspired by geometric patterns from nature. In his words "geometry is the theme on which nature plays her infinite variations, fundamental m ...

and ''Hypercone'' by Simon Thomas. Other notable features include a

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to ...

tree,

cork tree Cork tree or corktree may refer to: * Cork oak, ''Quercus suber'', the tree from which most cork is harvested * Chinese cork oak, '' Quercus variabilis'', a tree from which cork is occasionally harvested * Cork-tree, a species of ''Phellodendron'' * ...

, a Japanese ornamental pond and

knot garden A knot garden is a garden of formal design in a square frame, consisting of a variety of aromatic plants and culinary herbs including germander, marjoram, thyme, southernwood ''Artemisia abrotanum'', the southernwood, lad's love, or southern ...

. The

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

dates from the 18th century, while a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

has been added recently in the estate grounds. The surrounding

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shr ...

(not National Trust, but owned by the Carew Pole Garden Trust) is noted for

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

azalea Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus '' Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections '' Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Oct ...

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controve ...

s and

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

s, and surrounding woods provide delightful walks, which extend down to the

river Lynher The River Lynher ( kw, Linar) (or St Germans River downstream from its confluence with the Tiddy) flows through east Cornwall, England, and enters the River Tamar at the Hamoaze, which in turn flows into Plymouth Sound. Navigation The nor ...

. The Bath Pond House situated in the woodland walks was built in 1789.

Film location

Filming for the 2010

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

film production of ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'', directed by

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

, took place in the grounds of Antony House in September 2008. The estate was also used as a location for a

Rosamunde Pilcher Rosamunde Pilcher, OBE (''née'' Scott; 22 September 1924 – 6 February 2019) was a British writer of romance novels, mainstream fiction, and short stories, from 1949 until her retirement in 2000. Her novels sold over 60 million copies worldwi ...

TV movie by German company ZDF with director Dieter Kehler.

References

External links

Antony information at the National TrustGENUKI page
*{{NHLE , num=1311081 Grade I listed buildings in Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall Historic house museums in Cornwall Gardens in Cornwall Houses completed in 1721 Country houses in Cornwall Grade I listed houses 1721 establishments in England Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Cornwall Woodland gardens Gardens by Humphry Repton kw:Trevanta