The Gardens
Scorrier House embodies an important period of Cornish history: originally built in 1780 by the mining tycoon John Williams and despite a turbulent history, the Williams family still reside here seven generations later, surrounded by the Scorrier Estate and their thoroughbred racehorses.
The Cornish Williams' are a well documented family, notably because of their ambitious industrialism during the scramble for Cornwall's tin and copper during the 18th century. So ambitious, in fact, that John Williams paid his workers in his own currency, the Scorrier Penny, a token that was only redeemable at Scorrier House. The family also constructed the great Mineral Tramway circa 1809, the first mineral tramway of its kind linking the mines with both coasts of Cornwall. This was Cornish mining in its heyday, a period that has left its relics strewn across the county's interior. It was also a period that made the Williams family extremely wealthy, allowing them to add later additions to Scorrier House as well as concentrate on the flourishing garden.
But history is not without its calamities, and in 1908 a fire ravished the house, gutting the interior and destroying most historical documents relating to the house and garden. The destruction of these documents was an enormous misfortune, mainly because it destroyed all records from the gardener William Lobb who once worked for the family. Lobb was one of the great Victorian nurserymen, botanists and plant hunters who ventured around the world bringing back exotic species to decorate Victorian gardens. Lobb's own fame came from importing the Araucaria Araucana, otherwise known as the Monkey Puzzle as its brunches 'would puzzle even a monkey'. Though Lobb was not the first to document the Monkey Puzzle, he was the first known to grow them in Britain and the Monkey Puzzle at Scorrier is quite possibly his first: it was grown from seed and is now the tallest in Britain according to the National Tree Register.
This is not the only undocumented curiosity in the garden: as you walk round take note of the granite "Cornish" crosses. Two of these stand opposite the folly dairy, through the arched gateway taken from an 11th century St Day church. Of these two crosses, both listed, the smaller one has a faint relief of Christ; the hole above his shoulder reveals a previous life as a gatepost. The larger cross was moved to the garden in 1849 from Rame on the road leading from Stithians to Helston and Penryn.
With the dairy and the crosses behind you, a gravelled path to the right reveals the Camellia Walk: The inner wall of the walled garden is lined with Camellias and once described in 1881 as, 'one of the finest and best managed Camellia Walks in Britain'. Facing the Camellias is an area of un-mown grass preserved as a wild meadow to encourage ground nesting birds and wild flowers. On the opposing side of this two and a half acre walled garden are two recent editions: a symmetrically designed vegetable garden that manages to keep the family supplied with organic produce for most of the year and the cider orchard, recently planted and adorned with tulips and fritillaries, which will hopefully keep the family supplied with cider in years to come!
Though the era of employing 16 gardeners has long since passed, the one gardener, John Baker, and the Williams family themselves maintain this garden as a private project. It is continually being evolved, improved and redesigned and has become popular with wedding guests who hire Scorrier House for their wedding venue. The pool garden, with its herbaceous borders and knot garden above, is particularly popular with summer weddings, especially since the gazebo is now licensed for civil ceremonies, while the thoroughbred mares and foals grazing in the park provide the perfect backdrop.