Mount Edgcumbe Country Park
Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, well worth a visit, is situated at Torpoint on Cornwall's beautiful Rame Peninsula and boasts eight hundred acres of magnificent parkland, the estate includes a ten mile stretch of the spectacular Cornish coastline.
The park has views across to the Devon town of Plymouth and gracefully retains more than a hint of its former Edwardian opulence and elegance.
Mount Edgecumbe House itself was formerly the home of the Earls of Edgcumbe, ( the family also owned Cotehele House), until it was purchased, along with the surrounding estate, by the Cornwall County Council. It is now jointly owned and run by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council.
During the Second World War a stray incendiary bomb destroyed the largely seventeenth and eighteenth century house. It was carefully and painstakingly reconstructed and is now filled with furniture and paintings brought from the Edgecumbe family's other properties in the area.
The attractive gardens contain a spectacular collection of camellias and boast English, Italian and French style gardens along with pavillions and a shell grotto. The formal gardens in the lower park were established in the the eighteenth century and contains some ancient and rare trees, including a four hundred year old lime. Refreshments for sale in the Orangery and the Italian Gardens.
The spectacular coastal headland of Rame Head, which provides panoramic views from its summit, to the west along Whitesand Bay and east towards Plymouth Sound, and is crowned by a medieval chapel, also forms part of the country park.
The country park is open to the public all year. Further round the coast lie the conjoined villages of Kingsand and Cawsand.