Newquay's Trerice House is a rare example of a surviving Tudor manor house. Some 450 years old, it has been owned by the National Trust since the early 1950s, ensuring that both the house and its exquisite gardens are open to the public.
Trerice House was largely rebuilt to its current footprint by Sir John Arundell, the High Sheriff of Cornwall, in the 1570s. Amazingly enough, panes of glass from this period are still to be found among the 576 panes which make up the window of the Great Hall. Other noteworthy highlights include a 300-year-old longcase (grandfather) clock, among fine interiors and a collection counting 1,000 individual items of interest.
Given the house's age and history it is perhaps unsurprising that stories of ghosts at Trerice abound. The manor house is said to be home to not one but two ghosts, the most "sighted" of which is that of a young servant girl who wanders the north wing. The story goes that the old Lord Arundell had a fling with the girl and got her pregnant. Soon after the lord abandoned her the girl killed herself. Apparently the ghost itself is never seen, but a presence is felt and some have reported hearing the rustle of a skirt.
Trerice's other ghost is that of a stable-boy. It is said that he was killed when the horses he was tending suddenly bolted and trampled him to death. His ghost has been seen in the manor's courtyard.
The gardens are made up of numerous different areas, with the Elizabethan knot garden the most immediately obvious. However, explore further and you'll soon reach an orchard planted with old varieties of fruit. This gives way to the meadow-like Kayling lawn, as well as the Mowhay field, used for animal grazing during the spring and summer months.
