The Grounds
In 1792, the famous landscape gardener to the nobility Humphrey Repton was in the locality at Port Eliot in St Germans. In order to keep up with the Eliots, Francis Glanville hired Repton to produce one of his famous Red Books for Catchfrench, which he did the subsequent year. A Repton Red Book was his sales pitch, a unique document containing the gardener’s recommendations to his clients, but illustrated with before and after watercolours in the form of lift-up flaps to demonstrate the intended effect. Repton considered the site and scenery to be of such high quality that little improvement was required, beyond screening the public road, which at that time passed through the woods to the south.
The gardens at Catchfrench are now chiefly remarkable for the enormous specimen rhododendrons (including reputedly the largest in Cornwall) as well as camellias and magnolias. It is at its finest in the spring, looking at its absolute best when the extensive woods are filled with wild garlic and bluebells. The Orchard is also filled with daffodils in season, while hydrangeas and roses give interest later in the year. There is also a flower meadow, as well as formal gardens around the house, but of especial interest is the Secret Garden, accessed through a tunnel, in the old quarry from which stone for the original house was procured.
The woods host a family of deer, a buzzard, hedgehogs and a wide variety of rare birds and wildlife. There is certainly much to interest keen gardeners, and also to keep children entertained on adventures of imagination.
