The long-term project by the Vyvyan family, supported by Natural England, will see the landmark Grade II Listed Lodges at Trelowarren on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula – famous to returning holidaymakers and anyone who travels the main B3293 road to St Keverne – restored to their former glory.
Two iconic “Pepperpot” Lodges that mark the entrance to the peaceful country estate of Trelowarren – described by novelist Daphne du Maurier as “the most beautiful place imaginable” – are to be restored in part of a ten year, £200,000 project, which will also see the surrounding land returned to natural Cornish heath – its original 1750s’ landscape.
The long-term project by the Vyvyan family, supported by Natural England, will see the landmark Grade II Listed Lodges at Trelowarren on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula – famous to returning holidaymakers and anyone who travels the main B3293 road to St Keverne – restored to their former glory.
It is the latest phase of work for the current generation of Vyvyans who over the last twenty years have made it their business to turn the fortunes of the estate around – restoring all the old buildings and creating new, state of the art eco-holiday homes and facilities – all run on carbon-neutral, practically- sustainable lines.
The hexagonal Double Lodges were last occupied in the 1950s by the district nurse who had a bedroom and kitchen in one and a living-room in the other – but over the decades they had fallen into disrepair.
To start the restoration project 40 acres of large, non-native Sitka spruce tree-trunks have been cleared from what was once native heathland, and reduced into chippings to feed the ancient estate’s renewable energy system – a 350 kWh biomass Binder boiler which produces heat and warm water for Trelowarren’s holiday homes and luxury facilities.
Without the dark forest of Sitkas – planted by the Forestry Commission 40 years ago – the scenic land running away from the Lodges will be gradually restored to Cornish Heath – covered in the fabled Erica vagans heather – where Trelowarren will introduce hardy indigenous cattle to graze the land.
This fragrant, springy heather, whose only native British habitat is the Lizard Peninsula, was blessed – the story goes – by Joseph of Arimathea for whom it made a welcome bed on his first night arriving in Cornwall on his quest for tin.
“We’ve been planning the restoration of the Double Lodges and the Cornish heathland there for a long time – but we’ve had to be patient,” says Sir Ferrers Vyvyan. “Trelowarren is a big old estate which has certainly had its ups and downs – so we’ve needed to be sensitive to the history and the ecology of the place and make sure everything we do is right for the future – and it can’t all be done at once!”
The history of Trelowarren and the Vyvyan family goes back 600 years and in 1930 Daphne du Maurier’s imagination was caught on her first visit, when she described the estate in her diary as “a jewel in the palm of your hand” and “…the most beautiful place imaginable.” The beauty and peace of the old manor made such an impression that she used it as the inspiration for Navron House in “Frenchman’s Creek”.
But by 1945, after years of wartime requisition, the widowed Lady Vyvyan wrote to her friend du Maurier describing everything as ‘death-duties, dust and ruin’.
Over the last twenty years Ferrers and Victoria Vyvyan, their sons and a committed Trelowarren team have made it their business to change all that – returning it to the unspoiled and peaceful place adored by visitors from around the world.
“Now, at last, we’re able to turn our attention to the area around the Double Lodges,” says Ferrers, “and over the next couple of years it’s fair to say that the many people who know them as a landmark on that stretch of road will begin to notice a real change for the better.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
