Garden Visits – Trerice Manor, Cornwall | Kayling | Mazes

Trerice Manor is situated near Newquay in northern Cornwall.

An Elizabethan manor house, it is surrounded by attractive gardens. Two stone statues of the Arundell family lion stand guard in the Front Court.

The gardens include the remains of an old cider orchard, new fruit trees, including espalier trained apple trees. A knot garden, grass maze, kitchen garden based on Tudor planting and herbaceous borders.

What’s in a name? Trerice begins with the Celtic prefix Tre, which is commonly found in Cornish place names. It denotes an estate, farmstead or hamlet (small settlement). The suffix ‘rice’ or ‘res’ may describe its situation, with the hill falling away from the house. Or it may refer to the ford, which previously was of greater importance, as the tidal river flowed higher in past times.

The Elizabethan manor house was built around 1571 by Sir John Arundell, and replaced an earlier, smaller house. Parts of the Medieval house were incorporated into the new building.

Cider apple orchards have been an important part of estate and farm life in the West Country for hundreds of years. There used to be a designated cider orchard at Trerice and as part of the re-planting that the National Trust have been carrying out in recent years, new cider apple varieties have been planted.

Other apple trees have been planted in the gardens, including the variety, Flower of Kent. This was the apple variety which fell on Isaac Newton. As well as heritage apple trees, many specifically Cornish cultivars, there are Medlars, and pears.

Trerice – Knot Garden and Orchard

The site of the orchard has moved over the years, and the ‘old ‘orchard (planted in the 1960s) was re-designed in 2013. Planted up as a knot garden it is overlooked by the window of the great Chamber. Appropriately, the design echoes the decorative plasterwork on the ceiling of the Great Chamber.

Now, you know how much I love decorative knot gardens and parterres! This one at Trerice is planted with English Yew, Taxus baccata, English Lavender, Lavendula angustifolia ‘Silver mist’ and purple flowered Marjoram, Origanum ‘Herrenhausen’.

Viewed from above, through the window of the Great Chamber, it is easy to appreciate the pattern created. And easy too to imagine the delight a similar knot garden would have given the Tudor inhabitants of the manor.

The knot garden was only two years old when I visited. But the lavender, marjoram and yew have since filled out to form a dense carpet and intricate pattern.

Around the edges of this part of the garden are fruit trees (of course) under planted with Narcissus when I visited in spring. A wild flower meadow to encourage pollinating insects blooms later in the season.

Trerice – Playing Kayling on the Bowling Green

Kayling, or Cornish Kayling, is a form of bowls. Bowling has a long history, going back as far as Ancient Egypt. Edward III is credited with the first mention of bowling in England. He banned it as it was a distraction preventing archery practice. And being battle ready was essential so far as Edward III was concerned. In 1511, Henry VIII took this ban a stage further and passed a law limiting the playing of bowls to landowners with a minimum income of £100 pa.

Some 15 years after Trerice manor was built, Sir Francis Drake was over the border in Devon playing bowls. With a good view over Plymouth Sound, he had enough time to finish his game before defeating the Spanish Armada.

In the nineteenth century, Cornish kayles was played by miners and many pubs had a keel alley at their rear.

If you’ve been to a bowling alley, then you can play kayling. The basic concept is the same. The wooden ball is called a cheese. Great fun!

The Grass Maze, Turf Maze, at Trerice

Mazes have an even more ancient history than kayling. A grass maze, also known as a turf maze, were a relatively common feature in the Middle Ages. They were used both for devotional, religious, purposes and for entertainment.

Turf mazes were also popular in Tudor times. The maze at Trerice is based on a design by Elizabethan gardener Thomas Hill, author of The Gardener’s Labyrinth, published in 1577.

Trerice – other Garden delights

The small kitchen garden is surrounded by rabbit proof fencing. Vegetables grown here include purple carrots – a Tudor favourite! And the salad vegetable Good King Henry, Chenopodium bonus henricus. This isn’t named after either of the Tudor kings, but the French king Henry IV, or possibly a German fairy.

Near the house on every side were herbaceous borders, lushly planted even at the end of April, with wisteria, perennial cornflower (Centaurea montana), variegated honesty (Lunaria) and tulips.

As the gardens at Trerice are built on a slope, terracing is used to create level areas. This gives the opportunity to plant up borders beneath the limestone walls, and along the top of them too, with trailing plants such as prostrate rosemary allowed to cascade down.