Doors 81 – Lanhydrock House (1)
Last weekend I was lucky enough to visit a National Trust property in Cornwall, south of Bodmin Moor, called Lanhydrock House. Built out of hard wearing granite, the older parts of the house date back to the 1620s, but after a fire in 1881 that started in the kitchens, two of the three wings were in part destroyed and they were rebuilt and funished in the Victorial style. The remaining wing that survived the fire retains its original walls and ceilings.
The house has been owned and managed by the National Trust since 1953, before it was owned by the Robartes family which declined significantly during the first world war. The heir, Thomas Agar-Robartes MP was killed during the battle of Loos in France while trying to rescue a soldier from no-man’s land.
There were an awful lot of doors to admire in this house, so this week I will tease you by only posting the outside doors, the rest will follow in another post.
The visit begins with a stroll through the original gatehouse dating back to the mid 17th century. Did you ever see such a grand entrance?

Then off to the left are some of the outbuildings such as the coach house. The National Trust use some of these buildings for a cafe and gift shop.


The coach house, with stunning deep red doors, is notable for the clock and little doors below it.

It would be wrong of me not to include this most attractive door within a door.

Then to the main house itself, which had more gorgeous doors on its outside walls than I have hairs on my head (I exaggerate slightly).



The front door is probably the crowning glory of these ‘garden doors’ and dates back to the 1620s. The family crest is on the top right, and the NT lady at the door told us that the crest at the top of the door has no relation to the house or family whatsoever and nobody quite knows what it is doing there.

So there we are. More Lanhydrock doors next time.
Please go take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Have a great end of week and weekend.
Scooj

















































