The visits to National Trust properties in Cornwall continue with Pink Passport entry #24 – Godolphin House.
A little about the place is as follows:
Thomas Osborne, 4th Duke of Leeds (1713–89) inherited Godolphin in 1786 as the widower of Lady Mary Godolphin (1723–64). He commissioned a map of the estate (now in the collections of Kresen Kernow, Redruth) and let the property to a Captain Bains for £300 a year. Bains was still there five years later when Francis Osborne the 5th Duke of Leeds (1751–99) made his only visit to Godolphin, accompanied by celebratory bonfires on hills, canon fire and bellringing.
In the 19th century a succession of local tenant farming families lived at Godolphin. They altered the buildings to suit their needs, partitioning rooms and storing apples and onions in the Kings Room. The Rosewarne family grassed over the six easternmost compartments of the Side Garden, preserving for us today the remains of the historic garden that lie beneath.
In 1937, Sydney Schofield (1901-1983) bought Godolphin, and so began an era of care and creativity.
By the late 1990s, the deterioration of the buildings was cause for concern. Sydney and Mary’s son John returned to live at Godolphin and took on management of the repair works.
As with a lot of the National Trust places visited in Cornwall, I did not have any information about the place, it just happened to be local to where I was staying and worth a visit to tick another place off the list.
Godolphin is a bit different to other National Trust places in that it is available to stay in I belive at certain times of the year and as a result, it has a more “modern homely” feel to it, which to be honest I was not too much of a fan off as it seemed to take away some of the grandeur of the place, however I understand the reasons for why this has to happen to ensure the place survives.
It was a nice enough visit, but I don’t think a place I will be calling back to in the near future.
