Tregothnan is one of the very best tea regions in the world. Its true microclimate and inimitable environment helped create the most British tea in History.
Tregothnan was the first place to grow ornamental Camellia outdoors 200 years ago and it is this expertise along with the unique Cornish environment that helps our tea bushes, Camellia sinensis, to thrive here today. Grown in the perfect conditions on our ancient Cornish estate, the world’s first true English tea has been heralded as the ‘new Darjeeling.’ The earliest bushes are hidden behind the iconic kitchen garden door, which dates back to Plantagenet times making it the oldest remaining part of the estate.
The flora at Tregothnan has been cherished for many centuries. From the 1840s it became a global hotspot for botanical innovations, and “the most introduced plants anywhere in the world now flourish in Cornwall” according to horticulturalist Philip McMillan Browse. The equable climate is moderated by the vast Atlantic Ocean as the air rises above the ten mile ridge of Cornwall. The humid air loses its damaging saltiness and perfectly mimics the high foothills of the Himalayas. Tregothnan itself is on the banks of the deep sea creek that is the river Fal – truly a micro-climate that has supported many extraordinary species of fruit trees and an enormous range of rare plants for centuries.
Today, tea can be found growing in small pockets all over the home estate whilst larger plantations are located on Tregothnan land throughout south Cornwall.