Space to Grow: For people, nature and heritage

The foundations are being laid for a new glasshouse in the Walled Garden.

Over the coming months, we'll see the bespoke structure take shape in a space that was once home to a small range of highly productive glasshouses during the 19th and 20th centuries.

A special thank you to Royal Oak and its supporters for their generous donations towards this project.

Our plans for new infrastucture and car parking at Trelissick have been refused by the Planning Inspectorate. 

Naturally, we are disappointed and we are reviewing the Inspector's decision.

We are proud custodians of Trelissick and will continue our work to ensure a sustainable future for this wonderful Cornish estate. 

More information and the Inspector's report can be found here.

Planning permission has now been granted for the new glasshouse and works are due to start sometime from mid-2026. We’re looking forward to starting this element of our Space to Grow project as it brings us another step closer to reviving the garden so that it can once more be the thriving heart of the estate.

The glasshouse will be sited in the same position as one that was known to have existed in the 19th and 20th century.   

You may have also seen the repair work taking place this year to the grade II listed kitchen garden walls at Trelissick. We have now completed repair works to three of the four walls in the garden. The fourth wall requires planning permission and listed building consent and so will be included in the full planning application for the restoration of the walled garden.

A fruit garden for Cornwall   

At the heart of Trelissick’s wonderful estate is the walled garden. Once rightly lauded as “the fruit garden of Cornwall”, the garden has lain dormant for over 70 years. Our ambition is to revive the garden so that it can once more be the thriving heart of the estate, providing produce that can be served in the restaurant. 

The glasshouse will be sited in the same position as one that was known to have existed in the 19th and 20th century.   

The planning application for the glasshouse has now been submitted to Cornwall Council and can be viewed here PA24/08837

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Our plans for Trelissick are designed to ensure it is fit for the future. These include making more space for nature, improving visitor access and continuing to protect the heritage of this wonderful Cornish estate.

As part of this work, we want to redesign car parking, create a new multi-use car park that would enable us to remove the need for overflow parking on historic parkland and preserve historic buildings from car encroachment.

Our original planning application was refused earlier this year. However, we’re proud of these plans, and as part of the planning process we have taken time to reflect on this decision to ensure we are working towards the right balance for people, nature and heritage at Trelissick.

Having reviewed all the information, we believe the plans deserve further consideration and have started the process of lodging an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The planning appeal process and timeline - November 2024 Update

The appeal process can take some time and is managed by the Planning Inspectorate. The appeal timetable has now been published and comments from anyone interested can be submitted from Monday 4 November - Monday 9 December 2024 via the Planning Inspectorate’s portal at https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ using the appeal reference number 3353157. Please be aware that comments submitted outside of this window will not be considered by the Inspectorate. The documents for the appeal can be found on the planning pages of the Cornwall Council website: PA22/10184. There is also guidance available if you wish to comment. We anticipate it could take up to another six months before we know the outcome of the appeal.  

At the heart of Trelissick is a 2-acre walled garden, which for many years was rightly named the ‘Fruit Garden of Cornwall’. After extensive planning and consultation, the National Trust aims to create a 21^st century productive walled garden that champions fruit growing and traditional skills and offers hands-on training and experiences for all. Apples, pears, maybe more exotic peaches and apricots will be grown, and even though it will look and feel like the traditional walled kitchen garden it once was, it will be designed very much with the future in mind. 

Extensive repairs are required to the grade II listed kitchen garden walls at Trelissick as the first stage of this major project to reinstate the walled garden. The garden has remained dormant and inaccessible over the past decades but the overall project will ultimately enable the garden to be re-planted and opened to the public.

We have now received funding to enable us to undertake the repair works to three of the four walls in the garden. The work will be completed by Spring 2025. The fourth wall requires planning permission and listed building consent and so will be included in the full planning application for the restoration of the walled garden.

The walls are made of brick with a stone coping requiring specialist lime mortar and high quality, specialist conservation techniques to complete the works. Due to the scale and specialist nature of the repairs this is estimated to take approximately 6 months to complete.

The planning committee have voted to refuse planning permission for the new car park and improved access to the north woodland at Trelissick. We’re taking time to consider this decision. We remain committed to working towards a secure and sustainable future for Trelissick that will ensure we can cater for the growing number of visitors whilst celebrating its past, protecting nature and opening up access to more of the estate.

In the meantime we continue to work towards submitting further plans for reinstating the historic two-acre kitchen garden at Trelissick to make it a hub of horticultural excellence once again.

A key milestone in this journey, the National Trust finalised plans for Transforming Trelissick and submitted the first of two applications which will cover the scope of this project. The application can be found on the Cornwall Council planning portal, reference PA22/10184.

During the autumn and winter of 2021 work we completed a renewable energy project, installing a ground source heating system to supply heating and hot water to Trelissick house, café and second-hand bookshop.

The ground source heat pump system replaced a number of oil boilers and reduced emissions relating to the previous system by 70%.

Advice was sought based on the assessments and plans that had been developed up to this point, with guidance provided by Cornwall Council and consultation from key stakeholders in the national conservation of historic buildings and environments. 

With a wealth of information on where the visitor demand is growing and a critical assessment of how much of Trelissick visitors could access, enjoy and contribute to the National Trust's conservation efforts the Trust completed an in-depth options appraisal of how best to manage growing visitor demand whilst also providing access to more of the estate to experience the environmental and heritage conservation work. 

With so many historical and heritage buildings at Trelissick, alongside the beautiful Grade II* registered park and garden, we expanded on our visitor experience to determine how best to share this special place with everyone, and to create new access to the areas of the estate that visitors did not have easy or direct access to. 

Following the handover of Trelissick house in 2013, the National Trust set to assess the experience offered to visitors who come to Trelissick for different reasons: exploring the countryside and visiting the unique garden and newly-opened house, as well as enjoying the National Trust outlets onsite including Crofter's Café and the National Trust shop and plant sales.