http://www.coastmagazine.co.uk/highlights2.php?cl_articles_i...The Vyvyan family has owned Trelowarren, an idyllically situated, traditional Cornish estate on The Lizard Peninsula, since 1427. Romantic associations abound. Legend has it that the family escaped from the mystical land of Lyonesse on a white stallion - which is why the family crest is a white horse. And the estate was much loved by Daphne Du Maurier, featuring in several of her books, most notably 'Frenchmans Creek'. The manor house - listed in the Domesday book of 1086 metamorphosised over the centuries into a suitably quixotic, gothick stately pile, and by 1880 the estate controlled both sides of the Helford and much land on the east side of The Lizard.
Reality intruded, as it did for so many historic estates, in the early twentieth century, when, following the First World War, the introduction of Inheritance tax, and the decline in agricultural income, forced the estate to sell many assets. By 1942, after being requisitioned by troops prior to D-day, the buildings and land had fallen into a severe state of dilapidation.
'This stasis actually protected it, and much of the Helford River, from development which is why it is still so romantic,' reflects Sir Ferrers Vyvyan who took over the 1000-acre estate in 1995, aged 35. ‘The estate was very rundown by then. Although most of the buildings had roofs [the manor house is Grade I listed; many other buildings and features, Grade II] but the landscape was pure 'Sleeping Beauty'. Fortunately, when I started there was so much work that I couldn't think too far into the future', he adds, when asked whether he felt burdened by the responsibility.
How to make the estate viable while preserving its integrity was the challenge facing him when he came up for air, and he hit upon an ecological timeshare development. 'I was always sure the estate had residential potential, I just had to find a way that released the capital we had in bricks and mortar, to enable us to convert to a very high spec. A friend had a top quality timeshare development - Tresco, in The Isles of Scillies, which he very generously allowed me to study.
‘A lot of people are suspicious of timeshare so we have a completely transparent purchase package [prices are published, for instance]. Given that timeshare is but one of many activities here at Trelowarren, which is also my family home, customers feel much more confident with the purchase.'
Even set against the longevity of the estate, Sir Ferrers is taking a long view in his overall scheme - 350 years long. As part of 'Phase 1', various handsome estate buildings, including the Great Office where the tenants previously paid their rents, and Trelowarren Mill, a former farmhouse, have already been sensitively converted under the guidance of environmental architects and made available on a timeshare or self-catering basis.
'Green' features include rainwater-harvesting systems, super high levels of insulation, CO2 neutral emissions, organic paint, and eco dishwashers and washing machines. And because the holidaymakers are buying merely a share of a 'second home', local shops and services receive support year-round. In the grounds, Sir Ferrers has planted a lime avenue – the first part of the restoration of the Pleasure Grounds of 1755 - and a 'Wilderness' with a grid of 160 oak trees laid out in the 18th century style.
'Phase 2', is currently underway, with the first eight of the 31 planned new units - built to the footprint of estate buildings using untreated green oak and local stone and set amongst old varieties of Cornish apple and pear trees and conical yews - rising from the site of an old campsite. There will be a swimming pool - lined with estuarine pebbles - and a tennis court in the middle walled garden, while the Botanic Garden will be restored to provide fruits and vegetables for the restaurant and holidaymakers. It is expected that, on completion of this second phase (circa late 2007) the number of families supported by the estate will double to 50.
There is no sense of the estate being served up as an Olde Worlde stately home theme park, not least because the regeneration is unremittingly tasteful. Beyond the craft gallery, nursery, pottery and restaurant (that sources 80% of its ingredients within 10 square miles), 'entertainment' amounts to the heavenly estate, bountiful wildlife and fantastic local beaches.
'When one lives in such a beautiful location it is only natural to want to preserve it,' Sir Ferrers reflects when I ask about his environmental beliefs, although the post-graduate degree in the conservation of historic landscapes in the mid 1990's, ‘very much informed the approach I have taken, and the totally green approach I now have to new buildings and energy’.
'We are reaching for a CO2 neutral position, installing a 'green' heating system for the whole complex run on wood coppiced on the estate,’ he explains. ‘We also produce all our own water. I think a lot of people are looking for good environmental practice, especially those on holiday - they want to be responsible and put something back.'
Ironically, while holidaymakers, various influential organisations and the media have shown considerable interest in Sir Ferrers' ecological vision - by, respectively, snapping up Phase 1, doling out numerous high-profile awards and giving the estate many influential column inches - the local planning officers have been less than encouraging.
'It would be appear that the green issues have not been explored once by them in over four years,' comments Sir Ferrers, with exasperation. ‘However, once the application was finally allowed to come before the Planning Committee, the green values within the project were recognised immediately, and at the first hearing the committee voted unanimously to approve it.'
Walking round the estate Sir Ferrers looks every inch the titled landowner, but he cannot be accused of being remote, living with his wife, Victoria, a teacher who oversees design and decoration, and their five sons - surrounded by the timeshare buildings, in a wing of the manor house (the main part of the house is on a long-let – an earlier ‘conservation’ measure).
Does he believe his ancestors would approve of his intervention? ' It’s a truism that one generation never understands the next, but our objectives in life have changed enormously,’ he muses philosophically, before concluding, by way of an answer, ‘Trelowarren and the country around it continues to provide a way of life which has largely disappeared elsewhere. Yet at the same time we are leading the way in conservation tourism’. And surely none of the forbidding figures whose portraits line Sir Ferrers’ hall could argue with that?
Trelowarren, Mawgan, Helston, Cornwall TR12 6AD, 01326 221224;
www.trelowarren.com.