Inside the Boconnoc Estate, a 17th Century Manor in Cornwall

A Lineage Written in Stone

“The property came into my family in 1717 when Governor Pitt bought the place,” Elizabeth explains, tracing a lineage that moves through five generations of Pitts before passing to the Fortescues. She recalls that William Grenville, prime minister during the abolition of the slave trade, inherited through marriage yet left no children, eventually entrusting the estate to her husband’s predecessors. Portraits line the entrance hall, their subjects spanning late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century political life, anchoring the house in a continuum of national history while strengthening its sense of custodianship rather than mere ownership.

The Drawing Room, 1640

Summer pauses beneath the soaring ceiling of the 1640 drawing room. “Let’s just take a moment to appreciate these ceiling heights and the details,” she says, noting the restored oak leaf corners that were painstakingly copied after years of neglect left a gaping hole overhead. Elizabeth reflects on the philosophy that guided the twelve year restoration. “If you look after me, I look after you,” the house seemed to say. Determined not to borrow, the family relied on local craftspeople, reviving fireplaces and plasterwork while preserving the room’s duality of grandeur and intimacy, where a lit hearth tempers scale with warmth.

Renovation Through Enterprise

With funds scarce, ingenuity became essential. The family sold converted barns on condition that proceeds returned to the house, then established holiday lets and events to sustain ongoing works. “It just became an adventure,” Elizabeth recalls, describing steam fairs, lectures and early weddings first held in the stable yard before the principal rooms were ready. Twice, resources were depleted and teams dispersed, only to be reassembled months later. Grants from the Country Houses Foundation supported the restoration of a major entertaining space, where conservation and recreation met under ceilings meticulously reinstated by artists working high on scaffolding.

A Gallery of Political Memory

Upstairs, the picture gallery reunites a rare assembly of Whig politicians, once dispersed and now returned to their original location. Elizabeth describes the satisfaction of seeing them together again, figures who had “all known each other in life, being in Parliament together.” Nearby, china from the Pitt family and views toward the river evoke letters held in the British Library, recounting visits from Josiah Wedgwood, who walked the banks before dining at the house. The estate becomes a repository not only of objects, but of relationships and ideas shaped across centuries.

Rooms of Royal and Domestic Memory

Bedrooms shift in the style of architecture from early seventeenth century origins to Victorian expansion, including the tower added in the 1840s. One chamber is remembered as the King’s bedroom, where Charles I is said to have stayed when the house served as a Royalist headquarters. Fabric lined walls reference historic practice, while bathrooms adapt marble panels and high sided tubs for modern comfort. Even decorative paintwork, matte walls striped with varnish, reflects a relationship between preservation and present day use.

Stewardry Reimagined

At the stewardry, interior designer Sarah Fortescue introduces a lighter, more contemporary interpretation of the estate’s Georgian character. Walls have been opened to create flow, a breakfast room anchored by a modern wood burner and a table for fourteen. “For me creating a kitchen is all about a kitchen not really feeling like a kitchen,” she says, layering wallpaper by Kit Kemp with retained joinery and art by local painters. In the drawing room, wallpaper of magnolias and camellias nods to Cornish gardens, while a Wedgwood fireplace acknowledges historic ties between the family and the ceramics trade.

A Future Stemming from Land and Community

Claire, Elizabeth’s daughter, frames the estate’s next chapter around five pillars: connection, education, circular economy, health and community. As a working farm, the land is central to this vision, with renewed focus on regenerative practices, soil health and biodiversity. Retreats and transformational gatherings are envisioned as part of a broader commitment to sanctuary and celebration. Looking back on the years of restoration, Claire says that without the crew and artisans that kept the project going, none of it would have been possible. Here, heritage is not static. It is a living collaboration between house, landscape and the people who continue to shape both.

Watch the full tour on The Luxury Home Show channel.

If you’d like to rent out this beautiful 18th Century Manor, contact Oliver’s Travels.

Book a stay at the Stewardry here.