Surrounded by seemingly enchanted woods in the wilds of west Cornwall’s mining
country, Godolphin House appears virtually untouched since the 17th century.
Its gardens – among the most important in Europe – remain as they were
centuries ago, with stray foliage between ancient flagstones only adding to
the charm; the Grade I-listed house, five miles northwest of Helston, is not
particularly large, but is fashioned from a local granite that gives it a
stately, if eccentric, air. The overall effect is mesmerising. No wonder the
National Trust, which, in recent years, has been loath to pay for
acquisitions, found it impossible to resist, even though it raised eyebrows
last month when it announced that it had bought it.
“I went to see it with Fiona Reynolds, the director general of the trust, and
we both instantly recognised the wonder of the place,” says Peter Nixon, the
trust’s director of conservation. The plan, he says, is to do as little as
possible: “Part of its mystery and wonder is its seclusion; it doesn’t lend
itself to being invaded. We need to keep the spirit of the place.”
This attitude explains why the trust was offered the house in the first place.
The Schofield family, which has owned Godolphin since the 1930s, sold 550
acres of the estate to the heritage body for £1m in 2000, saying that the
trust would get first refusal should the house itself ever be put up for
sale. Some of the money from that sale has been ploughed into restoring the
house and 40 acres of grounds, but more work is required, and the trust has
launched an appeal for the £500,000 it will cost.
So, just how much has Godolphin House changed hands for? Everybody is being
cagey. “It is unique, but there are other properties with the same sort of
integrity that have been sold,” says Mark Syrett, a director of the Cornish
office of Savills, the nationwide estate agent that acted for the family in
the sale. “Once we had adjusted for market conditions and location, a fair
price was agreed, acceptable to both parties.”
John Young, head of the country-house department at Humberts, an agency that
was not involved in the sale, values Godolphin at between £2m and £2.5m.
“You can rest assured that the trust wouldn’t be paying more than the market
value,” Nixon says. The trust says that the purchase, renovations and an
endowment will cost about £6m.
The transaction means the end of an era for John Schofield, 66, who was born
and raised at Godolphin – and, since 1999, has been its devoted custodian,
along with his Canadian-born wife, Joanne, 53. (His mother Mary, 90, the
official seller, still lives in a two-bedroom flat there, and the trust says
she may stay on for a “transitional period”.)
John, an architect, and Joanne, an arts administrator, abandoned their careers
and became full-time stewards when they moved in with their children,
William, now 16, and Delia, 14, seven years ago. “We needed to look after it
on behalf of my mum, and try to patch it up,” John says.
The reunified estate is part of the Cornish mining World Heritage Site – its
copper and tin mines have been worked since the Bronze Age. Revenues from
the mines paid for a castle on the site, built in 1300 by Sir Alexan-der
Godolphin, who also laid out a medieval formal garden, sections of which
remain. Some 175 years later, John Godolphin built the present house, and in
1630 Sir Francis Godolphin extended it and remodelled the grounds. At one
time the governor of the Isles of Scilly, he was heavily influenced by the
Italian classicism that was fashionable at the time and he rebuilt the north
front with a loggia, complete with Tuscan pillars. As interpreted by local
stonemasons, the design has a solid Cornish feel, topped off with distinctly
unclassical battlements.
Sir Francis’s home improvements were the estate’s apogee. Mining revenues
dwindled, the last of the Godolphins died in 1766, and the estate passed
into the hands of the dukes of Leeds, then, from 1923, was sold to a
succession of local farmers.
“The 18th century, broadly speaking, passed Godolphin by,” John says. “My
father started to put it back on the map and saved it.” Just how the
Schofields came to own the house is a curious tale. John’s
great-grandfather, Ben Schofield, was a cotton-mill worker from northern
England who emigrated to America and ended up a prosperous mill owner. His
son, Walter Elmer Schofield, was one of the Penn-sylvania impressionists,
and spent summers painting in St Ives. Walter’s son, Sydney – John’s father
– emigrated to Sussex to farm. Both had a passion for ancient buildings, and
had visited Godolphin to paint. When Sydney heard, in 1937, that the estate
was for sale for £12,000, he snapped it up, despite its poor condition.
However, just doing essential maintenance on such a property costs a fortune.
When John and Joanne took over, the situation was getting desperate. “When
late-15th-century buildings get to the stage where significant repairs are
needed, pretty much everything needs doing: the floors, lintels, roof,
plaster and glazing,” John says. The couple, helped by a general manager, a
part-time secretary and gardener, and their children, embarked on an
extensive renovation programme, funded by the land sell-off and by
money-making ventures including the first farmers’ market south of Truro,
and craft fairs. “We’ve chosen to do culture-based events, Cornish food, art
– things that are relevant to now,” Joanne says.
Substantial work has been carried out on the gardens, and many of the large
rooms throughout the two wings of the two-storey property have been lovingly
restored. Work on the impressive north front – the fourth and final phase of
the Schofields’ restoration plan – will be tackled by the trust.
“We want to preserve the gentle feel of calm and to avoid
overcommercialisation, so, although the gardens will still be open to the
public, probably from Easter to September, as now, the house will be open
only for four or five weeks each year,” says Alastair Cameron, the trust’s
property manager for southwest Cornwall. “To make money towards the £100,000
of annual maintenance bills, we are going to have two holiday apartments,
sensitively done.” Restoration of the outbuildings will be used to teach
traditional building techniques, and the trust is also embracing the new,
purchasing paintings John commissioned for the great hall from Robert Organ,
a West Country painter.
The Schofields seem relieved to be moving on. John is working as a consultant
on the restoration of Torre Abbey at Torbay; Joanne is looking forward to
some sleep. “We’ve never felt possessive or dynastic about it,” John says.
The trust, meanwhile, appreciates the work the family has carried out.
“They’ve done the work hugely sensitively and up to the standards of the
trust,” Nixon says. The east-stair landing, for example, features
17th-century builders’ graffiti. It looks as if it could have been written
last week, and less sensitive souls might have been tempted to plaster over
it.” Not so the Schofields. Though, as Joanne points to the spot next to the
graffiti where she had to put a bucket each time it rained, she shudders,
then grins: “It’s somebody else’s problem now.”
Hidden Art Cornwall Design Fair, at Godolphin House today and tomorrow,
from 10am to 5pm. Entry £5; 01736 763194, www.hiddenartcornwall.co.uk.
To make a donation, call 0870 458 4000 or visit www.
nationaltrust.org.uk/donations
