Pencarrow is a country house in north Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It is situated three miles (5 km) east-southeast of Wadebridge

Wadebridge

Wadebridge is a civil parish and town in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel five miles upstream from Padstow....

 and three miles (5 km) north-northwest of Bodmin

Bodmin

Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...

. The house is approached by a driveway of almost a mile in length.

Construction of Pencarrow started in the 1760s, extending an older house on the site, by the fourth Sir John Molesworth, and then completed after his death in 1766, by his son the fifth Sir John Molesworth. The architect was Robert Allanson

Robert Allanson

Robert Allanson was a British architect from York. His finest achievement was Pencarrow house in Cornwall.-References:* http://www.pencarrow.co.uk/homepage.asp...

 and Pencarrow was probably his finest achievement.

The surrounding woodlands and gardens, laid out by Sir William Molesworth between 1831 and 1835, now contain 160 species of specimen conifers, 700 species of rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

s and 60 species of camellia

Camellia

Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...

s, and an Italian garden, a granite rockery and lake.

Cultural associations

• Sir Arthur Sullivan
  Arthur Sullivan
  Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
  
   wrote the score to Iolanthe
  Iolanthe
  Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
  
  whilst a guest in the house.
• A German company filmed a version of the Rosamunde Pilcher
  Rosamunde Pilcher
  Rosamunde Pilcher OBE is a British author of romance novels and mainstream women's fiction. Early in her career she was also published under the pen name Jane Fraser. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000.-Early years:...
  
  novel The Red Dress here in the summer of 1998.