The Boat House
The Boat House is an 18th Century building in the picturesque manner. It functioned as a working dock until the arrival of the railways in the 1860's. Prior to this all journeys eastward started from the Boat House quayside to Plymouth to fetch household supplies and make connections to London. Today it is the scene of the infamous One Minute Disco at the Port Eliot Festival and home to the Caught By The River venue.
Port Eliot Gardens
In the gardens of Port Eliot you find not only a bewildering aray of shurbs and magnificent trees, but also turn of the century summerhouses, fountains, ornamental ponds and even a secret maze which children love to explore while you lie on the bank with a good book and look out at the estuary.
Spring Time
Springtime at Port Eliot is sensational. Wander amongst thousands and thousands of daffodils, find the ravishing camellia glade, and be stunned by drifts of wild garlic, primroses, hellebores, hyacinths, crocuses and snowdrops.
The Orangery
The Orangery was built in the 1840s, as a greenhouse where citrus fruits were grown. It is a singlularly beautiful building, filled with light looking out onto its own geometric garden with a fountain, surrounded by a dramatic yew hedge.
Rhododendron Garden
The Rhododendron Garden is over 100 years old, planted by successions of Eliots. Many species and hybrids are represented here, mainly laid out at the end of the 19th century. Small paved paths meander through these lovely plants with gloriously blowsy and scented blooms. Picnic beneath them on a sunny May afternoon or in one of the Summerhouses.
The Viaduct
This is a nine arch Romanesque viaduct designed by Isimbard Kingdom Brunell for The Great Western Railway in 1864. It is still part of the present line that connects London to Penzance. When the land was sold to the GWR one of the conditions imposed by the estate was that a station should be built for the village and Lord St Germans would have the right to stop any train. This very helpful perk ended with the nationalisation of the railways in 1947.
