Trewince Holiday Lodges, Portscatho, Truro, Cornwall TR2 5ET
01872 580289
enquiries@trewince.com
BOOKINGS

Tag: stories

Call out the fire brigade

trewince 25th March 2013 In About Trewince, Memories, Uncategorised No comments

The aforementioned Gordon (see last post, “Recollections from a past visitor“) referred to the fire at Trewince, in the days when we had a campsite, full to capacity in high season. As it happens, I have a cutting from the West Briton Thursday August 1st 1991. It was a very scary occurrence. Peter & others tried to keep the flames away from nearby Calor gas cylinders. One man pushed his way through a thorny hedge to help extinguish the flames on the other side. I stood outside the front gate for ages waiting to direct the fire engine. Peter said you could hear it coming from across the water at St Mawes. People on the campsite were really helpful and collected clothes for the family, who also had a visit from Victim support volunteers.

Fire in caravan July1991

Another visitor, who still visits Trewince with his family,  recalls the event:
“I was there, yes it was scary, we all used up our fire extinguishers, totally useless! We were very worried about the gas bottles which were very securely attached, but one (very brave) guy managed to ‘kick’ them off into safety. Apparently, the caravan owner had brought into the awning, a hot barbecue – not a good idea!!!”

Ghosts, buried treasure and a discovery of our own

trewince 7th May 2012 In Heritage, Uncategorised No comments

More anecdotes from Sam Marsden’s little book, and some anecdotes of our own:

“There is a ghost that comes out into the little meadow (corner meadow) at Trewince. She took all the silver from the house in the time of the Civil War – she took it out and buried it. And now she’s supposed to come back and look at it.”

“The ghost at Trewince was supposed to be by the Oak tree hanging over the hill, going down Trewince Road. It was supposed to be seen there and going down Pelyn.”

” When I was a parlour maid at Trewince, I saw someone pass the door. I thought it was the children playing pranks on me again. So I called out but there was no answer. I went out of the door and looked and there was no-one there. The coachman came in and said, ‘That was the grey lady you saw.'”

We used to wonder whether there was a real hoard of silver buried somewhere at Trewince. There had been rumours of a tunnel hidden away somewhere. One day, over 10 years ago, we were grubbing up some bushes in the front lawn with a JCB when suddenly a big hole opened up. The digger driver, a friend of ours who was helping us, leaped out of the cab and jumped down into the hole.

It turned out to be part of a tunnel which had partially collapsed. It led down towards the beach in one direction and back towards the house in the other, travelling under the front driveway. The walls of the tunnel were lined with a dry stone wall, and it was high enough to walk along in a slightly stooped position.

There was a clay pipe running along the floor and when we made enquiries, a local historian suggested that it might have been used for drainage from the house but ‘probably had more sinister usage’ ie. smuggling. It was just too elaborate for drainage.

We looked in the well around the cellar of the house and saw a bricked-up entrance in the wall. We knocked out the bricks and found the entrance to the tunnel.

Archaeologists in Truro were disinterested, but we found the dicovery very exciting. After a while, though, we had no alternative but to cover the hole in the lawn with a big board and leave the secret there for another generation to discover. And the buried treasure….??

On a more practical matter…

trewince 24th February 2012 In About Trewince, Uncategorised No comments

You may have admired the curtains in the manor house lounge without realising there was a little story attached. I’m going back a few years now, and the curtains are no longer there as the house has been sold and is being renovated – but it’s a good story so I’ll tell it.

We had decided to refurbish the room which had been used as a public TV room and was rather shabby.

We had chosen a carpet but hadn’t yet purchased it and we went along to a holiday/catering Trade show and casually looked at an interior designer’s stand where we recognised a sample of our carpet on a concept board with fabric samples and colours.

After a brief chat with the designer we established that this was a scheme he had undertaken elsewhere, had over-ordered on the material and had a surplus getting damp in his garage at home! After a bit more chat we agreed that if we bought the carpet through him (and his price was very competitive) he would GIVE us the material. Well – I liked that idea. The only problem was that the material was already cut into lengths and the lengths were too short for our windows.

Not easily put off, I made a join in each curtain, placed at the top where it would be hidden behind swags and tails. All I had to do was dry it out, and buy fringing, lining and lead weights. The very nice man even sketched out a quick design for us on the ‘back of an envelope’! I do like a bargain – don’t you? What a generous supplier he was, and what an amazing provision it was for us.

Scroll to top