About the Garden
On the southern edge of Truro, a narrow road turns toward Feock and ends in a slope of patterned green rows. These are the Penpol Tea Gardens – a small Cornish estate where salt air meets steady light and the ground remains cool through most of the year. The garden began as an experiment rather than a business. In 2011, Maya Trevithick and Tom Prowse restored a parcel of fallow orchard, planting the first thirty shrubs in clay-rich soil that once grew apples. The first years were uneven: gales, moles, slow drainage, and the puzzle of learning how tea behaves far from the tropics. Yet by the fifth harvest the bushes held their shape and gave leaves with a distinct clarity.
Visitors often ask why anyone would grow tea in England. The answer sits in the rhythm of Cornwall itself – a county that rarely freezes and rarely overheats. The sea gives a calm humidity; the morning mist rolls uphill; the soil drains gently through old orchard channels. These slow, temperate conditions allow the plants to mature without stress. Instead of large commercial volume, the garden seeks balanced growth: careful pruning, measured picking, and minimal waste. Every tray of leaves is handled by hand, and nothing is rushed through mechanical rollers.
The philosophy of Penpol is small-scale clarity. The garden runs with five core values: respect for soil, patient observation, shared skill, local livelihood, and open explanation. Each season the team keeps field notes, marking changes in pH, leaf count, rainfall, and insect movement. The data are plain but useful – a record of the microclimate that guides the pruning schedule and the compost mix. The aim is not perfection but stability – a living system that can continue without excess chemical input.
In the wooden lodge, visitors can trace the path from bush to brew. Displays show dried samples from different years, faded maps of the early layout, and a simple table with the tools still used today: bamboo baskets, shallow trays, cloths, and thermometers. Guides describe how shoots are taken, how withering is timed by touch rather than clock, and how the final rolling is judged by smell. There is no romantic story of secret recipes – only patience and repetition.
Much of the estate’s work now involves teaching. Local schools bring groups to learn about plant care, soil health, and the quiet logistics of small-scale agriculture. A volunteer program welcomes horticulture students from nearby colleges who assist with seasonal tasks: pruning in February, hand-weeding in April, picking in June. In return they gain real practice, and the garden gains new curiosity each year.
The garden operates without artificial fertilizers. Nutrients come from leaf mulch, aged manure, and composted stems returned to the base of the plants. Pests are managed with simple traps and observation walks twice a week. These choices reduce yield but keep the flavour light and clean. Tea from Penpol is sold in small paper packets on-site and through a handful of independent grocers across Cornwall. Each packet lists the picking day, the drying method, and the initials of the team who prepared it.
Sustainability here means more than marketing words. Energy for the withering fans comes from a modest solar array behind the shed. Rainwater is stored in old cider vats. Waste heat from the small drying unit warms the shed where visitors gather on damp days. None of these solutions are grand, but together they keep the footprint small and the bills realistic.
Penpol Tea Gardens does not host weddings or large parties. The space remains intentionally quiet, designed for short visits and slow appreciation. A typical group spends ninety minutes: a walk through two sections, a tasting of three teas, and a conversation with a team member. The goal is understanding rather than entertainment. Many guests leave surprised that English tea can exist at all, let alone thrive without glasshouses.
Looking ahead, the founders plan to extend the hedge lines toward the creek, introducing a small test plot for heritage varieties collected from abandoned estates in the Azores and Madeira. The long-term dream is to compare micro-batches and document how Atlantic weather alters the tannins. These experiments are shared openly online for other growers who might wish to try their hand elsewhere in Britain.
Penpol’s story is not about grandeur but persistence. Each trimmed bush, each small correction in drainage or pruning angle, adds to a broader knowledge of how tea can belong here. Cornwall has always been a place of crossings – of merchants, mariners, and gardeners trading ideas as much as goods. The tea garden continues that heritage in a gentle, daily form.
Visitors who wish to book should use the enquiry form on the main page or call the number below. Groups are limited to twelve persons to keep the experience calm and manageable. Accessibility details and parking advice are provided at the time of confirmation.
If you happen to visit on a misty morning, pause by the upper hedge and listen: the breeze through the leaves carries a faint salt note, and the ground smells faintly of apples – a reminder of what the garden once was, and of how patience turns ordinary soil into something quietly remarkable.