The north front of Ince Castle: a rose-brick house with battlements and a slate-hung tower at each corner, behind a gravel forecourt

A brick house with four towers, on an island of land in the River Lynher

Ince takes its name from the Cornish enys, an island. Henry Killigrew began building here around 1640, in brick, which was a rare thing in a county of granite. For nearly four hundred years the house has looked out over the same tidal water.

Today Ince is our family home and a working estate. We farm the land organically and regeneratively, our chefs cook from the kitchen garden, and on a few days each year we open the gardens to visitors.

The house

Gutted by fire in 1988 and carefully rebuilt, the rooms have been redecorated for us by Ben Pentreath, with colour and pattern drawn from the house's own past.

The cantilevered stone staircase rising beneath a domed lantern
The staircase
The drawing room, with a green velvet sofa before the fireplace and a portrait between gilt mirrors
The drawing room
The dining room, with burnt-orange walls, blue-and-white plates and a long laid table
The dining room
The library, with tall bookcases either side of an arched door
The library
A bedroom hung with hand-painted Chinese wallpaper
The Chinese bedroom

Nearly four hundred years at Ince

A Royalist stronghold, a farmhouse reached only by boat, the home of a famous yachtsman, a garden made on a windswept peninsula, and a fire that almost ended it all.

  1. 1640

    Henry Killigrew, MP for West Looe, begins the house in brick.

  2. 1646

    Held for the King, it is besieged by Parliament's men from Plymouth and surrenders within hours.

  3. 1653

    Edward Nosworthy of Truro buys Ince. His arms are still above the front door.

  4. 1800s

    Let as a farm. Until the First World War, everything arrives by boat.

  5. 1928

    Bobby Somerset, here since 1922, buys the great ocean racer Jolie Brise.

  6. 1960

    The Boyds arrive, and Lady Boyd begins forty years of gardening.

  7. 1988

    Fire guts the house. It is rebuilt, and the Chinese wallpaper survives.

  8. Today

    A family home again, a working farm, and a garden coming back to life.

Killigrew is said to have kept a wife in each of the four towers, none of them aware of the others.A legend only. No document supports it.

The front steps and pedimented doorway lit at dusk beneath the battlements
Read the full history of the house
The garden front, with clipped box parterres and the two south towers
A mown track through long summer grass down to the river

The Land

Our cattle graze in rotation across the estate's pastures, moving on before the grass is spent. It is slow, old-fashioned farming, and the soil, the hedges and the birdlife are all the better for it.

How we farm
Rainbow chard from the kitchen garden arranged down a dining table Chilled courgette soup served in a hollowed courgette

The Table

Our two chefs trained in Michelin-starred kitchens. They also tend the kitchen garden, so what reaches the table was usually growing a short walk away that morning.

The kitchen and the kitchen garden
Old Tamar Valley daffodils lining the drive in spring
A gravel walk between deep borders and clipped yew
The interior of the shell house
A small brick tower with a slate roof in the woods
A snake's head fritillary among primroses
The towers seen over the garden walls

The gardens

Lady Boyd began planting in 1960 on a windy site with little topsoil. Her woodland of camellias and magnolias, the shell house and the old daffodils along the drive are still here, and we are adding to them.

Open days

Dates for 2027 are being set. Visits will be in small, booked groups, with a walk through the gardens and the kitchen garden.

Open days and visiting

Stay at Ince

Houses on the estate are let to guests who want the river, the quiet and the gardens.

Ince Barton, a stone farmhouse, across a wide lawn The dining room at Ince Barton, with orange walls and a round table A wood-fired hot tub in a hidden corner of the garden, looking towards the river
On the estate

Ince Barton

The old farmhouse of the estate, decorated with colour and care. A drawing room, dining room and family room, a 1950s-inspired kitchen, and a hidden garden with a wood-fired hot tub.

  • Sleeps 10
  • 4 bedrooms
  • 3 en suite
  • Ground-floor bedroom
Check dates and book

Journal

All entries
  1. The boathouse on the water's edge at InceHistory

    Jolie Brise and the burning schooner

    In 1932 Bobby Somerset, who lived at Ince, sailed alongside the blazing Adriana and took off ten of her crew.

  2. The stair hall seen from above, with columns and a balustradeHistory

    The night of the fire

    In 1988 fire gutted the house. How Ince was rebuilt, and how the Chinese wallpaper came through.

  3. Old Tamar Valley daffodils lining the drive in springGardens

    The old daffodils of the drive

    Each spring the drive fills with old Tamar Valley varieties, a reminder of the valley's flower-growing past.