Port Eliot Estate Est. 1950

Port Eliot, Saint Germans, United Kingdom

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Port Eliot Estate
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01503 230211
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Port Eliot is one of the most beautiful places in Cornwall; providing a perfect backdrop for your wedding day.
 
Celebrations at Port Eliot are magical and unforgettable occasions. Due to the nature of the site, they tend to have a vibrant, festival feel – a ceremony in the stunning Georgian Orangery, with its romantic chandeliers entwined with flowers, followed by a truly magical wedding celebration in a giant tipi, taking in the beautiful view of the park.
 
The Lowdown
Type
Banquet Hall / Event Facility
Camping / Glamping
Estate / House / Mansion / Villa
Historic Building
Park
Views
Creek
Forest
Garden
Historical Monument
Landscaped Grounds
Park
River
Rolling Hills
Valley
Water Feature
Style
Bohemian
British
Classic
Romantic
Shabby Chic
BEST type of CELEBRATIONS
Adventure Travel
Bachelor / Bachelorette Party
Birthday Party
Charity Event
Corporate Event
Product Launch
Dinner Party
Rehearsal Dinner / Welcome Reception
Social Event
Wedding Ceremony
Wedding Reception
Workshops: Creative, Photo, Etc.
Elopement
Vow Renewal

Venue Setting

A magnificent Grade I listed house & gardens owned and occupied by the Earl and Countess of St Germans, Port Eliot is one of the most beautiful places in Cornwall; providing a perfect backdrop for your wedding day.

The estate stands in stunning secluded grounds and parkland, along the idyllic banks of the River Lyhner. It is conveniently located a short walk from St Germans railway station, and a 25 minute drive, across the Tamar Bridge, to Plymouth.

A Port Eliot wedding can be a classical fairy-tale or a story of rock ’n’ roll decadence (or sometimes, a little bit of both). As a private house with extensive grounds, a covetable contacts book and an open mind, Port Eliot provides an unforgettable setting for all styles of celebration.

Celebrations at Port Eliot are magical and unforgettable occasions. Due to the nature of the site, they tend to have a vibrant, festival feel – a ceremony in the stunning Georgian Orangery, with its romantic chandeliers entwined with flowers, followed by a truly magical wedding celebration in a giant tipi, taking in the beautiful view of the park.

Other locations licensed for civil ceremonies include; the impressive Drawing Room, with its magnificent views of the Repton Park, the imposing Dining Room with its roaring fire, and the Conservatory and Library provide intimate spaces for the smaller wedding party.

After your ceremony, you may like to wow your guests with a Champagne reception in the famous Round Room. Designed by Sir John Soane, it is considered one of his outstanding achievements with a mural painted by Robert Lenckiewicz regarded as his masterpiece. It has to be seen to be believed.

At Port Eliot they can also provide beautiful locations for your marquee reception. The Boat House Lawn is a hidden gem in the woodland garden, with views over the Lynher estuary. Or perhaps you would prefer the Park with the magnificent Port Eliot house and St German’s church as your romantic backdrop.

You really are utterly spoilt for choice…

 
Fees
(Prices listed here are estimates only & are subject to change)
Price Range

Does this include catering fees?

No

Estimated Price Per Head

from $50 to $100

Additional Charges

 

 

Insurance

Additional Insurance Is Required To Host An Event At This Venue

Capacity

Seated
300
Buffet
300
Standing
400
Celebrations Hosted Here Since
1950
Curfew
12 AM
Venue Spaces
Indoor & Outdoor Venue Spaces Available
Catering
Client Must Use The Catering Provided By The Venue
Alcohol
BYO Permitted – You Can Bring Your Own Alcohol
Licensed Server Is Required
Music
Indoors & Outdoors
The Venue is Closed During
 
 
Smoking
Non-smoking Venue
Accommodations

The beautiful Terrace Suite, separated from the House by its own entrance door, is completely private. Once Lady St Germans sitting room and children’s schoolroom, it is now a set of delightful bedrooms, bathroom and living room. All the rooms have high ceilings, big wide windows and charming doors. The main bedroom is comfortably well appointed with bespoke antique furniture, old masters and 19th century seascapes and an elegant Queen Anne four-poster bed. The adjacent dressing room, tastefully decorated with European watercolour drawings, overlooks the impressive Norman Church of St Germans Priory. Soak away your wedding nerves in a lovely hot bubble bath with a glass of champagne in the commensurably deep and over 6 foot long bathtub.

In the morning, choose to have either breakfast in bed or in the small dining room across from the hall, overlooking Repton Park, and really feel like Lord and Lady of the Manor. 

 
Eco/Green Events
Yes
Pet-Friendly Events
Yes
Inside Scoop

 

 

Amenities
  • Bridal Suite/Changing Rooms Onsite
  • Ample Parking Onsite
  • Onsite Restrooms
Venue Features
The Scene:
The House at Port Eliot has been lived in for over 1000 years and believed to be the oldest continually inhabited dwelling in the UK. The earliest written reference to Port Eliot is from the 5th century AD, Augustinian monks were there from the year 937, while the earliest remaining evidence of a dwelling on the site is a 1500-year-old glazed tiled floor, dating from the late Iron Age. In the 18th century, Sir John Soane remodeled the Grade I-listed priory and house and landscape gardener Humphrey Repton created the gardens and park. Port Eliot is full of the accumulated treasures of its long history, from works by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Van Dyck to a mural by South West England’s most celebrated 20th century artist, Robert Lenkiewicz.
 
Design:
With over 100 rooms, including attics, basements, cellars, Butlers Pantry’s, Game Larders, Tunnels, Regency kitchens, Salons, Dressing Rooms, Studies, a Library, Ball Room and Servants Quarters, Port Eliot is a curious, individual and virtually unique location. The rooms have an atmosphere and the patina of age which is rarely found today.

The home of Lord and Lady St Germans, readily welcome film and photographic crews to come and express themselves in this lovely place.
 
Standout Venue Features:
The most significant thing about Port Eliot is its age. The earliest physical remains are a tiled floor, estimated to be more than 1500 years old, dating from the 3rd and 4th century during the late Iron Age. A place that could boast a glazed tiled floor in the 4th century must have been a settled and prosperous community for a considerable time before that. A little way away from the House in the village at the very head of this branch of the estuary, there exist traces of much earlier times dating from the later Bronze Age (± 1200 - 700 BC). Cornwall was a major source of arsenic and tin, both vital in the making of bronze.

The House is called Port Eliot because it was formally known as Port Priory. In the Middle Ages it was a flourishing monastic port. For many centuries the house was approached by water across what is now the park. Until the 1890s my grandfather remembers an old oak tree in the park in which a large iron ring - to which boats were once tied up - was still seen. The building in which we stand is of a
multitude of different ages. The foundations in places are 9th century, there are 10th-century walls set with 13th-century lancet windows.

The House received a major refit in the 18th century by Sir John Soane. Please see the essay in Part III by Ptolemy Dean on Soane’s work at Port Eliot.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the Eliots had become rich and felt it appropriate to aggrandise their surroundings. Being dependent on the state of the tide as to when it was possible to reach the House was much too much of an inconvenience. So they diverted the course of the estuary by building a dam and creating the park. They constructed a new drive starting two miles north of the House at Tideford that wound its way along the estuary. This was, and still is, a very picturesque and extremely impressive route by which to arrive at the House. The drive wends its way along the estuary and finally, as you enter the park, a majestic view unfurls in front of you, with the House displayed right in the centre of your gaze.

In the 19th century a major makeover was undertaken once again. At which time the entrance hall was redesigned.
 
Extra Perks:
 
 
Awards & Notables Hudson's Heritage awarded Port Eliot their "Best Picnic Spot" 2012. Judge for yourselves how gorgeous it is! Thanks also to Urlaub Cornwall for recommending Port Eliot to their German readers "Empfohlen von Urlaub Cornwall".

Port Eliot has featured in many national and international magazines, and as recently one of the locations in Kirstie Allsopp’s Homemade Home and Rosamunde Pilcher’s film Lord’s Don’t Lie.
 
Eats & Drinks
Food, Restaurants, Cafes, Bars & Lounges
Food, Restaurants, Cafes:
 
 
Bars & Lounges:
 
 
Rainy Bridal Shoot
Downton Abbey Fans, This Photo Shoot’s For You
Alyssa Brown
byAlyssa Brown
view venue profile

Port Eliot Estate

Port Eliot, Saint Germans, United Kingdom

As any Downton Abbey fan will happily reminisce over, the wedding scene when Lady Mary finally marries Matthew Crawley is easily the most beautiful wedding scene in all of TV history. With the perfect amount of light flooding into the big, airy mansion, and the abundance of gorgeous flowers in an otherwise dark and moody setting, there’s an air of old English gloominess that makes the celebration that much sweeter. You can imagine our excitement when we got our hands on this photo shoot with a similar vibe.

We recently had a fill-us-in session with the shoot’s creative director Amanda Rose of Oak and Cypress and photographer Kristen Marie Parker. The dream team gave us all the details of the inspiration behind this stunning photo series and the incredible property. Spoiler alert: there may or may not have been a sighting of a ghost.

Words + Photos by Kristen Marie Parker


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