PRIDE and JOY

Padstow, a pretty town on Cornwall’s north coast, is celebrated as a gourmet destination, thanks to the restaurants of famous chefs Rick Stein and Paul Ainsworth. But it is also home to another gem: Prideaux Place, a beautiful Elizabethan house perched above the town. Its ancient deer park, overlooking the Camel Estuary, dates back to Roman times. It is said that if the deer ever die out, so will the Prideaux family. Over the centuries, the house has played host to royalty, prime ministers, Oscar-winning actors and bestselling authors. Winston Graham wrote his final Poldark novel here in the library. The house is known fondly as ‘the Studio’ by German film crews, due to its regular appearances in the hugely popular TVwas not the last time that the Prideaux would fall foul of the ruling monarch. Over the next five centuries, the family found themselves embroiled in various conflicts. In the Second World War, they welcomed English, American and Canadian soldiers in the build-up to D-Day.