Orangery to be reinstated at 1800s Cornwall house

Penally House in Cornwall featured in the programme Renovation Nation

A house originally built in 1836 has seen its latest restoration project approved, its owners say.

Penally House, near Boscastle, which is Grade II listed, has been given planning permission by Cornwall Council to reinstate its original orangery.

Designer Anouska Lancaster bought it in October 2021 with her husband and began renovating it in January of 2022.

Celebrating the "exciting" granting of the permission, she said: "The orangery has always kind of been the jewel in the crown that we really wanted to do."

'Long time coming'

Ms Lancaster said the work was about "very much replacing what was originally there".

She said: "It's about restoring it to how it was when it was built in 1836, so we have copied what we believe is the footprint of the original 1800s orangery."

She said the hope was for the orangery at the property, which featured on the Channel Four programme Renovation Nation, to go up in March 2025 but said there was a lot of ground work that needed to be done.

The orangery would be built in Lancashire, dismantled and brought down to Cornwall, she said.

She added: "We're really excited; it's been a long time coming."

However, exact details of the original orangery have been difficult to trace, she added, saying there was very little history online about it.

She said: "I've been on Ancestry [the family history website] and I've tried to find actual photos of it or anything written about it and it's really difficult."

"It's a very special house in the village. It's a house that's very well-known, all the villagers have said how thrilled they are that the house has come back to life."