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The rugged Mount Edgcumbe promontory is at the extreme southeast corner of Cornwall, bordering Plymouth Sound and across the Hamoaze from the city of Plymouth. At its heart is Mount Edgcumbe House, built in 1550 and surrounded by formal gardens, an eighteenth-century landscaped park, deer park and wooded hillsides dropping steeply to the sea.

The estate belonged to the Edgcumbe family for almost five centuries. Their original mediaeval home was at Cotehele ten miles to the north. They also owned the ancient fortified town of Stonehouse across the river.

In the twentieth century family tragedy, the impact of World War II and taxation led the sixth Earl to give Cotehele to the National Trust in 1947. The seventh Earl sold Mount Edgcumbe House and some 865 acres of land for use as a country park in 1971. With support from the then Countryside Commission the property was bought by Cornwall County Council and Plymouth City Council and managed jointly.

There is of course access by road in Cornwall. A popular way to visit from Plymouth is to take the Cremyll Ferry from Admiral's Hard at Stonehouse.

(Adapted from the excellent guide to Mount Edgcumbe by Cynthia Gaskell Brown).