Plenteth is now open for holidays. We offer a sanctuary for rest and "land learning" in between your explorations of all this unique county has to offer. We love life here. Over 30 years of renovating buildings and adding trees to this once-tussocky field, the heritage and ecology of the place have deeply informed what we do and why.
Built long before human effort was aided by fossil fuels or the electrical grid, Plenteth’s place in the landscape is no accident. Nestled on the keyline of a gently rolling valley, the original builders chose this spot for water, aspect, and shelter. Plenteth is embedded within the land-based way of life that characterizes inland Cornwall. While renowned for its incredible coastline, Cornwall has been home to people for many generations, and life here is temperate and influenced greatly by maritime weather. This oceanic air travels across the Atlantic, bringing clean rain that fuels abundant green growth.
Nature as the Classroom Solar irradiance here is some of the highest in the UK, and 16-hour days in the summer mean biomass is prolific. We use this solar energy for vegetable gardening, soft fruit production, forest gardening, and trees. Grass also grows year-round due to the mild winters, providing plenty of mulch to nurture the productive fruit and nut trees we have planted. Forest gardening works well here, as the land naturally tends toward indigenous temperate rainforests. These rainforests—species-rich and inspiring examples for reconnecting with nature—can still be found in our steep valleys. While many are working to reforest landscapes cleared for agriculture, our own diverse young woodland canopy is already hard to beat. It serves as the ultimate backdrop for inspiring nature activities such as bushcraft, den building, foraging, and green woodwork—ideal for children who learn best outdoors.
Living History Our ancient farmhouse was built from this temperate rainforest Oak over 400 years ago. Other trees, as well as cob from the earth and thatch from grains grown to feed people and livestock, make up the fabric of this home. The house is literally of the land. Biomass is the original renewable energy, and now, human ingenuity allows us to directly convert the sun and wind into electrical power. Plenteth is equipped with 4kW of photovoltaics and a 5kW wind turbine. Having produced 50,000kWh and 100,000kWh respectively since their installation by Natural Generation Ltd a decade ago, we are thrilled to now store this energy in Eleven Energy's Sodium-Ion batteries also installed by Natural Generation Ltd. Yes your intuition is correct the Sodium of these batteries is the very same abundant element that makes the Cornish sea so salty!
Science in Action To catch and store energy is a Permaculture principle, and Eleven Energy’s ecological batteries allow us to store these intermittent renewables for 24-hour power. This offers a fantastic opportunity to show children physics and sustainability in action, demonstrating how we maintain comfort even at the very edge of the grid. The wind and batteries run an air source heat pump, providing constant, gentle warmth through underfloor heating and radiators—a perfect match for this organic home.
From Our Family to Yours We are excited to share the practical, ancient, and cutting-edge elements that Permaculture design has helped us implement here. These designs ensure our key needs—water, food, and warmth—are met in ways that see nature regenerating to greater abundance year on year.
As qualified Science and Primary teachers, we have had fulfilling careers. However, changes in education and information access led us to home educate our own daughter. This is now our driving motivation: building resilience and gardening this site, deeply infused with the efforts of our ancestors, so that future generations can have easier, meaningful, and nature-connected lives.
We look forward to welcoming your family to this stunning location and sharing a way of living that leaves the place better than we found it. If you are dreaming of a life on your own parcel of land, or wish for your children to experience this way of life first-hand, we look forward to hearing from you!
