Pentillie Castle & Estate takes exclusive bookings for corporate retreats, day meetings and weddings, with day weddings for up to 60 guests, 60 more in the evening and up to 200 with a marquee. The house stands high above the River Tamar on the Cornish bank near Saltash, and the Coryton family runs it as a private estate with 11 bedrooms.
Seminars and company events
Companies can book the castle for a residential retreat or hire its meeting spaces for the day only. The estate lists several meeting spaces, wifi with superfast broadband and plenty of free parking, and the grounds leave room for breakout sessions and informal talks outdoors. Menus are planned with a private chef for each group. For team activities, the estate offers a 4x4 off-road drive, outdoor challenges, stand-up paddleboarding on the Tamar, woodland and river activities, a solar-heated outdoor pool and a games room with billiards. Because the house is let to one group at a time, a board or leadership team has the place to itself.
Weddings and receptions
Every wedding includes exclusive use of the castle and gardens from noon until midnight, with no other wedding or event on the estate that day. The standard format welcomes up to 60 guests during the day, with the option to invite 60 more for the evening reception. Larger celebrations of up to 200 guests are possible with a marquee. Couples can legally marry at several indoor and outdoor locations, and a wet-weather plan is always prepared. The package includes seasonal menus, drinks on arrival and evening drinks from a private bar.
Rooms and capacities
Ceremony settings are listed one by one. Indoors, the Dining Room takes up to 80 guests and the Drawing Room up to 18. Outdoors, the Castle Loggia and the American Gardens take up to 120, the Wisteria Pavilion and the riverside Bathing Hut up to 60, and the Front Lawn, the Stone Circle on the highest point of the estate, the Old Tennis Lawn, the Orchards and the grassland under the Turkey Oak up to 200 each. The Lime Avenue and the Walled Gardens are also offered. Floor plans and a garden map are sent on request.
Accommodation
The castle has 11 individually styled bedrooms with country views, sleeping up to 22 adults and 4 children. Quay Cottage, a riverside house on the Tamar for up to four guests, can be added to a stay.
History and setting
Sir James Tillie built the house in 1698 on the site of an older fortified turret house. Between 1809 and 1830 the architect William Wilkins enlarged it in the Gothic style, while Humphry Repton reviewed the grounds; his Red Book of Pentillie is still kept at the castle. Edward VII visited in 1902, and during the Second World War the house served as a maternity unit. The Victorian wings came down in 1967, and the castle was listed Grade II* in 1968.
Getting there
The estate sits just off the A38 near Saltash, on the border of Cornwall and Devon, about 20 minutes from Plymouth. Plymouth is on the main line from London Paddington. Exeter and Newquay airports are about an hour away by road, the estate has spots for helicopter landings, and the drive from London or Birmingham takes about three and a half hours.
