Jonathan Jones

Food & Drink

The clouds open and the rain starts to fall, we take shelter under a large tree. One that we later find out has travelled all the way from Chile and is now thought to be larger than any left in the wild. Behind us in the deer park is a whole grove of monkey puzzle trees from the Andes and in front of us, and the reason for our visit, lie rows and rows of camellia bushes, better known as tea.

We meet Jonathon Jones, MD at Tregothnan in Cornwall. Now when you think of tea plantations, England certainly isn’t the first place that springs to mind. But as it turns out, the area’s fertile soil and unique micro climate is just perfect for these types of bushes. We are seven miles inland near to the River Fal, a deep saltwater creek that brings in the benefit of the Gulf of Mexico’s warm current, which also helps winter temperatures stay warm, and is one of the many reasons this location is perfect for growing tea. Jonathon tells us, “The area actually mimics the temperatures of Darjeeling in North India where tea has been grown for over two hundred years.”