VISITORS to Cotehele this year are being invited to travel through time to meet members of the Edgecumbe family and find out what Cotehele meant to them.

The Edgecumbes owned Cotehele for almost 600 years and their estate was loved, tended and cared for by a large cadre of servants and tenants.

This year an exhibition in Cotehele House will concentrate on their stories, which enrich and animate Cotehele's history.

The personal stories will not be just about the people — the property's 'grotto' is set up to celebrate Cotehele's pets, and various other animals. 

Charmian Saunders, Cotehele's visitor services and volunteer manager, said: 'For years our visitors have been asking us about the personal lives of the people who lived in the house and this year we're very excited to be able to tell them more privileged details than ever before.'

Visitors will be able to explore the living room of Mr and Mrs Paddon, the Edgcumbe family's butler and housekeeper. The Paddons, who had three boys and a girl of their own, would have looked after Lady Ernestine Edgcumbe, who lived in the East Range from 1862 to 1905. Her harmonium has been restored, and visitors will be able to try out music from her hand-written manuscript book that was recently purchased by the National Trust on e-bay.

Photography was another hobby of the Victorian Edgcumbes and visitors will be able to create and photograph their own antiquarian display from the collection of artifacts and objets d'art provided.

The 'Life in the Past Lane' exhibition in Cotehele House opens this season and will continue through to the end of 2014.