Work on the £1 million Heritage Lottery Fund restoration project to save from collapse the Victorian Conservatory at Scampston continues. The restoration work is being led by Caroe Architects, with project management from Buro Four, and building contractors William Birch & Sons Ltd. The superstructure of the conservatory has been minutely researched and removed to a warehouse for restoration. This will be returned to site in autumn 2014
Bothies and boilers
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| Thomas Green and Son Boiler |
Work over the last month has focussed on the bothies involving replacing the roof and internal work on the walls and floors. This work has revealed some rather interesting old boilers in the cellars. One of these was manufactured by Thomas Green and Son Ltd
Ideas for how this may be displayed longer term are being discussed by the project team.
Photos of restoration work.....
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| View from the walled garden |
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| Heritage Volunteers tour of the bothies with project leader Caroline Legard. |
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| Fireplace in the bothies |
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| Bothie roof work |
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| Conservatory foundations |
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| Bothie chimney |
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| Bothie roof / slate work |
School Visits
Meanwhile, its been a busy time for School visits with groups from the three local primary Schools (Rillington, Settrington and West Heslerton) coming to Scampston to see their tulip beds, design summer cut flower beds and gather ideas on great bustards!
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| Garden design work under cover |
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| Parkland explores' |
Bustards....
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| Bustard collage |
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| Bustard with designers |
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| Great Bustard design |
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| Real Great Bustard pictured near the Palladian Bridge Scampston c1891 |
A renowned ornithologist, ‘W H’ St Quintin (1851-1933) kept
a collection of Great Bustards in a quarter-acre enclosure at Scampston between 1886
and 1909. They were supervised by Arthur Moody, his falconer and ‘bird keeper’. The old aviaries now form part of the cascade trail and a willow bustard will be installed later on the year as part of the interpretation work and garden design work with local schools.
Volunteers from The Croft, Camp Hill Village Trust and their gardener Josh, continue to work hard maintaining the Scampston Explorers' trails and keeping the cut flower beds in check.
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| Fiona weeding the bed |
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| George and Josh |
Heritage Walks
Finally, the 14th May saw the first of the Heritage Guided walks exploring parts of the wider parkland and gardens. Future walks will be held 2.00-3.30pm on: Weds , 11th June, 9th July, 13th Aug, 10th Sept and 8th Oct (£3 per adult, children £1.50).
The walks start from the walled garden ticket office and explore parts of the cascade trail. Come along and discover more about the history and heritage of the conservatory, gardens and parkland and some of the people / stories that have shaped them.
Monthly Heritage Walks - Sylvia Gallagher - Heritage volunteer
As a Heritage
Volunteer at Scampston Hall, Walled Gardens and Conservatory, I was delighted to be involved
in the first Heritage Guided Walk in the Hall Grounds.
What a
wonderful day for a stroll it turned out to be. The sun shone brightly and brilliant blue sky contrasted with the many
shades of green within the parkland.
A lady who
joined us had visited the walled garden several times in the past. She was
Dutch and an enthusiastic follower of Piet Oudolf the walled garden designer.
Surprisingly, this lady had never ventured out into the parkland before and
found the experience very rewarding.
Everyone on
the walk found the many features pointed out to them very interesting. All in
all the walk was a great success and I look forward to the next five.
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| Scampston Heritage walk in the Capability Brown Parkland |
