GLASSHOUSES REGENERATION PROJECT UPDATE

Having passed the first stage of the Heritage Lottery Fund bid to restore the glasshouses in the kitchen garden, we are pleased to announce that the paperwork for the second stage of the application was submitted in early December 2011. The HLF will let us know their decision in mid March 2012 and if the bid is successful it is expected that construction work might start in Autumn 2012.

The proposals involve an ambitious restoration of the whole run of currently derelict glasshouses. Some areas would be restored to be working glasshouses for plant propagation and display, other areas would be used for practical work and demonstrations. There would be exhibition space and meeting rooms/classrooms along with improved toilet facilities, office and storage space. A well equipped kitchen would enable improved cafe facilities to be provided with seating and tables overlooking the kitchen garden.

Following consultations involving schools, local communities and other interest groups, plans have been developed to make the best use of the space available to fulfil the needs of the garden whilst working within the constraints of preserving valuable heritage features and reusing as many of the original materials and ironwork as possible.

Click on the links below to see the glasshouses in their current state of disrepair and plans of how the glasshouses might look following restoration. Artistic impression, plan 1, plan 2.

The glasshouses as appear today in their derelict state.

Memories of the Garden

The Historical Research Co-ordinators for the Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden have been in touch with residents who have kindly agreed to share some of their memories of the garden with us. Visit the History page for more information.

Christmas Fayre 2011

The Christmas Fayre was very well attended this year and it was a lovely dry day. The event was opened by the Mayor and Mayoress of Warrington. Over 150 mince pies were sold from the kitchen as well as other cakes and pastries and the cafe was busy all afternoon.  Stalls included bran tub, tombola, home made cakes, raffle, crafts, hot dogs, hot soup and mulled wine amongst others. Santa made an appearance once again and children were able to visit him in his grotto. The event raised almost £2000.

Christmas Pudding Fundraiser

Thanks to everyone who supported the garden by buying one of our lovely Christmas Puddings or the new Triple Chocolate Pudding. Sales this year raised over £200 for the garden and the new chocolate puddings proved to be as popular as the Christmas Pudding.

Coffee Afternoons - Seasonal Update

Coffee afternoons are now monthly (1st Sunday of the month) and weekly refreshments will resume once events begin again in Spring 2012.

We hope that you will be able to come along and sample the refreshments on offer. We are very grateful to all our volunteers who give up their time to provide this service for visitors.

If you would like to help serving refreshments please contact Elizabeth on 604990.

Apple Day

The 2011 Apple Day was very well attended and though the crop of apples was not as plentiful as it was in 2010 there were still plenty to go round and enough left over to press our own apple juice once again. Look out for the apple juice as it will be on sale soon.

Here is a selection of photos taken on the day:

Summer Play Scheme 2011

The Summer Play Scheme was once again run at the garden by the Parish Council. This popular event took place from 30 August, for 4 days, and was organised this year by Carolyn Hassall, Community Outreach Officer, with assistance from Janet Richards, Clerk to the Council, Councillor E Fountain, Graham Richardson, Gardener/Manager and Geoff Weston. Two student volunteers Izzy (16) and Gemma Hassall (14) were also on hand to help out.

The artist Heather Walton, of Creative Colour, worked with the children for an hour a day to help them to create a wind chime and dream catcher drawing inspiration from the garden.

The children enjoyed a wide range of activities including mini-beast hunting, making a bamboo mini-beast home, a talk on bee keeping, pond dipping, orienteering and harvesting produce from the kitchen garden. The play scheme was very successful and the children, ranging from 7 - 11 years old, really enjoyed it and all said they would like to attend again in the future.

Pond Dipping

Harvesting vegetables

 Hanging the wind chimes

Summer Play Scheme 2010 - Animation on Youtube

The 2010 Summer Play Scheme was very successful and we received many lovely letters of thanks from the children saying that they enjoyed it. As part of the play scheme the children worked with local artists, One Red Shoe, to produce an animation using materials found in the garden. To view the animation on Youtube click the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK38KjyULqo

Fundraising for the Glasshouses

Fundraising towards the regeneration of the glasshouses is well under way now and the target of £20,000 has now been surpassed. The Friends were delighted to announce recently that they would be contributing £25,000 towards the match funding required in relation to the Heritage Lottery Fund Grant. All proceeds from refreshments go towards the glasshouses and various other events have been run throughout the year to raise additional funds.

Councillor Paul Wenlock very kindly made a beautiful Fundraising Tree to illustrate progress. This is on display at the garden for visitors to see.

Thanks to all the volunteers who have been working so hard to raise funds and the visitors who support our events.  

Kitchen Garden Photos

These photos were taken in the kitchen garden during the summer months. Graham Richardson, the Gardener Manager, and our volunteers work very hard to ensure that the kitchen garden is well stocked with produce throughout the growing season.     

Permanent Gazebo

In 2010 a beautiful permanent gazebo structure was installed in the yard area at the garden. This has given us a very large area of covered space that is ideal for events and refreshments.

Given the unreliability of British weather this will allow events organisers to be able to sleep at night in the run up to an event, without worrying about whether or not everyone will get wet on the day. It won't blow away either and is a very sturdy structure.

It was jointly funded by the Parish Council, the Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden and the Warrington Borough Council Stronger Together Initiative. 

Food Safety Training

Volunteers who help out in the cafe, including two of our Parish Councillors, and the Assistant Clerk for the Parish Council were recently awarded the Level 1 Award in Food Safety in Catering.

Food safety is taken very seriously by the Parish Council and our volunteers and we do all we can to ensure that the food served in the cafe at events is delicious as well as being prepared, stored and served under safe, hygienic conditions.

Tree Sculptures

Two tree stumps have been beautifully carved, by Nigel McQuilton, into sculptures of two Buzzards and an Owl. The carving took place in April 2009, and happily the weather was fine and visitors were able to see the sculptor at work as he created them.

We are delighted with the results and hope that you will be able to take some time to come and see them.

Merchandise

The Friends now have a variety of merchandise to promote the garden including delicious apple juice pressed for us at Willington Fruit Farm from home grown apples. We have a selection of gorgeous jams hand made using traditional methods using fruit grown in the garden.

We tried a delicious new range of biscuits, hand made by Teoni's in Devon, at the Christmas Fayre and those sold out in no time. We hope to reorder them for selected events in 2012.

Photos

These photos were taken recently in the garden. Thanks to all the keen photographers who send these pictures to the Parish Council office; keep them coming please.

Garden Produce

A variety of produce is sold when in season and is displayed on our lovely new produce cart.

Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden

To see the latest newsletter from the Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden please click here.

For an up to date list of events click here.

To view the minutes of the AGM please click here.

To download a membership form from the website click here.

Welcome to Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden

The Garden was built in the early 19th century for the neighbouring house of Grappenhall Heys, to produce food and flowers for the house and as a pleasure ground.

Over recent years the Garden has been extensively restored, and it is now starting the latest phase of its life under the ownership of Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council. 

The vision is to provide a resource for Grappenhall and the surrounding area, a tranquil oasis within the community, as well as a living example of a Victorian Walled Garden. 

Since the Parish Council has owned the garden it has:

• employed a Visitor Warden;

• employed a Gardener Manager;

• completed a basic fit-out of some of the back sheds to provide a classroom, kitchen and toilets;

• produced this website and an information leaflet; and

• held  various friends events including Apple Day, all of which were well attended.

Please come and visit this special place, and get involved in helping to develop it for future generations to enjoy.

Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden was created by the Warrington banker Thomas Parr around 1830 when he built a new house for his family. 

The Garden enjoyed its heyday in the late 19th century.  From historical maps, 1875 to 1899 appears to have been the zenith for the estate.

In the 20th century the house and its grounds, along with many country estates, began to decline.  The house was demolished in 1975, but the Garden was retained as an amenity for the local community. 

English Partnerships refurbished much of the Garden as part of their development of the area with new housing.  Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council took ownership of the Garden in 2005.

Find out more about the history of the Garden.

The Walled Garden consists of two main areas, the Kitchen Garden and the Pleasure Grounds.

The Garden is unusual because it combines Kitchen and Pleasure Gardens within one walled area, and also because the Pleasure Grounds contain three ponds.

The Kitchen Garden

The Kitchen Garden has a formal geometrical layout, typical of most productive gardens.  It would have provided the fresh produce required by the Parr household. 

It contains the greenhouses which would have provided fruit such as grapes and peaches for the Parr’s dinner table.  The greenhouses are backed by buildings which were used as working and storage space for the gardens.

Fruit, vegetables and flowers are now grown in the kitchen garden with the help of volunteers.

The Pleasure Grounds

The Pleasure Grounds are laid out informally.

The Parr family could enter the pleasure grounds from a door near the house, without having to go through the working area of the Kitchen Garden.  They could then take a circular walk which followed the walls, admiring the ornamental shrubs and trees before returning through an arch in the Yew hedge, flanked by two long flower borders in front of the greenhouses.

Find out more about the Garden today.

Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council took ownership of the Garden from English Partnerships in 2005.  The transfer was backed by an endowment which provides funding for maintaining the Garden, so its future is secure.

The Parish Council has achieved many of the goals it set itself for the first two years. The Parish Council will continue to develop the garden, with the emphasis on maintaining a peaceful resource for the community and promoting its use and enjoyment by the people of the local area.

Find out more about future plans.

The garden is on Witherwin Avenue, near the roundabout on Lumb Brook Road.

We are now open EVERY DAY from 1.00p.m. to 4.00p.m. and a guided tour is available on request on Sundays at 2.00 p.m.  Entrance is free.

CAR PARK - Parking is available in the public car park on Stansfield Drive and there are WC facilities on site.

Find out more about visiting us.

Cimifuga simplex 'White Pearl'

To see more plants of interest click here.

We hope that the Friends will continue to have an active role in the Garden, and we welcome everyone who is interested in helping the garden to develop. There are now four active volunteer groups up and running:

• Events

• Gardening

• Visitor Wardens

• Historical Research

Find out more about the Friends.

Do you, or someone you know, remember the Garden when it was part of Grappenhall Heys Estate, or after the house was unoccupied?

We want to learn more about the Garden's past so we can make better plans for its future.

Please get in touch with us and share your memories.

Send us an e-mail or contact us.

The Garden is owned by Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council.

Find out how to contact us.