projects

The walled garden at GrappenhallHeys, near Warrington is all that remains of a once grand 150 acre estate. Dating from around 1830, the 4 acre secret garden features an unusual combination of kitchen garden, originally developed to provide for the mansion house and formal pleasure gardens.

Like the remainder of the properties, the greenhouses had been allowed to deteriorate after the properties had been vacated and sold off in the 1950s but managed to escape the demolition of the stately home in the 1970s.

Following determined action by the local friends group, along with funding from English Partnerships and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the gardens and eventually the greenhouses have been fully restored and form a wonderful attraction for both locals and visitors alike.

Lost Art Limited have produced much of the specialised replacement cast iron fitments found throughout the greenhouses.

These include the ornate ‘legs’ that support the greenhouse benches.

The supporting castings that fit to the windows and the roof:

In addition, there is, in the way of the Victorians, mechanisms that operate the windows and the roof light (for ventilation) that are both complicated and ingenious in almost equal measure. Again, Lost Art were able to reproduce the workings of the Victorian installations in order that they can now be viewed by visitors and seen to be operated in the same manner as would have been the case in the original heyday of the buildings.

After a good walk around the garden, taking in the pools, the ornamental plantings and the vegetable and herb growing areas, what better way to relax than sit on a comfortable park bench and enjoy the view. Luckily, Lost Art have provided a number of our Langdale benches in order to enable visitors to do just that.