Restoration

The Trust is committed to preserving, conserving and protecting the historic gardens for the enjoyment of the public by protecting and renovating the gardens’ historic structures. We raise funds for restoration work from our Open Days, Talks to community groups and other operations and fundraising events.

In 2023 we are working on putting paving back in Peto’s Italian Garden. There is currently some paving (not the original paving) down one side and the rest has shingle, which keeps it tidy but is difficult to walk on. Our aim is to raise funds through summer 2023 and organise the project to get the paving work done in 2024/25.

In 2023 we put in a path from Peto’s Italian Garden to the walled kitchen garden to improve visitors’ access. We aim to complete the path project in early 2024.

In May 2021 we completed the restoration of the balustrade around the lilypond in Peto’s Italian garden . This project has involved the rebuilding of the balustrade with the original plinths and coping stones that we had and new stone balusters where existing ones were broken or beyond repair.

In 2019 Landsec funded the restoration by Herringbone Restoration Ltd of the last remaining set of steps into the Italian garden.

In 2017 the Trust completed its project to reconstruct a treehouse to the original Peto design, sitting on its own stilts and sited within the original oak tree. The treehouse has become a firm favourite with visitors to the Garden.

In 2016 the Trust identified a rill in the Glade which was probably a feature within the Japanese gardens. We started to make it into a new feature, alongside a pond and new stumpery.

In 2014 the Trust started the restoration of the Walled Garden. It had not been tended since the 1950s, so saplings had become trees, which had to be cut down and their stumps ground out. The original pathways have been reinstated, using the original tiling edges and replicas commissioned from a local brick company. The old fruit trees have been pruned and new trees planted to replace those lost.

Brian and Diana Creasey started the restoration of the Gardens of Easton Lodge. They restored the Gardens around Warwick House from 1971 and started restoring the rest of the Easton Lodge Gardens from 1995, with the support of their owners. In 2003 they set up the Trust to continue the restoration of the Gardens of Easton Lodge.