We are very pleased to announce that one of our recent clients - the Great Dixter Charitable Trust - has just been awarded a £4 million lottery grant towards a total project costing £7 million.
Great Dixter, situated just inland from the south coast in East Sussex, is celebrated not only for its garden craftsmanship and artistry, but also for the timber-framed house and small estate which are of great architectural and historic importance and beauty. Along with Hidcote and Sissinghurst, the English flower garden style of Great Dixter is of enormous influence both here and abroad.
During 2007 we prepared a Conservation Management Plan for the gardens and estate, working closely with Donald Insall Associates on behalf of our client, the Great Dixter Charitable Trust, formed to ensure future preservation of the property. Our plan involved looking at the entire 57-acre estate as well as the world-famous 6-acre gardens where Christopher Lloyd worked with his head gardener, Fergus Garrett, to plant the most ‘generous garden imaginable’.
Nathaniel Lloyd and Edwin Lutyens began the garden at Great Dixter but it was Nathaniel’s son, Christopher Lloyd, a well-known garden writer and television personality, who made it famous. The garden is in the arts and crafts style and features topiary, an immense mixed border, an orchard and a wild flower meadow. The planting is profuse, yet structured and has featured many bold experiments of form, colour and combination.
The house and garden are regularly opened to the public and study tours are available. Our proposals included ideas for improving visitor experience and increasing training and education opportunities across the estate and formed the basis of a submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund to preserve the house, its collections of antiques and the gardens which remain an inspiring model for gardeners, garden designers and garden writers everywhere.
The Trust is now preparing a further fully developed application to secure the grant and raise funds for the remaining monies needed.
Patrick James
1 April 2008
