Hello all,

Just a very quick entry today to share a lovely article with you, that has already been shared among the team here – at a very fitting time as the sun just pokes it head out over Stourhead.  I hope you all enjoy it, and have a lovely weekend.

Hymn to the birds and trees

Lauren

Hi all,

Just a quick post to let you know that our volunteer recruitment day is this Saturday, 11am-2pm, at Stourhead house.

This is a great opportunity to meet members of our team (both staff and volunteers) and find out a bit more about what roles we have and how you could play a part at Stourhead.

So if you have a little time to spare and lots of enthusiasm (or know someone else who does!) then we would all love to meet you. It’s a drop-in event so do feel free to pop in at any time!

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Do you remember the 18th century border below the terrace in the top garden (near the house)? We call it the Malecki border… Anyhoo, We’re extending the border around fountain lawn and below the library. Work has already started to remove some now quite mature plants. Can’t wait to dig out the Pampas Grass (not). I’ll keep you posted and get some photos for you.

We’ve spent the entire week clearing up after aforementioned high winds. The boys went round the landscape with the chipper and the rangers helped us tidy the beech below the Obelisk and the oak across the Pinetum path. The rest of us spent the week in Bell’s Piece, the pasture next to the estate office in the village. As well as tidying the larch and sweet chestnut that got damaged in the wind we started the project of clearing laurel from the nuttery. The bank was so steep we had to remove the majority of the laurel stumps by mattock, spades, brute force and ignorance. And then we got to burn them! Very satisfying…

Flowering in the garden includes snowdrops, the first daffodil above the Grotto, four Rhododendron cultivars, cob nuts, the odd primula, autumn flowering cherry, persian ironwood (top garden) and certain trees.

This Monday, work started on the Pantheon roof, which means access is restricted past the Gothic Cottage round to the dam, until passage is safe. Hopefully this will only be the case until tomorrow!

Bring on the spring! Em and garden team x

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As you all may or may not know, Stourhead house is closed during the winter and the rooms are ‘put to bed’. While our Christmas activities were underway last year, half of the rooms were already closed and covered in dust sheets, with the rest following shortly after. This, I have been told, is to give the collection some protection from dust and light during the winter, when members of the team are on leave for Christmas and visitor numbers are lower.

With the doors closed to the public for a short while, the house team get busy with what’s known as ‘the winter clean’, which is a deep clean of every room and the objects within them. Apparently it would take several years to clean every single object in Stourhead house, all in one go! So the team prioritise a selection of artefacts each year to focus on. At the moment, the house team are just about to start work on the Entrance Hall, which is home to all the Hoare family portraits. A new scaffolding set will be put up which touches the ceiling and, equipped with back-pack hoovers and pony-hair brushes, the team will be able  to clean all the paintings hanging at the top of the room.

This week and last week, the team were hard at work cleaning the Pope’s Cabinet – one of my favourite objects in the house. It’s estimated that to clean the surface alone takes an entire day! Some mould was found behind paintings in the Italian Room, which needed some special treatment. The team have also been looking for signs of woodworm, which is a very difficult job as their holes are only millimetres wide! Any new damage found must be recorded, and all old damage previously noted must be checked. The curtains, upholstery and chandeliers will also be getting the once over before the main season starts in March.

If you fancy taking a look at the work as it happens, you can visit Stourhead House for our Rise and Shine event, on Saturdays and Sundays between 18 Feb and 4 March, when conservation cleaning will be taking place. In the meantime, see the pictures below for a taster….

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Following the stormy weather last week, the garden team have been busy at work, with the help of tree surgeons, repairing and clearing damaged trees.  We experienced gusts of over 55mph resulting in the loss of some of our special (and rather old) trees. (Some pictures below)

A large Sweet Chestnut tree, over 200 years old, fell down in Bell’s Piece (next to the estate office), bringing with it a large part of a nearby Larch. The remaining stem of the 100 year old Larch was dangerously weak and had to be felled yesterday.

The garden also lost an Oak tree and large limbs from a Douglas Fir and Macedonian Pine. Up near the Obelisk a large Beech tree fell down and Kim (our Estate Ranger) has said that there’s more damage further out on the estate as well.

If you visit Stourhead over the coming weeks you might notice a lot of wood chips down the zig-zag path – this is from the larger limbs of fallen trees which have been shredded and used as mulch in the garden, to prevent any wastage – good to know that something positive could come out of it!

Tree surgeon on the Larch tree

Felling of the Larch

The damage to the Larch tree

The fallen Sweet Chestnut with it’s huge roots

Hi all,

Just a quick note to say that the garden will be closed today due to high winds. A couple of large trees have already come down near the Estate Office and by the Obelisk. This may also mean a delay in garden opening tomorrow morning, as areas may have to be closed off beforehand.

Many thanks! Lauren

…and what a wet and windy start it’s been! The team received an email this morning from our assistant head gardener Penny informing us that Stourhead experienced wind gusts of up to 50mph yesterday. It’s not surprising that the garden was shut! Luckily there was very little damage with only small branches falling, most notably from the Douglas Fir and the Macedonian Pine.  The garden team have been hard at work all day clearing the debris.

A huge amount of rainfall has also made much of the ground very boggy and all visitors are advised to keep to the main paths over the next couple of days. Over the last week or so, the iron bridge at the far side of the garden has also been completed with a non-slip surfacing.

January looks likely to be a fairly quiet month at Stourhead, but stay posted because some interesting conservation work will be taking place on the Pantheon soon!

Work was also taking place on another tree last week.

Details from Emily: An oak up-rooted overnight North of the lake. We can see no sign of fungal activity that would affect the stability of the tree, nor can we find any other warning indication of structural weakness. When trees grow up in dense forest they tend to grow quickly to compete for the light. Less energy is spent on developing anchor roots much needed for growing on banks, so after the wind, rain and nastiness the roots simply let go of the soil. Mark found the tree when he and I were out inspecting the collection after yet another windy night. The resulting logs, by the way, are lining the drive to the house to prevent vehicles going off-piste.

The garden team have since removed the crown of the tree that was blocking the path, but the rest of the long trunk and all of the roots are still clearly visible between the lower and upper paths – the size of this tree is evident and just illustrates how vital it is that we close the garden in cases of high winds. Pictures below….

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Finally a very Merry Christmas from the team in the Estate Office! We’re all off on our festive breaks either today or tomorrow, but the garden will remain open during the next week (except on Christmas Day itself).

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year, and we’ll be back with more news from Stourhead in the New Year. Lauren

 

If you happened to look out of the window of your warm, dry and cosy abode on Monday you may have noticed there was a certain dampness in the air. Guess who was out working in it all day? That’s right, the two Pennies, Toby and I… We’ve been coppicing the shrubs down the zigzag path from visitor reception this week. But instead of hauling the cut material away, which would have caused disruption, we decided to stack it into a hedge – we call it a ‘dead hedge’. By doing this we also create a barrier to the road where we felled the beech tree, so children are kept away from the steep bank. Yesterday we removed the chestnut pailing fence so the beech trunk is on display. We hope you like it!

We’ve just helped de-decorate the house after the special Christmas opening. Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks it’s been a great success – and we’ve enjoyed the extra work. Watch Cottage is still decorated and the tree is pristine so if you missed our take on a traditional Christmas in the house, you can still see it in the cottage!

The gardeners would like to thank you all for your support this year, and hope you have a good festive break before we see you again in the New Year. Em

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Brian kindly took some photos of the bridge work on its final day yesterday (so I didn’t have to brave the snow showers!)

All the replanking is finished and the bridge has been reopened for visitors, just in time for our big Christmas celebrations on Sunday.  Great job team!

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