…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!
It may be relatively quiet at Stourhead, but spring-things are showing – tulips just up in the walled garden and by the drive and snowdrops ranging from just showing leaves, through little white droplets to fully-open blooms.
Something I have been meaning to ask about for ages – lots of money was raised and spent on reconstructing the water wheel, but the only time I have seen it running was the first day it was run after being replaced. It surely cannot be good for it to constantly rest in one position, so is it run occasionally? What are the plans for it in the future?
By: VivienB on January 8, 2012
at 15:43
Hi Vivien. I’ve just had a chat with some of my colleagues about the water wheel. A lot of money was indeed spent on restoring the wheel in its original position. This was ‘phase one’ of the project and there is to be a phase two which will look at replacing/restoring the inner wheel, but due to other more pressing projects – including work on the Pantheon and the house – this will unfortunately have to wait. I have been assured that the water wheel will not be damaged from being in a stationary position. Thanks, Lauren
By: Lauren on January 9, 2012
at 09:30