Garden Restoration
Background
On Christmas Day 2020, a large hole appeared in the garden, caused by a collapsed cellar. Bristol City Council (BCC) responded by fencing off parts of the road and garden in order to make the surrounding area safe. In Spring 2023, following a successful crowd-funding campaign, we made an agreement with BCC to contribute to the funding of the garden restoration in order to increase the priority of our project. In Autumn 2023 a project was approved and scheduled for early 2024.
Update - October 1st, 2024
The hole is filled, the road is opened and now the work on the garden restoration is in progress.
The lawn has been seeded, more than once, and is growing sporadically. There is one more seeding for the Autumn and then we leave it for the Winter, hoping that come Spring the grass will be strong enough to re-open the garden. The re-opening also depends on finishing a few important structures to make the garden safe. We expect the replacement gate for the north end, currently being cast in a foundry, to be installed later this year. We are also expecting the clearance of the borders to be finished and the completion of the rockery in the Autumn. The key thing remaining that currently doesn’t yet have a plan is rebuilding of the coping stones and supporting wall at the south end.
We are working on a tree plan with the Council experts and hope to have an agreed design soon. Meanwhile, we have had a tremendous response from residents for sponsoring trees. We don’t have any more trees to sponsor but we expect there to be an opportunity to sponsor memorial benches and tables next year.
The key question everyone will have is, “when will the garden fully re-open?” With more seeding in October, we will keep it closed to allow for growth. Then as the weather worsens in the following months we will monitor the condition and probably avoid the risk of churning up the newly grown grass. So it is likely we will fully re-open in the Spring. The pace has been frustrating but we expect the work will complete in 2025 and we will have the garden restored to its original state before the hole appeared. We will then continue to enhance the aesthetics and function of the space for everyone to enjoy.
Thank you for your patience.
