Wrest Park
Wrest Park
The mansion house at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, dates from the early 19th century and is set within 40 hectares of landscaped gardens dating from 1680 onwards. The house itself is remarkable, a near unique example of 19th-century English architecture following the style of an 18th-century French chateau. Its grounds are an amalgam of three centuries of English garden design and contain one of the few remaining formal gardens of the early 18th century. The gardens are Listed Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens. In addition, the house and garden areas are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
During the twentieth century, the House was home to the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, later the Silsoe Research Institute. When the institute closed in 2006, English Heritage took over the house, and began the 20-year Wrest Park Revitalisation Project to restore the gardens to their pre-1917 state, undertaken by Bea Landscape Design Hydrologists Haycock Environmental Consultants Limited (HEC). We worked alongside these firms on the evolving masterplan with the aim of improving the hydrology of the gardens and restoring the water features and weir structures to operate as originally designed.
We also provided structural engineering advice for rhp architects’ refurbishment of the main house. This work began in 2002 with an initial focus on the conservation of garden features including the English Baroque Archer pavilion before work began on converting a former billiard room in the Mansion for community and education use.
The projects were funded by the Heritage Fund and The Wolfson Foundation with the overall aim being to facilitate opening the house and gardens to the public for both general access and special events. With over 90 spacious acres to explore, the Garden showcases three centuries of landscape design with a range of styles including Dutch and Italian.
Client: English Heritage
Architects: rhp
Landscape architects: Bea Landscape Design