A dank, dark Sunday morning saw members of the group come out on an increasingly rare visit to Sunnycroft, Wellington. Large numbers appeared for the unusual task of starting the conservation project on Sunnycroft’s glasshouse. As everyone gathered in the car park, you could hear the surprised voices, as one after another seldom seen member was greeted, ending with NT’s Midlands garden adviser Pam Smith.
Seventeen members meant three teams could be formed to take on the challenges Head (and only!) garden Joel had for us.
Primarily we were invited to return to provide the labour for removing and relocating decorative stones from inside the glasshouse whilst it is being restored.
Task 2: remove four laurel bushes that had encroached into the herbaceous boarder – roots and all.
Task 3: reducing the height and trimming the hedge on the main drive.
Before stones in the glasshouse could be removed, bedding tray gravel and rusting, corrugated metal sheets had to be extracted. Now we could get to the intended stones. However this proved disappointing, as nearly all the material found was not of the expected kind!
Sunnycroft’s conservatory is a significant historic structure in its own right. It was supplied in 1899 by R. Halliday & Company and is listed Grade II. It is embellished with stained glass, decorative finials and ironwork – being small in size, it was designed to fit in with the “compact” Sunnycroft estate. Unfortunately, time has not been kind, and the structure is starting to show its age. Hence it is in need of full restoration. The Trust believe there are only three examples of this kind in existence, which makes this one even more special.
But with the day’s work complete, conservation of the glasshouse can commence hopefully in the spring of 2020.
Shrubs extracted through brute force, it only remained to tackle the unruly top of the green hedge.
To reduce its height, Joel allowed our editor to take charge of his new battery-powered extendable hedge trimmer – as workday leader I think a brave move! It was a challenge to control this monster all day. But with a second smaller, but more heavy-duty machine also on hand, after a whole day’s work the resulting hedge does look the part!
Shropshire and Staffordshire National Trust Volunteers 