Refurbishment Continues Apace
Over the coming months two much-loved areas of the gardens at Dartington will benefit from significant refurbishment and repair. The Dartington Hall Trust would like to thank both Mr Richard Creed and The Mrs W. Godfrey-Payton Trust through whose generous support the Church Tower and the Flora Walk Path will, once again, be available for visitors to enjoy safely.
Richard has attended Dartington International Summer School (DISS) for many years and is a longstanding and valued member of the Trust’s Gardens’ Advisory Group. He shared a widely felt disappointment that the Church Tower, in particular the chapel at its base, had been out-of-bounds to the public for a considerable time. Now, with a substantial grant from the Mrs W. Godfrey-Payton Trust, the external rendering will be repaired; the chapel will be refurbished, repainted and reopened to the public; heating and lighting will be installed and the path leading to the chapel improved. At the same time the upper floors of the tower will be repaired to allow for on-going maintenance and to care for nesting boxes.
The Church Tower fell into disrepair until restoration work was carried out under the instruction of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst in 1948, after which it provided an important venue for worship, blessings or quiet contemplation until its condition deteriorated again to such an extent that the tower was locked on health and safety grounds. The grant from the Mrs W. Godfrey-Payton Trust will finally enable the Trust to unlock the chapel’s door once again.
This year will also see the re-opening of the Flora Walk Path after a planned period of closure for essential works. This much-used path, which leads visitors to the statue of Flora, is sited in a particularly beautiful part of the gardens. The path had become badly damaged and eroded, creating a hazardous route for visitors walking through the gardens. These repairs have again been made possible through the great support and generosity of Richard Creed and the Mrs W. Godfrey-Payton Trust.
The Flora Walk Path is one of Richard’s favourite areas of the gardens, much loved by him and his Civil Partner, Brendan Moynihan, who sadly died in 2006. Richard has made a personal donation to the Trust for the restoration of the upper part of the Flora Walk Path, in memory of Brendan. The remaining length of path will be completed with a further grant from the Mrs W. Godfrey-Payton Trust. Dartington is most grateful for such generous support and we all look forward to being able to enjoy these wonderful areas of the gardens once again.
It is planned for work on both projects to be completed by July 2007.
The Dartington Hall Trust is a registered charity no. 279756. Company
no. 1485560
Registered Office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon
TQ9 6EL United Kingdom.
Telephone 01803 847000; Fax 01803 847007;