Historic garden restoration

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given a £2.8m grant for the Swiss Garden at Old Warden Park.

Central Beds ward councillor Tricia Turner said: “This is wonderful news. A lot of hard work went into the bid and I’m so pleased this funding means we can make our proposals a reality. We can’t wait to get started.”

HLF’s grant will help the Shuttleworth Trust and Central Bedfordshire Council, which partners the trust, to repair and conserve the garden’s 13 listed buildings and ornamental structures.

These include the Swiss Cottage, the Indian Kiosk, the Grotto and Fernery, ornate ironwork bridges, stone animals and birds, marble memorial tablets and stone and metal urns.

Work on restoring the Garden will begin in early 2013 and is expected to take around 14 months.