Petwood Gardens restoration

A large audience gathered in the Petwood Hotel at Woodhall Spa for the last in a series of talks on The Petwood Gardens, presented by Dr Nicholas Duke-Cox.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Jul 2018, 12:07 BST
Updated 16th Jul 2018, 17:08 BST
Talk on the Petweeod Gradens restoration EMN-180207-105925001Talk on the Petweeod Gradens restoration EMN-180207-105925001
Talk on the Petweeod Gradens restoration EMN-180207-105925001

Hosted by the Spilsby Ladies Probus Group in association with The Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum, the talk focused on the recent restoration.

Dr Duke-Cox started with a résumé of the previous talks, which traced the history of the gardens to the present day. He explained how the present owners, the Brealey family wanted to restore the gardens to their past glory, subject to modern economic restraints, given the building is now a hotel.

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Dr Duke-Cox took his audience systematically through the garden explaining what had been done, comparing the present work with copious archive photographs, most of which he has unearthed from the Cottage Museum’s extensive collection.

He was able to reveal that he had been approached by English Heritage’s buildings arm - Historic England, regarding his views on Graded listing for the building and gardens and that a Grade 2 listing had been approved.

Dr Duke-Cox’s research has resulted in the publication of a fascinating book, “The Gardens of Petwood: a pictorial history” copies of which can be obtained from the Cottage Museum, The Petwood Hotel or The Book Fayre.

The afternoon concluded with a superb Afternoon Tea served by The Petwood staff.