Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden

Conservation projects

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  Restoring the lake at Studley Royal

  We completed this major conservation project Oct 2010. We removed over 60,000 tonnes of silt from the lake.

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  Converting the buildings at How Hill

  We undertook a huge project to convert dilapidated 18th-century farm buildings into holiday cottages.

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  Repairing the upper canal

  We've had to repair the canal and river walls due to the damage caused by severe flooding.

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  Repairing the leak in the Mill pond

  To conserve water and stop further leaks, we’re putting in a concrete bottom and rebuilding the walls.

Artist's impression for the restoration of 18th-century bosquet

© Steve Tomlinson

Restoration of an 18th-century garden feature

This spring we're starting work on a 30-year project to restore an 18th-century garden feature known as a bosquet, helping to bring the garden back to its 1781 heyday and reflecting John Aislabie’s earlier works and his son William Aislabie’s later additions.

This moment in time has been identified in our World Heritage Site management plan as the period to shape our landscape conservation around.

A bosquet is a group of trees planted in a straight line or geometric shape, often surrounded by hedges or paths of gravel. This element of garden design was influenced by late 17th-century French fashions and used throughout the garden at Studley with English yew used as the hedging plant. 

This key garden feature has been lost over time as the yew trees have become overgrown and unstable.