Our work
Reshaping the restaurant
An artist's impression of the restaurant
After months of hard work, we've finished off refurbishing the restaurant, which sits at the heart of the garden. The new Cedar Tree Restaurant is already open, but we're still adding some finishing touches.
So when you come and eat with us you can choose to sit inside in our themed Edwardian dining room - a parquet floor, wood burning stove and plush furnishings set the tone. Or, when the sun is shining, you can sit outside on the new terrace.
The kitchen garden grows
Lawrence Johnston created a kitchen garden to help supply the locals with fresh veg. Eventually it was replaced by an orchard, but now we're regrowing the kitchen garden again.
What we've done so far
Visit today and you'll see two big beds full of fruit, veg and flowers. The produce makes its way a few metres from the beds to our restaurant.
What we're doing now
Two Berkshire pigs, will be helping us clear and fertilise a new plot for 2013. This will mean that we can grow even more fresh produce for the restaurant.
Planting the bulb slope
We've teamed up with Sheffield University to replant the garden's bulb slope. So another piece of the garden will soon be back as Johnston intended, but with a modern twist. It will look great in a few years.
Composting and recycling
We recycle
Our composter, which we lovingly call Colin, guzzles up all the food waste from the kitchen. He turns it into juicy compost that our gardeners can shovel up and spread in the borders. We also recycle all of the glass bottles from the restaurant and our Barn Café.
More about Colin the composter
Colin lives out of sight in the gardeners' enclosure. We're aiming to open up this area, so you can meet Colin soon and see him in action. He's so efficient that we rarely buy in compost now. During the summer, you might be able to smell him as he quietly digests yesterday's lunch.
Hidcote Apple Juice now on sale
We've harvested more apples from the orchard and turned them into our very own delicious Hidcote Apple Juice. We use five apple varieties and you can buy the juice from the shop here or taste it in the restaurant.
Help us make an insect house
Pick up fallen leaves, twigs and feathers as you wander around the garden. Take them along to the orchard, where you can pop them in a willow pyramid. It provides a cosy shelter for insects, like ladybirds, over winter.
Giving birds a new home
Look up into the trees and you might see one of the many bird boxes we've been putting up. They come in different shapes and sizes to attract different birds, including owls and kestrels. Sadly, squirrels like them too.