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    Restoration photo gallery

    		 The overgrown vestige of the Victorian walled garden on the Monk Coniston Estate

    © National Trust

    July 2006

    At the start of our project the inside of the walled garden was so overgrown that the roof of the potting shed was only just visible. With the help of volunteers, our aim is to clear the tangle of weeds and re-discover the garden once more.
    		Monk Coniston walled garden after the overgrown scrub has been removed

    © National Trust

    September 2006

    From looking at old maps, we know that Monk Coniston has had a walled garden since the early 1800s. It may well be even older than that. A clear outline of the Victorian path network is shown on the 1890 first edition Ordnance Survey map. Our challenge is to find and restore this path network and to repair the remaining garden structures.
    		A snowy winter scene in Monk Coniston walled garden

    © National Trust

    February 2007

    As winter snows descend upon the Monk Coniston Estate, local contractors begin the restoration of the potting shed. Once repaired this building will provide a base for our volunteers and will also be open to visitors. Many days of slash and burn vegetation clearance have kept the volunteers warm and started to reveal the garden's original layout.
    		Spring time in Monk Coniston walled garden as the vegetable patch comes into view

    © National Trust

    June 2007

    Archaeological investigation is well underway, as project volunteers begin to uncover the 1890s path network with the help of the National Trust's regional archaeologist. We find, buried beneath years of soil and plant matter, evidence of all the old pathways, including slate-edging stones and surfacing materials. A team of local dry-stone wallers are also making progress, reconstructing the garden walls where they had collapsed.
    		The walled garden at Monk Coniston in September 2007 after many months of renovative work

    © National Trust

    September 2007

    With walls and potting shed now complete, the garden really starts to take shape. Staff and volunteers are making superb progress with re-laying the 1890s slate-edged paths. New gates are fitted and the garden is now safe for our first visitors to explore.
    		The latest photo of the completed Monk Coniston walled garden taken in June 2008

    © National Trust

    June 2008

    The garden has been open to the public since September 2007, and is proving very popular. As walkers pass through the garden continues to change around them. More of the historic paths have been reinstated, with work continuing over the summer of 2008. Garden volunteers have been planting flowers, herbs and a trial vegetable plot. We hope the whole network of paths will be complete by July 2009.

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