Trentham Gardens

My mother-in-law is here for a few days, which is lovely. Little Man loves her and really enjoyed her company.

Today, we went to Trentham Gardens today. It was beautiful! They had a whole load of fairy and dandelion sculptures dotted throughout. We found a sandpit for Little Man to burn off some steam and then we walked around the lake. There was an otter enclosure and countless ducks, geese, and swans.

Trentham was once a private estate, built in 1599 by a Richard Leveson. The old house was built on a priory ruin. In 1759 the English landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was brought in to alter the park and by the 1830s, George Barry was paid to bring the Renaissance into the grounds and house. The Industrial Revolution had a negative impact on the estate as the lake was fed by the River Trent and had become heavily polluted by the surrounding towns. By 1907, the Sutherland family had abandoned the hall, which was then demolished in 1912, as the family had been unable to find a buyer. The gardens themselves were opened to the public in 1910. By 1996, the lands had changed hands several times and development began to turn it into what it is today. There are a few sections of buildings still standing and have been restored. They also have listed status (and thus protected). I'm a history nut and couldn't help but share a little of the history of the place.