PARKS
remodel Gunnersbury Park
Museum was also successful,
with a grant of £4.1million
to help bring it up to the
same high standard that the
rest of the park will reach.
The museum is based in the
main building – once a grand
mansion house.
A PLACE WORTH VISITING
As well as the physical
transformation, an important
part of the restoration project
involves introducing new
events, and educational
programmes, that will allow
even more Ealing and
Hounslow residents to get
Archway and steps
involved with the park in
the future.
New initiatives such as free
‘A LIVING, BREATHING PLACE’
horticultural training sessions, a
Julian Bell said: “The generous awards
community orchard and mini-beast
from HLF will help us make the kind
safaris are all aimed at appealing to local of radical improvements Gunnersbury
people of all ages. Meanwhile, guided
Park desperately needs to bring it back
walks and nature trails throughout the
to its former glory.
year will mean more people will be able
“We really want it to appeal to
to take advantage
everyone, not just people who are
of the park and all it has to offer.
Visitor numbers to the park are
expected to increase from 600,000
to more than one million people
per year once improvements are
completed in 2017.
A range of activities designed to
help Gunnersbury Park become more
sustainable is also planned – including
helping to train future generations
of gardeners and conservationists
by offering three horticultural
apprenticeships to Ealing
and Hounslow school
leavers. This will be
done in partnership
with Capel Manor
Horticultural College,
which also shares
the site.
interested in visiting stately
homes or historic gardens.
When all the work’s
complete, Gunnersbury
will be more beautiful than
ever but it will also be a
living, breathing place
where lots of things are
going on all the time and
where visitors can really get
involved, instead of just
admiring this architectural
treasure from afar.”
Carole Souter, HLF chief
executive, said: “Our parks
face an uncertain future and
so it’s exciting to see how
this new investment is going
some way towards helping
parks like Gunnersbury find
new ways of funding and
maintaining them so they are still here to
be enjoyed long into the future.”
MORE INFO
■
Visit
www.ealing.gov.uk/parks
The Orangery
around ealing
Autumn 2014
39