Over the coming months, we’ll be revealing some of the exciting new plans we have for the park and the work taking place to make these a reality.
We’re heavily investing in the parkland at Staunton Country Park’s future, supported by Heritage Lottery/BIG Lottery funding. Our focus is on the restoration and conservation of Staunton’s special and historic elements. We’ll be restoring the Grade II* listed landscape as well as conserving the historic follies and Chinese bridge so that visitors can fully appreciate the stories they tell. The Victorian Coach House will be transformed into a visitor centre with catering facilities, making Staunton a ‘must visit’ destination on the south coast.
Slow worms, lizards and grass snakes
There has been a lot of planning going on behind the scenes, but you’ll start to notice some changes now with special fencing being put up around the Beacon Community Partnership nursery site to identify any reptiles living there. We’ve found slow worms, lizards and grass snakes and they have been carefully caught by a group of trained volunteers (supervised by ecologists) and relocated to a new home on High Lawn.
The nursery site is still in use at the moment but as building work is completed, the supported Beacon volunteers will move to their new home in the sawmill. They will develop a new growing area in the Storey Gardens (once that stops being used for overflow car parking). The nursery site will then be converted into a large new car park for country park and farm visitors. The existing farm car park to the south of Middle Park Way will be kept.
Later this year, building work will start on an activity space in the old dairy, new toilets and a place to eat and drink, along with the visitor centre and restoration of the follies mentioned above.
We will remain open during these changes, so please continue to visit as you normal. We’d recommend following our Facebook and @StauntonCountry on Twitter for news on each blog post.
If you have any questions or comments in the meantime, please contact the project team at [email protected] who will be happy to help.
