Makeover at Rivington Terraced Gardens enters new phase

For the past 15 months, groups of local people have been helping to transform the area by hand.

However from January 2018 the programme steps-up a gear when some small-scale machinery will be needed to do the heavier work.

Andrew Suter, Groundwork project manager, said: “The transformation of parts of the Terraced Gardens to date is amazing. Hundreds of hours of hard work has gone into this result and we’re really grateful to the local people and businesses who have volunteered to help.

“We now need to bring in bigger machinery to carry out the work we can’t do with our hands, such as restoring the Pigeon Tower and the Italian Lake, but we want to reassure people that looking after the nature and wildlife living in the Gardens is our top concern.”

He added: “This project is designed to enhance the special habitat, protecting species and allowing it to thrive.”

The work to conserve, repair and protect the gardens will eventually lead to all the structures on site being made safe and opened during public events for the first time in decades. Improved information boards and guided tours will help visitors understand the historical significance of the mysterious wonderland.

The project is led by the Rivington Heritage Trust (RHT) in partnership with Groundwork and is part-funded with £3.4m of money from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Parks for People Programme.