These Boots....: Finding Fairies at Trentham Gardens

Trentham Hall, near Stoke-on-Trent, was the the Staffordshire country home of the Dukes of Sutherland. Today, all that remains of this grand house are the beautiful public gardens, a few buildings, a gallery and the parish church.


Trentham Hall - photo from Wikipedia

The site was once home to an Augustinian Priory, followed by a convent and a large Elizabethan house built in the 1630s in the same location.
Between 1759 - 1780 Trentham Hall and its gardens were remodelled by Capability Brown and Henry Holland. In 1833, George Granville, the Second Duke of Sutherland and his wife Duchess Harriet, embarked on a major rebuilding scheme. They commissioned the famous architect Sir Charles Barry, to produce a much grander statement of the Duke's importance as the weathiest landowner in Britain at the time.
The River Trent was incorporated into the design and was diverted to flow into the lake. Unfortunately the lake was subsequently polluted by sewage from the nearby Staffordshire Pottery towns. Despite attempts to find cleaner alternative sources, the lake became a blight on the entire estate and the owners abandoned it by 1907.
Because of the pollution problem the Estate could be neither sold nor given away. Indeed, it was offered to both the County of Staffordshire and the Borough of Stoke-on-Trent. Both declined and sadly the Hall was eventually demolished in 1912.

Photo from Google

In 1996 St Modwen Properties PLC and German investor Willi Reitz bought Trentham, and immediately stated their intention to: “Regenerate and restore the historic Estate and gardens turning it into a premier tourist and leisure destination of national significance.”

Now, visitors can enjoy the award winning restored woodlands, lakeside walk, Italian gardens and many other attractions.

Amongst the current attractions is the "Fairy Trail", an installation comprising fifteen fairies created from galvanised and stainless steel wire, by local artist Robin Wight. The fairies are set in various locations around the beautiful mile-long lake walk, and through the woodland, maze and gardens.

'Titania'

'Bridget'

'Poser'

'Dandelion'

The Fairy Trail takes in a lakeside walk, a pleasant stroll through wooded areas along the water's edge. Fishing, canoeing, kayaking, rowing and other water based activities are available, as is a relaxing trip on board the Miss Elizabeth, an electrically-powered, ecologically friendly, 42 seat catamaran.

'Helper'

'Glance'

The Fairy Trail continues as you make your way past the cascading weir and into the woodland area.

'Glance'

'Shaky'

As well as the Fairies, wooden carvings, willow sculptures and other organic artworks can also be found amongst the trees.

'Fallen'

'Tranquil'

'Tree Crawler'

Colourful leaves, many different types of fungi and squirrels busily stashing acorns away for the winter all added to the Autumnal atmosphere.

'Swing'

The lakeside walk brings you to the Italian Garden with its 70 flower beds planted with herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. The remains of Trentham Hall provide a nostalgic backdrop to the scene whilst a monument dedicated to the first Duke of Sutherland gazes down on the gardens from the wooded hills at the opposite end of the grounds.

'Dip'

The most recent addition to the Fairy Trail is 'Wishes', which was installed to mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of Trentham Gardens. It was this article about the artist, Robin Wight, which prompted our visit to visit Trentham.
We did notice that quite a few of the dandelion seeds (the Wishes), were missing. As there had been some very high winds recently we wondered if they had literally blown away. A quick email to the artist established that he had supplied Trentham with two dandelions, one with lots of seeds and the one in the picture below. Great foresight!