“You have to crack a few eggs to make an omlette”.

This afternoon; I decided to take some autumn photographs which I could use for weather reports when creating television packages at university. The weather has been pretty erratic today and so I put on my wellies & wandered down to South Hill Park. I am aware of the current restoration project which is taking place and with this in mind; I had my eye out looking for updates…

I was expecting to get some good photographs illustrating the autumn colours and the autumn weather – the blustery winds and the heavy rain… I was definitely not prepared for the dangerous scene which I was confronted with… A large section of the panels which had been used by the contractors to cordon off an area had been blown over. Fortunately inwards, as the path alongside on which I was walking is used by local school children.

Whilst taking some photographs; I could see a man walking towards me, he was checking the panels… It turns out he is the Restoration Project Manager at South Hill Park. He was inspecting the damage.

Whilst chatting, a construction worker came over, shovel in hand – I can only assume this was to restore the fence panels and attempt to weigh them down. He commented that some other fencing had also fallen down further round the lake, by the Italian Gardens.

Project Manager Richard Scrivener was explaining why so many trees have had to be removed and that the restoration project has required researching the original Ordinance Survey Maps from around the 1860’s. The restoration project has received £4.4million lottery funding in order to restore South Hill Park grounds to its former state… With this is mind; a number of established trees have had to be removed. I got the impression that there has been a fair amount of opposition with regards to the removal of the trees, but he assured us: “You have to crack a few eggs to make an omlette”.

With this in mind, I trust that the restoration project will be worthwhile and not detrimental to South Hill Park and its surrounding areas.

As the sky blackened; I made a quick dart across the muddy field to the Italian Gardens just to check it; I managed to get some shots just as the heavens were opening.

If you’d like to find out more; check out this link:

Personally, I'm going to keep an eye on this.