Trees and shrubs will be planted at Ramsgate’s Ellington Park as part of a £1.8 million renovation project.
The scheme, largely funded by a £1.64million lottery award, will involve the creation of a new café, toilets and landscaping.
Thanet council and the Friends of Ellington Park have worked together to gain funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund and to prepare detailed designs.
Last month (November) there was a focus on landscape design with a review of the planting schemes planned for the park’s regeneration project, partly based on consultation results and the historic designs.
The area known as Ellington – between St Lawrence and Ramsgate – is on record from the 13th century and was associated with the name of the landowners, Adrian and John de ‘Ellington.
The Ellington Estate, which included an orchard, kitchen gardens and a grand house, remained in private ownership until the 1890s. When the land was purchased by the Ramsgate Corporation (now Thanet District Council) it was made into a public park.
Landscape architects, Joseph Cheal & Sons, were awarded the tender to redesign the park for public use and it was completed between 1893 and 1894.
Current regeneration plans include maximising the remaining heritage features of the bandstand and formal gardens, creating an axis from the terrace and bandstand, as well as using the original Cheal planting schemes.
Some 30 new trees and hundreds of new shrubs will be planted as part of the scheme, reflecting Cheal’s original design.
The new cafe will be run and managed as an environmentally friendly, healthy eating, not–for–profit community enterprise by the Friends of Ellington Park. All profits will be re-invested in the park, employing a community gardener and continuing community activities and events after the funding period is finished.
The proposed building will also be used as an education space in the day time and community events space in the evenings. It will be on the terrace overlooking the park, in the same location as the original rustic bandstand.
The 100sq metre café building will have 36 seats inside and 24 seats on the external terrace and 3 unisex toilets, with accessible WC and baby change.
There will also be new benches, the promenade will be widened and an outdoor seating area created. There will also be a new public square for market stalls and a petanque area, for the use of more than 90,000 visitors per year.
