Major new development work at the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Garden at Hyde Hall, Rettendon, near Chelmsford has begun. The work will provide Hyde Hall with a new approach road, car park, and garden entrance building within a new landscape scheme. The new facilities will be open to visitors next summer, but meanwhile it's ‘business as usual'. The building works are taking place to the north of the site, well away from the existing garden, but the progress of works can be seen from the main Hilltop Garden at several viewing points.
The new approach to the garden has been designed by the Society's masterplanners, The Landscape Agency, with a larger all weather car park designed to be environmentally friendly. The building is a simple design by local architects Laurie Wood Architects in keeping with the local agricultural vernacular, approached through a courtyard to a spacious gift shop, café, and visitor reception area. The work, which includes a new plant centre and garden area leading from the building, is the first of several phases in compliance with planning approval from Chelmsford Borough Council.
Hyde Hall's Curator, Ian Le Gros said, "The site has great potential with its Hilltop Garden surrounded by sweeping panoramas, open skies and far reaching views of the Essex countryside. This is an exciting phase in the history of Hyde Hall and its place in the Essex landscape. We care passionately about the environment and are embracing biodiversity making Hyde Hall a flagship for sustainable horticultural practices. The new development will allow many more visitors to enjoy the full scope of the work we do in the formal gardens and the wider landscape of this historic place."