Hot off the wires from Hestercombe Gardens Trust is news that 'following extensive discussions with Somerset County Council the Hestercombe Gardens Trust is delighted to reveal that it will be taking over the imposing Hestercombe House, the centre piece of the estate, under licence in the early summer and plans are afoot to open it to the public'.
In a statement, Hestercombe's Chief Executive, Philip White says that ‘Being able to re-unite Hestercombe House with its historic landscape for the first time in sixty years, is a hugely exciting prospect and we are delighted that Somerset County Council has been able to offer us this exciting arrangement which will...consolidate and reinforce Hestercombe nationally and internationally particularly with the proposed national Centre for Landscape Studies creating a world class centre of excellence.’ The latter will hosting seminars, conferences, providing a research resource for the public, house the Hestercombe archive and the thousands of conservation management plans currently held by organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and Natural England.
