The neglected Secret Garden in La Chaire, Rozel Bay, Jersey, could be open to the public by the end of the year, says lessee, Angie Petkovic.
Petkovic, who hopes to ultimately raise £7m to complete the project, says the gardens could be open to the public on the basis of restoration in progress with visitors able to “watch the process of change and development”.
Following a five-month feasibility study and an investment of £70,000 to determine the viability of restoring the re-discovered sub-tropical gardens of La Chaire, Petkovic says the results are wholly positive: “We have already committed a year of our life to this garden,” said Petkovic, who was responsible for re-discovering the gardens, “now we need others to show their commitment by helping us to raise the £1.6m needed to complete stage one of the restoration.”
The feasibility study was commissioned by APT Marketing Solutions and independently undertaken by Nicholas Pearson Associates and a group of individual specialists. The aim was to confirm the historic importance of the gardens and determine the practicality of restoring them for public access.
BBC gardening specialist, Tony Russell, who is working on the project with Petkovic, said the gardens at La Chaire have been likened to a cross between the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Italian gardens of La Mortella on the Island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples: “Now we have the blueprint for their restoration we can begin to bring the vision back to reality.”
Contributors to the feasibility study included Tim Smit of the Eden Project and Mike Nelhams from the Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Isles of Scilly.
Petkovic says the study concluded that the gardens of La Chaire would feature within the top ten European gardens if restored to their original glory.
“It is very exciting that the study has confirmed this project is more than feasible, said Elizabeth Jeffreys, chief executive of Jersey Tourism. “It is fantastic news for Jersey that with the first stage completed they could be open to the public on a ‘work in progress basis’, as early as the end of the year. There is no doubt that it will drive a lot of new business to the island.”
The gardens, on an 8.5-acre site, were created in 1840 by Victorian plantsman Samuel Curtis with the help of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Details: e-mail [email protected]
