The Arboretum Trust

Kew at Castle Howard

Education and visitors centre

 

 

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Work on our new education and visitor centre is now almost completed thanks to a grant award from Defra’s Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES). The grant, which matches funding raised by voluntary contributions from the public, is delivered by the Rural Development Service (RDS). 

The new visitor centre is a traditionally built timber framed building of green oak that blends into the beauty of the surrounding landscape.  It combines a roomy display and education area with extra facilities for the arboretum’s many visitors and volunteers. The centre has been designed by a local architect, Tony Oldale and is being constructed by a local company, Sanderdale Builders Ltd.

The Arboretum is based on the Castle Howard estate but is an independent charity maintained through public donations and grant aid.  Two full time arborists are supported by a group of dedicated volunteers, who give their time, expertise and enthusiasm to the work of the Trust.

Their efforts have been rewarded as visitor numbers have risen year on year since it first opened to the public in 1999 to approximately ten thousand in 2004.  The original visitor centre, a portakabin, installed when visitor numbers were in the hundreds, desperately needed replacing to cater for so many people.

 

Sir Ron Cooke, Chairman of the Arboretum Trust said:

“The Arboretum Trust is one of the most exciting developments in British horticulture and botany in the last thirty years.  It is of inestimable value, not only for environmental conservation, scientific research and educational projects, but also as a bank of rare plants many of which are disappearing from their natural habitat. 

“We’re most grateful to Defra for providing the funding which has enabled us to go ahead with our plans for a new education and visitor centre. The centre will enable us to welcome still more visitors in the future, including school groups who will be able to enjoy all the benefits of this fine arboretum.”

 

Lee McQue, an adviser from the Rural Development Service in Yorkshire and the Humber said:

“We’re delighted to be able to help fund this project for the Arboretum Trust, which will enable it to go ahead with plans for the new visitor centre.  It’s an outstanding example of what can be achieved through dedication, effort and commitment.

“The new visitor centre will enable even more people to come and delight in this spectacular collection of plants which have been saved and protected for future generations to enjoy.”

 

The centre was opened for the public in May 2006 and officially opened in May 2007. It was named ‘The John Simmons Centre’ in recognition of the superb 10 years effort and leadership that John had put into the development of the arboretum.

 

04/03/2005 – Site of the Education and Visitors Centre

04/03/2005 – Site of the car park to be screened by the existing plantation

04/03/2005 – Right – new access road from the exiting track which runs from the Obelisk

04/03/2005 – new access road

18/03/2005 – Access road completed, seeding of the margins also done

04/03/2005 – Car park almost complete

04/03/2005 – Service road from the car park into the arboretum

04/03/2005 – Service road into the arboretum ready for the next phase.

11/04/2005 – Safety barrier/deer fence being erected

11/04/2005 – First sods being cut

11/04/2005 – Tipping the topsoil

12/04/2005 – Still they remove the topsoil

13/04/2005 – All topsoil removed down to the clay.

15/04/2005 – 800 tons of compacted limestone has been used, which will provide the base for the concrete slab.

20/04/2005 – When all is level the trenches are dug

21/04/2005 – The precise locations for the shuttering are surveyed

22/04/2005 – First pieces of shuttering erected

27/04/2005 – Checking the levels

27/04/2005 – Almost there, just a few more lengths to erect.

28/04/2005 – Shuttering completed, more buttresses need to be added before the concrete is poured.

03/05/2005 – Fully buttressed, reinforcing steel going in.

05/05/2005 – All reinforcing steel in, ready for the concrete.

 

 

06/05/2005 – 80 cubic metres of concrete delivered, pumped, spread, tamped and finally skimmed. A busy day!

24/06/2005 - A yellow submarine? The boiler from a steam train? No!

It’s the biological sewage treatment system.

27/06/2005 - A big hole for a big tank.

28/06/2005 - The concrete base is laid.

29/06/2005 - To avoid distortion the chambers are progressively filled with water whilst evenly backfilling with concrete.

29/06/2005 – Tank completely encased in concrete.

01/07/2005 – Drains going in

01/07/2005 – Surface water drains

07/07/2005 – First timbers arrive

07/07/2005 – ‘Shoes’ bolted to the concrete to support the base of the vertical timbers

09/07/2005 – More green oak timbers arrive

22/07/2005 – Construction of the frame in progress

22/07/2005 – Most of the vertical timbers in place

26/07/2005 – As the horizontal timbers are set, the structure looks more like Stonehenge than an education and visitors centre.

29/07/2005 – Most of the bracing struts in place; the joints are mortice and tenon, pegged in a traditional manner.

01/08/2005 – The first roofing struts.

02/08/2005 – Fifth strut in progress, the struts are made of green oak and are constructed traditionally.

04/08/2005 – All struts in place.

06/08/2005 – Internal block work started (working on Saturday morning).

09/08/2005 – Good progress on the roof trusses.

12/08/2005 – Most of the simple trusses complete, only the tricky ones remain.

19/08/2005 – Internal block work in the kitchen and toilet area complete, gable being created

19/08/2005 – Trusses complete over the cafι area

23/08/2005 – Roof being covered with 8’x4’ sheets of plywood

29/08/2005 – Roof covered, ready for felt and red cedar shingles

29/08/2005 – Views of the roof from inside

08/09/2005 – Two layers of laths will ensure adequate ventilation under the shingles which are coming from Canada

08/09/2005 – Three courses of Yorkshire stone will be topped off by specially chamfered stones

08/09/2005 – Lee McQue, from the RDS and our chairman Prof. Sir Ron Cooke pose for the photographers and television

08/09/2005 – Lee and Ron prepare to join the construction team

08/09/2005 – The construction team, with Tony Oldale and Mark Pavis, a director of Sanderdale Builders Ltd.

08/09/2005 – Insulation and plasterboard ceiling going in. Most of the electric cables installed.

20/09/2005 – Timber studding and piles of insulation, still awaiting shingles.

20/09/2005 – Details of the stonework

24/09/2005 – Studding covered in plywood and waterproof membrane prior to rendering

24/09/2005 – Window frames installed

04/10/2005 – At last, the shingles arrive. Six roofers are working like fury to fix them.

07/10/2005 – With a couple of rows to go, the shingles run out. Let’s hope the additional ones don’t need to come from Canada!

14/10/2005 – Roof finished.

26/10/2005 – Guttering up and scaffolding down.

27/10/2005 – Gutter hidden behind oak planks.

27/10/2005 – Doors in place and windows glazed.

27/10/2005 – Ceilings and walls being finished.

27/11/2005 – Mesh attached prior to rendering

09/11/2005 – Rendering in progress

12/11/2005 – Most of the rendering complete

Nestling in the autumn sunshine.

18/11/2005 – Rendering complete, after a break for wet weather

19/11/2005 – the centre stands out against an early morning frost

25/11/2005 – The connection to the water mains is at Ganthorpe Gate, so a trench had to be dug and a pipe laid along the main track then up the vista to the building, a distance in excess of a kilometre.

Early January 2006 – plumbing installed

Mid January 2006 – all internal oak beams rubbed down and given a couple of coats of Danish Oil, central heating boiler and radiators delivered

1/2/2006 – Heating installed, all that’s needed is a source of fuel

9/2/2006 – volunteers still painting

25/2/2006 – Slab for gas tank and trench to bring the supply in.

25/2/2006 – Soil and coarse sand to landscape the area to the north of the centre.

13/3/2006 – Volunteers laying the oak flooring. Gas tank has been installed and filled and the central heating commissioned.

20/04/2006 – Volunteers modify the units that form the base of the workstations

20/04/2006 – Volunteers harvest turves from within the arboretum and lay them around the centre.

03/05/2006 – Ken installs the gate

04/05/2006 – Just before the centre opens to the public

10/05/2006 – Eric, who mans the ticket desk from Tuesday to Thursday

30/05/2006 – New bench

31/05/2006 – From the Silver Vista with fading Camassias

04/06/2006 – Centre and blossom

Some detail internal shots, the carving of the green man was produced by one of our talented members

 

 

06/06/2006 – Reception for our volunteers and supporters. Our chairman, Sir Ron Cooke, thanked the many who have made the Education and Visitors Centre possible

21/06/2006 – The CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) presented the coveted CPRE Mark award to the centre.

11/07/2006 – The centre from the edge of the Tercentenary Plantation

28/07/206 – Simon Brown, the past master of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers, tries out the information centre for which they so generously paid.

28/07/2006 – The patio nearing completion

 

23/08/2006 – The completed patio.

01/01/2007 – The arboretum was opened on Boxing Day and New Years Day for ‘A Winter Wellie Walk’. Several hundred braved the chilly weather and were rewarded with mulled wine and cake.

31/01/2007 – The finishing touches. Solid oak skirting boards (generously funded by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers’) fitted by one of our volunteers, Tim, who is becoming an expert in mitring. Each pillar requires 8 mitres and there are lots of them.

31/01/2007 – Solid, level access facilitates entry for disabled visitors.

31/01/2007 – Kitchen nearing completion.

10/02/2007 – Our new cafes opens, serving delicious coffee and home made cakes, together with soups, snacks and savouries all using the finest locally sourced ingredients. Click here for details of the cafe

Official opening of the John Simmons Centre 16th May 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

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