The Lawns gets a make-over!

Below is how Stroud Life reported on news re The Lawns which is where the Ruscombe Brook flows into...

Numbers come up to save oasis in urban jungle

STROUD Community Land Trust has won an £81,000 National Lottery grant to restore the Lake at the Lawn to its former glory. The charity is planning to convert the two-hectare pleasure grounds of a long-lost Victorian mansion into a haven for people and wildlife.

The Lawn stood as an impressive, nine-bedroomed country house on the border of Stroud and Cainscross 100 years ago. It stretched to the Stroudwater Navigation and included a boating lake and boathouse, terraced walks, brook, walled garden, stables, fish ponds and arboretum. The house was bought by the county council and demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Cainscross roundabout. Its gardens and lake have fallen into disrepair ever since.

Amid fears that it would soon be lost forever, the Stroud Community Land Trust secured a long-term lease on the site four years ago and plans were drawn up for its restoration. The lake is the only project in Gloucestershire to win cash from the Big Lottery Fund's £57.5million Community Spaces programme.

It will be transformed over the next 16 months thanks to the £81,022 grant. The restoration of old orchards, garden wall, fish ponds and pathways will be completed in partnership with Stroud Valleys Project and community groups. The funding will allow improvements to the lake's drainage system and public access, planting of specimen tress and habitat creation.

"This site is a rare natural gem," said Stroud mayor Coun Andy Read, who is project manager for the Land Trust. It is one of only two public green spaces serving more than 6,000 people in Cainscross. Our survey of surrounding households showed massive support for plans to restore it to its former glory. One resident described it as 'an oasis in an urban jungle'."

The garden is on the site of an old millpond, rumoured to date back to 1100, which once fed Canalside Mill, the lowest of five on the Ruscombe Brook. Research has shown it was still working as a corn mill in 1882. The trust has already raised £10,000 from BBC's Breathing Places Big Lottery Fund to plan and research the project. When the work is done a further £10,000 of Big Lottery money will be available to manage it. The project has been funded through the Community Spaces grants programme which is being managed by Groundwork UK as an Award Partner to the Big Lottery Fund.