The Castle Garden project was started in October 2019. The site had become seriously overgrown, especially with ivy, bay trees and valerian. Urgent work was also needed on a number of walls that were becoming unsafe. A small band of volunteers have since been hard at work (when government restrictions have allowed) to clear the unwanted vegetation and thereby permit an assessment of the state of the walls and to formulate a plan of how the gardens can be resurrected.

The Castle Gardens are part of a scheduled monument and at every stage of the project, Historic England have been consulted on the best approach. Advice has also been taken from Natural England and SANHS members on how we can both conserve and encourage wildlife in this lovely small green space.