Archived Older News

10 Aug 2017: In 2016, the owners of the Walled Garden site appealed to the Planning Inspectorate against a failure to give notice within the prescribed period of a decision on a planning permission application to construct six attached dwelling houses and two apartments (Cheshire East Planning Application reference P08/0917). The subsequent hearing led to the rejection of the planning application by the Planning Inspectorate. Following further unsuccessful appeals, the NWGS understands from the High Court that the Planning Appeal Inspector’s decision to refuse the Planning Application (P08/0917) now stands.
A further matter to be resolved before any development could take place is determination of the ownership of the walls.
It is the NWGS’s view that, even if suitable planning permission were obtained in future, the cost of restoring the walls in the manner commensurate with their Grade II listing would exceed the value of the site, so the land effectively has no value.
This is still an evolving situation, and further news will be published as it becomes available.

9 July 2017: Nantwich Walled Garden Society will be at the Societies Spectacular event in Nantwich Town Square on Sat 15th July from 10.00-14.00. Please come along to visit us to find out more about the garden and the Society. It is always good to meet up with existing members and it’s an opportunity to join the NWGS (for only £10) if you would like to support our cause.

17 June 2017: The next meeting of the Nantwich Walled Garden Society will take place on Monday 19 June 2017. All members, and anyone thinking of joining the Society who would like to know more, are welcome.  Please contact us for more information.

12 Apr 2017: Two members of the NWGS Committee attended a meeting of the Wistaston Gardeners’ Society yesterday to talk about the Nantwich Walled Garden. It was good to meet the enthusiastic gardeners and we are grateful for the warm welcome and hospitality. If you are a member of an organisation which would be interested in having a talk about the Garden, its history and the NWGS, please get in touch by sending a message via the Contact page.

21 Feb 2017: The Spring 2017 edition of the NWGS Newsletter has just been published, see here. Articles are included on recent research activities, including a booklet on John Gerard on sale in Nantwich Museum, and a visit made by two members to Grappenhall Hays Walled Garden. We are interested in your feedback on the Newsletter, please contact us if you have comments or suggestions for future topics.

3 Jan 2017: Happy New Year to all our web site visitors! Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Unfortunately we are still awaiting the outcome of matters arising following the refusal by the Planning Inspectorate in August 2016 of the site owner’s 2008 planning application. We are unlikely to know more until March 2017, but we will post an update as soon as there is anything we can report.

14 Nov 2016: A new booklet about the life and work of John Gerard is now on sale at Nantwich Museum, priced at £2.95. The booklet was written by NWGS members Helen Cooke and Graham Dodd and tells the story of the celebrated herbalist, who was born in Nantwich in 1545 and went on to gain international recognition for his Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. All money raised from the sale of the booklet goes to support the work of the Museum.

30 Oct 2016: The next meeting of the Nantwich Walled Garden Society will take place on Monday 7 November – please contact us for more information about the meeting or to join the NWGS.

3 Oct 2016: The NWGS will be celebrating Christmas early this year, at our fund-raising dinner to be held at Nantwich Bookshop in the evening of Tues 6th December. The cost is £20 for a three-course meal. Prior booking is essential, please contact Diana Hall (dianamariehall@gmail.com, tel.: 07831401112) or complete the form on our Contact Us page to reserve your place. In addition, Dr Helen Cooke will give a talk entitled “Nantwich Walled Garden: history and hopes for the future”.

6 Sept 2016: The next meeting of the Nantwich Walled Garden Society will take place on Monday 19th September at 2.30pm. Please contact us via our web site for more information or to join the Society if you’re not already a member.

19 Aug 2016: Some potentially good news for the future of Nantwich Walled Garden, as the appeal by the site owners to the Planning Inspectorate has, following a hearing in July, led to refusal of the 2008 planning application for building on the site. The NWGS is looking forward to working with Cheshire East Council and other local organisations to explore the full implications and possible opportunities which may arise from this decision.

15 Aug 2016: The NWGS was invited to present the Clive Memorial Lecture at the Dorothy Clive Garden, Shropshire, on 14 August. Helen Cooke presented on our behalf to an audience of over 50 Friends of the Dorothy Clive Garden, who were very interested in the history of the Nantwich Walled Garden and the NWGS’s mission to save it from development.

15 July 2016: The NWGS will have a stand at the Nantwich Societies Spectacular event tomorrow, Sat 16 July. Come and visit us in Nantwich Town Square between 10.00 am-2.00 pm. If it’s raining we should be in the Civic Hall. We are looking forward to talking with Nantwich residents and visitors, as well as members of the NWGS.

3 July 2016: The Summer 2016 edition of the Nantwich Walled Garden Society Newsletter is now available on this web site. Read about our Parks and Gardens database entry, the new Nantwich Museum display, forthcoming events, some other walled gardens in Cheshire and more.

23 June 2016: The next meeting of the Nantwich Walled Garden Society will be on Monday 4th July at 2.30pm at Market Street Church, Nantwich. NWGS members and non-members welcome. The agenda will include the status of planning application, NWGS membership, fundraising and summer events.

13 June 2016: There will be a Summer Barbecue for NWGS members and friends at Nantwich Bookshop on Tuesday 12 July, 6.30pm for 7pm, tickets £17.50 per person. The Bookshop is renowned for its excellent food and hospitality. For more information or to book a place please contact
Diana Hall (dianamariehall@gmail.com)

24 Apr 2016: The Nantwich Walled Garden now has an entry in the Parks & Gardens UK database which can be viewed here. It is hoped that the Garden’s presence on the web site will help raise awareness of the campaign to save it both nationally and internationally.

19 Feb 2016: Members of the NWGS met with the Nantwich in Bloom team yesterday evening, and soon established that we have a lot in common. Our groups are both committed to making Nantwich an even lovelier town for residents and visitors, and agree that restoring the Garden would bring much greater benefit to the town than building a few houses. Nantwich in Bloom’s enthusiastic support is greatly appreciated.

4 Feb 2016: The next meeting of the Nantwich Walled Garden Society will be on Monday 29th February at 7.30pm at Nantwich Museum. As well as covering NWGS business, we will have a guest speaker, Daniel Ackerley; the topic of his talk will be ‘Planting a Traditional Orchard’. This is relevant to the walled garden, as until fairly recently it had contained an orchard, with many varieties of apples. The orchard was destroyed by one of the housing developers who owned the site in the early 2000s.

16 Jan 2016: The Nantwich Walled Garden Society’s AGM will be held at Nantwich Museum on Monday 18th Jan at 7.30pm. Plenty to discuss, including the planning application from 4 Real Developments Ltd, fundraising, website, officer roles, NWGS status. Hope to see you there!

11 Jan 2016: The Nantwich News has published an article about the Walled Garden. We’re reminded that “2016 has been designated “Year of the English Garden” to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the famous landscape architect Capability Brown, and to celebrate our beautiful gardens” – another reason to fight for the restoration of the garden and walls. Still a few days to comment on the 4 Real Developments Ltd’s most recent planning application – at least 10 objections have been posted so far – deadline 14 Jan.

4 Jan 2016: The article in the Crewe/Nantwich Chronicle referred to in the 30 Dec 2015 news item is now available here. Deadline for comments to Cheshire East is 14th Jan 2016.

30 Dec 2015: Objections to 4 Real Developments Ltd’s plans for repairing the garden walls have been raised by the NWGS – there’s an article on p.15 in today’s Crewe/Nantwich Chronicle, with a picture showing the state of a section of one of the walls. (An electronic version of the article hasn’t been published yet, but we will post a link if it becomes available.) The NWGS urges people to object to the proposal on the basis that chopping such a large section out of the Grade II listed north wall, for the proposed vehicular access, would destroy the integrity of the historic walled garden, which is part of the Nantwich Conservation Area. Objections to the planning application for repairs to the walls must be made by 14 Jan 2015, and can be done via Cheshire East’s web site (search for planning application No. 15/5353N), or by writing to Cheshire East Council Planning Department, P.O. Box 606, Municipal Buildings, Crewe CW1 9HP.

23 Dec 2015: The possibility of relocating Nantwich Museum to a new building, proposed for construction on Mill Island close to the River Weaver has been discussed recently in the local press. Today’s Crewe/Nantwich Chronicle has a letter from Edward Leetham suggesting that Cheshire East should instead purchase the Nantwich Walled Garden site and construct the new Museum there. This would preserve the green space on Mill Island, and ensure there is a double attraction of the Museum and Walled Garden close to the town centre. Could this be the perfect solution?

21 Dec 2015: The Winter 2015-16 edition of the NWGS Newsletter is now available, please go to the Newsletters page to see it. We’d welcome your feedback or questions – please submit them via the Contact Us page.

16 Dec 2015: An article in today’s Crewe Chronicle (see here) reports a planning application submitted to Cheshire East by 4 Real Developments Ltd, the site owners, for the repair of the Grade II listed walls that surround the garden. Details of the planning application are on Cheshire East’s web site and can be found here. Any comments on the application must be submitted to Cheshire East by 14 January 2016. The NWGS will be monitoring the situation.

8 Dec 2015: We have just relaunched our website. We welcome your feedback and any suggestions for improvement – please get in touch via the Contact Us page.

8th Dec 2015: A Notice of Listed Building Planning Application was posted in the Nantwich Chronicle on 25th November 2015. The notice is quoted as being “in the spirit of Article 6 of the Application for Planning Permission” and pertains to the proposed development at the Walled Garden at the rear of Welsh Row Nantwich. The site owner, 4 Real Developments, is “applying to Cheshire East Council for Listed Building permission to repair and restore the listed walls around the Walled Garden site”. Owners claiming interest in the walls who wish to make representations about this application were invited to write to Cheshire East Council bv 26th November 2015. Owner in this context means a person claiming a freehold, or interest. or a leasehold interest, the unexpired term of which is not less than seven years. The notice was submitted to the Chronicle by C. Anderson on behalf of 4 Real Developments Ltd.