All things are difficult before they become easy...
So said the Persian poet Saadi. I don't know what experience he had of running a visitor attraction during a major engineering exercise, but he sounds fully prepared for the job to me!
As we get closer to the opening of the new Welcome Building and the associated car park in late June, we face the inevitable job of carrying on whilst all the various areas of work are brought together. We have avoided too much disruption to the day to day so far, but the next stage promises to be more of a challenge.
The main difference that will be immediately apparent to our regular visitors, is that it will be necessary for us to vacate the current car park. The reason for this is that the new easy-access routes from the Welcome Building to the restaurant, shop, cafe and Great Oak Hall run through the site of the existing car park. We also anticipate using the stone from the current car park to help make the base layer for the new footpath routes. This will help us to reduce the cost and also improve the environmental credentials of the build by not needing to import so many more lorry loads of material for the footpath construction.
A key part of the major works going on at Westonbirt currently have been about protecting the listed landscape of the Downs as well as the tree collection. This work will enable us to fulfil this and create a much more fitting sense of arrival into the National Arboretum.
Our team are busy putting in a diversion route for traffic and pedestrians, including constructing a temporary short stretch of road, quite a lot of fences and many, many signs. We are committed to making the visitor experience as pleasant and as comfortable as we possibly can during this stage. I think the transformation of the existing car park back into the sort of wildflower-strewn downland the Victorian progenitors of Westonbirt would have seen will be one of the most visually satisfying parts of this whole process.
It may not look too pretty at times and we are sorry for any inconvenience, but please do bear with us as we make this transition to the kind of place with the sort of facilities we can all be truly proud of.
Simon, Recreation Manager
