{"id":24861,"date":"2019-12-17T17:27:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T17:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=24861"},"modified":"2019-12-17T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T17:27:01","slug":"ihbcs-heritage-from-the-estates-doorstep-grand-plan-to-restore-devons-most-historic-estate-to-its-former-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=24861","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s \u2018Heritage from the (estate\u2019s) doorstep\u2019: Grand plan to restore Devon’s most historic estate to its former glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Devon Live<\/em> reports that while many of the features of the Stover Country Park \u2013 \u2018one of Devon\u2019s most accessible and popular heritage sites\u2019 and part \u2018of the original 80,000-acre estate acquired\u00a0 in the 18th century by James Templer\u2019 \u2013 are at risk, now a plan to save it has been submitted.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Devon Live<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n

Stover Country Park is one of Devon\u2019s most accessible and popular heritage sites.<\/p>\n

Part of the original 80,000-acre estate acquired by James Templer, the Country Park, just off the A382\/A38 interchange at the Drumbridges roundabout, has won the prestigious Green Flag Award for the past 16 years.<\/p>\n

But many of its key features of importance are now at risk. Stover Lake, with its famous water lilies, has depreciated massively in recent years, the old Granite Gatehouse is on the \u2018at risk\u2019 register, the ornamental bridge to Stover School is deteriorating, and the stable block hidden underneath the school is on the verge of collapse.<\/p>\n

Devon County Council though hope to revitalise the park and realise its potential as a highly accessible, exciting and engaging historic park and nature reserve.<\/p>\n

A National Lottery funding bid has been submitted this week. If the \u00a32m bid is successful, it will enable new access routes to be created, to conserve the Grade ll* Listed Gatehouse and Templer\u2019s 18th Century stables, restore historic views, remove the damaging sediment from Stover Lake, provide a caf\u00e9 for future income and a classroom with volunteers\u2019 area, and once again make it the jewel in crown for the area.<\/p>\n

Jon Avon, Devon County Council\u2019s Stover Country Park Manager, told Teignbridge District Council on Tuesday about the masterplan that the County have for the area.<\/p>\n

Mr Avon said: \u2018\u2026 many of its key features of importance are now at risk. If successful, this lottery funding will help restore this valuable Grade II listed park to its former glory as a fine example of a late eighteenth century designed landscape.<\/p>\n

‘Lost views and landscape features will be restored, listed buildings and structures will be repaired and the Stover Lake, with its famous water lilies, will be rejuvenated.<\/p>\n

‘We will also create a robust network of accessible routes linked to an extended Discovery Centre, provide better facilities and support for our volunteers, expand our programme of events and activities and develop the park as a learning centre for climate and biodiversity action.\u2019<\/p>\n

What is the history of the Stover Estate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stover Country Park comprises part of the 80,000-acre estate acquired by James Templer, a Devonian entrepreneur, in the late Eighteenth Century.<\/p>\n

Templer replaced the old house, Stoford Lodge, and in 1777 built himself a large mansion house in the Palladian style which he named Stover House.<\/p>\n

He undertook a landscaping scheme to form the gardens of the house, which significantly influenced the appearance of the area. It included the construction of Stover Lake, which covers approximately 4.05 hectares (10 acres), with water originally entering from the Ventiford Brook. The works included the planting of exotic trees and shrubs and the construction of a 1.5 mile carriage drive.<\/p>\n

The Stover estate remained in the Templer family until 1829 when it was sold to Edward Adolphus Seymour, the eleventh Duke of Somerset.<\/p>\n

The gatehouse, which is now a Grade II listed building, was added to the start of the carriage drive at this time\u2026<\/p>\n

What is in the masterplan?<\/strong>
\nStover Lake recovery plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

….Highways England project manager Darren Painter said: \u2018The twin reedbed system starts by providing a physical barrier to polluted water, then following absorption, microbes work to break down even more pollutants resulting in clearer water which will help the lake to regenerate and flourish.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pollution from traffic has reduced the diversity of wildlife at Stover Country Park.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is hoped that by reducing pollution, white-water lilies, not seen at the lake since 2007, will once again cover the lake surface providing suitable habitat for a variety of dragonflies and damselflies.\u2019<\/p>\n

The hope is that going forward, the lake can be dredged to remove the sediment in the lake bed\u2026.<\/p>\n

Access improvements programme<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 Cllr Avril Kerswell added that she had been on a tour of Stover and that viewing the stable block was an incredible experience. She added: \u2018It was pointed out to us all these things of interest that are decaying and that if something doesn\u2019t happen soon, we will lose them. This is one of the jewels of Teignbridge and I hope we can back this 100 per cent, as without our history and heritage, we would lose so much.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cllr Richard Daws added: \u2018We applaud anyone who is defending green space and bringing it back into use.’<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Devon Live reports that while many of the features of the Stover Country Park \u2013 \u2018one of Devon\u2019s most accessible and popular heritage sites\u2019 and part \u2018of the original 80,000-acre estate acquired\u00a0 in the 18th century by James Templer\u2019 \u2013 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24863,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24861\/revisions\/24863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}