Benton End watercolour by Ptolemy Dean
The Benton End project will include the sensitive conservation and restoration of the Grade II* listed house and associated garden structures, and the creation of inclusive and accessible facilities for learning, exhibitions and residencies. The restoration will prioritise respecting and celebrating the site’s layered heritage, particularly Benton End’s significance in queer history, while embedding sustainability and environmental responsibility in all design choices.
Ptolemy Dean Architects specialises in conservation work to historic buildings, additions to historic buildings and the design of new buildings in sensitive locations. Conservation sensitivity and experience is central to the work of the office. Ptolemy Dean is the 19th Surveyor of the Fabric at Westminster Abbey and also the Foundation Architect for Christ Church Oxford.
In 2021 Benton End was majority gifted to the Garden Museum by the Pinchbeck Charitable Trust with the intention that the house and garden might be revived and opened as a place of learning, art and horticulture once again. In 2023, works began to revive Morris’ garden lead by Head Gardener James Horner, and in summer 2026, the historic walled garden opened to the public again for the first time, welcoming over 3000 visitors over three months.
The next step is Benton End Revived: a £5m capital project to repair, renovate, restore and adapt the house and wider grounds to become a cultural centre in the heart of Suffolk. Benton End Revived’s Development Phase is being delivered thanks to a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Players.
Benton End, photo by India Hobson
Ptolemy Dean Architects say: “We are delighted to have been appointed for the next phases of this project having been lucky enough to have been involved in the preparation of the initial Feasibility Study for Benton End. With the brief for Benton End having now been thoughtfully developed by the Garden Museum, and given careful consideration to determine exactly how the house and garden can be best developed to perform in a sustainable and economically viable way, there is now a much more deeply considered piece of work to be undertaken which we are grateful to be a part of.
The gardens have been and continue to be transformed by the careful re-discovery of lost or overgrown features from the Cedric Morris / Arthur Lett-Haines era, and on the house and supporting buildings, there needs to be a similar emphasis placed on regaining the more ephemeral qualities that need to be rediscovered and established. This is the Benton End that is sought by reading in between the lines of the formal brief. Glimpses of this tantalising Benton End can be seen in surviving photographs taken during the Cedric Lett era, of rooms and exterior places that made Benton End such a magical place.
Creating public uses within domestic property without destroying the very qualities that make them attractive, authentic, and valuable in the first place lies at the heart of this project. The overwhelming impression that might be experienced after these works have been achieved would be to have created a house and garden that Cedric and Lett have momentarily left, so that visitors and users can immediately grasp and soak up in an atmosphere of a particular moment of time and creativity. We look forward to helping this remarkable house move into its new life. “
Benton End watercolour by Ptolemy Dean
Benton End is made possible with support from the Heritage Fund.
