As our appeal to restore Cedric Morris' walled garden at Benton End continues, Project Director Beatrice Prosser-Snelling shares the story so far of the walled garden pond
By Beatrice Prosser-Snelling, Project Director at Benton End
I’ve been amazed at the progress in the walled garden since I started working at Benton End in March 2025. Mark Whyman and his team hit the ground running in August when they started the groundworks necessary to re-create the walled garden in collaboration with Sarah Price; inspired by the ethos of Sir Cedric Morris.
We knew about Cedric’s pond. Although dry and mostly filled in, it was still very much a feature of the walled garden. We’d also seen photographs of the pond in the garden, many of them featuring Cedric in the later years of his life. Cedric grew aquatic plants in and around the pond, and of course he was incredibly fond of wildlife and no doubt enjoyed the variety of fauna that the pond attracted and supported.
What we didn’t know was that the pond existed on top of a Victorian water cistern. As work to clear the pond progressed, a deeper pool was uncovered and emptied of spoil, revealing a brick built and bitumen lined water storage cistern, some 2.6m deep and 1.9m wide.
Thinking of supporting our appeal to restore the gardens at Benton End? From 2-9 December, we will be taking part in the Big Give's Christmas Challenge. Click the link at the end of the article to find out more.
Mark Whyman’s team have worked sympathetically to continue to deliver the original vision developed by Sarah Price, whilst ensuring that the cistern is ready to be supplemented by a new water capture and storage system – fundraising dependent.
A water bowl has been cast, in-situ, which will be fed by the downpipes on the house as well as by the falling rain! It will empty into a specially-made rill, the forma for which was built last week and the first pour into which has just taken place. The rill runs gently down the natural slope of the garden and into the pond – refreshed with new pointing and sealant and looking very smart with its new coping, of course cast in-situ using a custom-built forma.
The hard landscaping is now nearly finished – weather and fundraising dependent, the team will be all done by late winter. We are close to completing the pond and water storage system but need more funds to be able to do so. James Horner and his team have started the planting in the walled garden, but we need further support to fully plant and finish the re-created walled garden in order to re-open to visitors in summer 2026.
We are very grateful to everybody who has already supported the walled garden appeal at Benton End; raising more than £145,536 so far. Thank you. We need a further £55,000 to reach our target!
Thinking of supporting our appeal to restore the gardens at Benton End? From 2-9 December, we will be taking part in the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge. This means any amount you donate during the challenge campaign will be doubled, as it’s matched pound for pound by the Big Give!
Find out more about our Benton End Big Give Campaign.
