£600k conservation work planned for villa at Attingham Park
More than £600,000 is to be spent by the National Trust on a major conservation project on a Italianate villa on the Attingham Estate near Shrewsbury.
The scheme is planned to start next summer and last for three years.
It will involve repair and renovation work to the house, farmstead and setting of Cronkhill, located between Atcham and Cross Houses.
The site is made up of the Cronkhill House villa, a stable and coach house block, a garden and an orchard and a set of early-mid-19th century farm buildings.
Money will be spent on essential building repairs to the property's roof, guttering and window frames. Painting and render work is also being planned to return the Grade I-listed villa, which was built about 1802, to its original external colour.
Preparatory research and paint scrapes have show Regency architect John Nash intended the villa to be lime-washed in a stone colour, not white, as it currently is.
Planning permission is being sought to start on the first phase of the project, which will involve building a new grain store to ensure the farm is better equipped for today's farming practices and reduce to use the historic buildings which are less suited to modern agricultural usage.
National Trust bosses hope to carry out restoration work on historic farm buildings and, potentially, open them to the public in future.
Mark Agnew, general manager of the Attingham Estate, said: "Although it's part of the Attingham estate, Cronkhill is unique and historically important in its own right, so this work is very important for the National Trust to carry out.
"As a charity, with no government funding, we have to prioritise and plan ahead for major projects and undertake them in a phased way. All of the money has been raised due to the ongoing success of Attingham as a visitor destination. A lot of Shropshire people visit and support Attingham and Cronkhill. We are very grateful for their ongoing support which allows us to finance exciting conservation projects such as this.
"Cronkhill is a little bit of Italy in Shropshire, a very special place that all of the team at Attingham are very excited about conserving and returning to its original external appearance."
Cronkhill House is open to the public six days a year and will next be open in spring 2014.
