Back to Gardens & Historic Estates

Tracy Park

Although Tracy Park was a large designed estate in its heyday, the damage caused to the character of the park by the installation of two golf courses was so fundamental that it had not been considered for listing.

A change in ownership brought a new approach. The new owner wished to develop the hotel side of the business; to restore the house, its outbuildings and setting to a high quality, appropriate to the house, and to add substantial modern facilities.

• Illman Young were initially engaged to undertake an Historic Assessment and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment

• The structure of the park and the majority of its historic features remained – including the majority of the parkland trees

• Park locally important and extensive, though much of the detail had been lost, and surviving features were in poor repair

• New development located within the existing car park, away from the historic core of the site. This allowed restoration of some of the landscape features

• The design aspect therefore centred around:

– Restoring some of the historic features
– Minimising the impact of development
– Appropriate designs and planting
– New design work for the new buildings.

This allowed a blend of old with very modern design, utilising traditional plants and motifs in a modern way.