THE future of a treasured beauty spot has been saved after a hefty £1.5 million grant was secured.

Your County Gazette revealed in February how the Crown Estate planned to sell of 7,000 acres of land from Neroche to Cheddon Fitzpaine, including more than 300 acres surrounding Hestercombe House.

Although the house itself was safe - owned by the Hestercombe Gardens Trust - the surrounding land was not, causing anxiety for Taunton residents and the garden’s thousands of yearly visitors.

RELATED: Land at Hestercombe among 7,000 acres up for sale by Crown Estate

But plans to restore the beautiful gardens are now in motion after a £1.5million grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund was received.

Thanks to the donation, the Trust is now able to buy all 320 acres, including the early 17th century water garden which the group plans to restore.

Hestercombe Gardens Trust chairman, Sir Andrew Burns KCMG, said: “This is a tremendous vote of confidence in Hestercombe and recognises Somerset’s leading heritage garden as a site of outstanding national importance.

“We are enormously grateful to the National Heritage Memorial Fund and our other funders for their most generous and timely assistance in securing the future of Hestercombe for public enjoyment.”

The total cost of buying the land from the Crown Estate, a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch, was priced at £2.7m.

Other grants and donations to meet the cost were received from three private trusts and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

In 1944, Hestercombe was sold to the Crown Estate, who continue to hold the land, apart from Hestercombe House itself and the formal garden.

These were sold to the Somerset County Council in 1978, which transferred the freehold of the house, formal garden and visitor centre to the Hestercombe Gardens Trust.

Somerset County Gazette:

DELIGHTED: Philip White, founder at Hestercombe

Philip White MBE, founder and chief executive at Hestercombe, welcomed the chance to bring the land ‘together again’.

He said: “This has been a remarkable and possibly unique opportunity to put back together a nationally important historic landscape when so many are broken up, that had been made possible by the vision shown by Hestercombe’s trustees and its generous supporters.

“The Hestercombe Gardens Trust is very grateful to the leaders of both Somerset County Council, David Fothergill, and Taunton Deane Borough Council, John Williams, for their strong support and also to Taunton MP, Rebecca Pow, a long-time champion of Hestercombe, who was able to promote the application at a national level.”