Shops, businesses, cafe, adventure playground and new car park feature in new plan

A PLANNING application from the county council and the Elvaston Castle and Gardens Trust, a registered charity which is to take on the running of the site, details that the regeneration would include a new café and adventure playground. The former stable yards would be renovated and converted into shops and businesses.

The proposed new car park would sit close to the main castle complex to the north west and the access road would run near to the extensive boulevard which stretches from the B5010 to the Golden Gates.

Plans for the “upper stables” include ice cream and coffee kiosks, shops and exhibition spaces. The former gardener’s cottage would become a tea room, the former gas house would be converted into holiday accommodation and the old saw yard would be used for plant sales. Meanwhile, the former frame yard would be turned into office accommodation.

The plans are aiming to “divert visitor footfall away from the historic trees in Elvaston’s Grade II* listed gardens which are suffering unsustainable damage from being constantly walked over on the route from the existing car park”.

Councillor Tony King, the county council’s cabinet member for clean growth and regeneration, said: “Elvaston Castle and Country Park is enjoyed by people from all over Derbyshire so it’s no surprise that so many wanted to contribute their own ideas, many of which have been included in our master plan.

“If our proposals get the go-ahead, it will signal the start of the first phase of our plans to secure the future of Elvaston Castle and Country Park for generations to come by making it a sustainable visitor attraction that can stand on its own two feet, saving millions of pounds for Derbyshire council taxpayers who currently pay for the upkeep of the estate.”

The plan aims to create 176 new full-time jobs with 194 in total across the site when including existing jobs in the figure.

The £35 million cost does not include the price of phase two, in which the historic gardens would be repaired and refurbished, including restoration of the lake and rockwork in the Grade-II listed grotto and sunken garden. This is when the council also intends to move the showground to Oak Flat, close to the new car park on the west of the site.