Fancy staying a night at Bradgate Park?
TRUSTEES of a popular Leicestershire park are considering offering visitors the chance to stay overnight.
As Bradgate Park prepares to celebrate its 90th anniversary next year, the trust which runs it is looking to face the challenges of the 21st century.
Glamping, expanding the tearooms and an archeological investigation are among the ideas considered.
A draft strategy setting out five strategic priorities and how they will be delivered has been drawn up
Peter Tyldesley, director of Bradgate Park Trust, said: “It is very much a long-term aspiration. It is something that came out of a workshop we did with the trustees last year.”
He said although no site had been identified, a glamping site would be outside the deer park on the periphery of the estate.
“I think it has potential, but quite how we would offer it, we have not thought about yet,” he said.
Another ambition is expansion of the Deer Barn tearooms and refurbishment of toilets at Hunts Hill and Hallgates. The strategy outlines plans to attract funding for an archaeological investigation in the gardens of Bradgate House.
Mr Tyldesley said the trust was working with the University of Leicester’s archaeological department on this.
The university’s Bradgate Park field school, a student training and research excavation project, is doing work at Bradgate House this summer.
Any further work will depend on whether there is interest from the archaeological department and what funding there is.
Mr Tyldesley said: “It is really being alert to what the possibilities are. The gardens are a mystery. It depends what the field school uncovers to what we can do.”
Another plan outlined in the strategy is a memorial wood which will open in October.
This has been possible thanks to a £20,000 donation from Leicestershire and Rutland freemasons.
Mr Tyldesley said: “The Bradgate Park Trust was established in 1928 when Charles Bennion purchased Bradgate Park and gave it in trust to be managed as a public park.
“As the trust prepares to celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2018, we have produced a new strategic plan, A Vision for our Centenary, to address the challenges we face in the 21st century, some of which Charles Bennion could never have imagined.
“We are inviting stakeholders and groups involved in our work to offer comment.”