Tatton Park – the jewel in the crown of Cheshire East’s visitor attractions – has unveiled plans to offer visitors a greater welcome along with improvements to facilities.
The council says proposals for the historic deer park and visitor attraction near Knutsford will give visitors best value for money and exciting seasonal leisure activities.
Tatton Park, which is managed by Cheshire East Council, attracts more than 800,000 visitors every year – with its neo-classical mansion, award-winning gardens, medieval old hall, working farm, adventure playground, events and stableyard retail and catering facilities.
Tatton Park contributes £34m each year to the local economy.
The council is now planning to spend £2.3m on improvements to Tatton’s visitor arrival and stableyard facilities, to improve the visitor welcome and bring it up to the standards of other national and international attractions.
This will help enhance the business, conservation and management of the estate and improve local facilities and ‘quality of place’ for Cheshire East residents as well as for the thousands of people who visit from home and abroad.
Following a detailed analysis of options, discussions with the National Trust and other interested parties – such as Historic England and local parish councils – Cheshire East Council has submitted plans to create a new visitor information point close to the existing main car park, which will provide all-weather protection, seating and orientation to visitors on arrival.
Landscaping and more-accessible paths to the stableyard are also planned, to assist visitors with limited mobility.
Planned improvements to toilet facilities, along with making more usable space in the existing barn building in the stableyard courtyard, should also help improve the experience for visitors.
A new central stableyard building on the site of the last Lord Egerton’s garage, is planned to provide a much needed outdoor covered seating area for restaurant customers on busy days.
It is hoped that part of this structure will also serve as a new display area for some of the last Lord Egerton’s historic vehicle collection and provide a discrete boundary between the two halves of the original courtyard.
The anticipated developments should enable better use of the stableyard courtyard so that regular seasonal entertainment (such as outdoor theatre, markets and art events) can take place for the enjoyment of all visitors.
It is hoped to have these new improvements completed by 2020.
The proposed improvements to Tatton’s visitor arrival and stableyard facilities are an important element of the vision to enable Tatton Park to balance its conservation and preservation obligations with commercial, social and cultural objectives.
The plans will also help to establish a long-term sustainable revenue stream to maintain the status of Tatton Park as a nationally-recognised heritage attraction and a flagship tourism venue for the borough.
