AIM
 To support the Cullompton Walronds Preservation Trust in restoring the fabric of the building to give it a long and useful life and in remaking the garden to be a park for the people of the town.
WHY ARE WE DOING IT?
The Walronds is at 6 Fore Street right in the middle of the town. The building was completed in 1605 and has been in residential use ever since. It is listed Grade 1 but is now on the English Heritage register of buildings at risk. It is a very important part of the town’s heritage and is a potential magnet for visitors. Its decorated and panelled rooms offer opportunities for holiday lets, civil weddings, meetings, exhibitions and for craft and social groups. The garden which stretches back to Shortlands Lane could become a park for the people of the town, which has no such facility at present. The property has fallen into disrepair and is in very urgent need of restoration.
WHAT WILL WE ACHIEVE?
We will turn an increasingly derelict and hazardous building into a major asset with possibilities for educational and community use as well as for uses which will earn sufficient money for its long term maintenance. We will give the people a park.
HOW WILL WE GET THERE?
The Preservation Trust was registered as a charity and as a private company limited by guarantee in the spring of 1997. A substantial bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund made in that year did not succeed but the excellent report prepared by Niall Phillips Architects has provided the launch point for a new appeal. The Trust inherited half the property from the late Miss June Severn in 2005 and acquired the remainder by purchase. It has now inherited the estate of the late Miss Beatrice Reeves and will be able to repay the purchase loan. Since Miss Severn’s death the Trustees have had a new survey of the fabric prepared by Jonathan Rhind Architects and have carried out emergency repairs to the roof, lintels, glass and plasterwork. The survey has been costed by a Quantity Surveyor and indicates that £948,000 will be needed to restore the property fully. The Trustees have been in contact with the Landmark Trust since 1997 and negotiations for a long leasehold on the house and courtyard garden, less the three rooms adjoining the path from Fore Street, are in progress. These negotiations have included the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage. At the same time a separate scheme is being prepared for the outer garden, which includes the three retained rooms. This scheme has had a grant of £5,000 from ‘Awards for All’ for the preparation of a Feasibility Study by Jonathan Rhind Architects which includes an access and disability audit. Trustees intend to submit this project to the Big Lottery Fund for finance.
THE GARDEN
 The Landmark Trust will need the courtyard garden and parking space at the Shortlands end lane of the outer garden for their tenants. The remainder of the garden will be re-organized to become a small park for the people of the town. A start has been made to the project by the removal of three trees (one dangerous and two restricting access) with the permission of Mid Devon District Council. An application has been made for change of use from a private garden to public space and another application has been made for removal of the coach-house which potentially restricts disabled access. Trustees are benefiting from the help and advice of a co-founder of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the Eden Project, Rosemoor Gardens and a former director of the RHS Gardens at Wisley, Mr Philip McMillan-Browse. Mature trees will be kept but most of the garden will be re-organized and access will be improved by a curving path from Fore Street to Shortlands Lane which will be suitable for use by prams and electric invalid trolleys. The three rooms adjoining the path from Fore Street comprise a meeting room, a kitchen and a lavatory. These are already in use for meetings, coffee mornings, etc.
ESTABLISHED PARTNERS
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