The garden’s initial creation lay in Colonel Harry Clive’s wartime decision of 1940, to provide his ailing wife – Dorothy – with a ‘series of interesting walks’ as she battled with Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately Dorothy died in 1942 but Colonel Clive continued work apace throughout the 1940s and 1950s, especially in The Quarry Garden which covers approximately 2 acres. In 1958 management of the then ‘fledgling’ garden was entrusted, by Colonel Clive, to a newly established, small-scale, independent charity – The Willoughbridge Garden Trust. This charity still manages, what is now a much larger and considerably enhanced 12 acre garden. Currently, the ‘Trust’ directly employs a small specialist team of staff to manage the site’s affairs. These core staff members are ably supported by a dedicated group of volunteers who primarily help with gardening, administration and the running of events.
