Quarry Bank: Appeal launched for flood-hit National Trust park
Estate general manager Roz Stone told BBC North West Tonight that "the level of rainfall and the speed at which it came" caused significant damage in the area, which is set in a valley in Styal, near Manchester Airport.She said surface water from nearby roads and fields had flowed down a cliff in the garden, causing a landslide to block paths."We've definitely seen an increasing number of flood and bad weather events - a high number of storm closures - this winter," Ms Stone added. "Far more than I've ever experienced before."We haven't had a landslide on the site previously so this has been a more significant event, but we are noticing that [poor weather] is becoming more and more the norm and a real challenge."
Experts will monitor and survey the area over coming months to check for further land movements before they decide upon what action to take.Ms Stone said it "may not be as straightforward as restoring the area to how it was before".She explained: "We've got to think about the fact that this type of event is more common now and could happen again."So, potentially, we might want to take a different approach to planting or how we manage the landscape in the area."Senior gardener Lisa Rogers added that Quarry Bank, which has featured in the BBC's Countryfile programme as well as Channel 4 drama The Mill, was "a rare example of a complete garden from the industrial picturesque age" with an "idyllic" landscape backed by a large mill."It is part of the irregularity and we do not hide from that, we embrace it."
Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
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