I visited New Inn last week for the first time in ages and it is almost unrecognisable. The whole of the building is covered in scaffolding and the roof has now been removed and replaced by a soul less piece of white canvas to protect the interior. It all looks rather sad and ugly but beauty is only skin deep and underneath, I know New Inn is desperate to become the white swan!
Other conservation work never stops at Stowe because with 40 monuments, temples and statues, when one is complete another practically falls down. Our latest beauty that is now complete is the Grotto.
I was lucky enough to be here when the restoration began and have closely followed the progress. The amount of work that has gone into the restoration never fails to amaze me. The Grotto is a cave like structure overlooking the River Styx. Until recently, the walls were unstable and the floor had collapsed due to rabbit damage and the whole place had suffered water damage.
It’s former use was a a rustic dining area but today it is just a very beautiful folly. 70,000 pebbles have been relaid by hand and the walls are once more clad with tufa which is rock derived from limestone.
The most fabulous piece of the restoration is a statue of a crouching Venus which has been replaced in a Carrera marble basin, where a trickle of water flows down below into a another marble basin. I’m besotted with Venus as she is one of the prettier Roman versions. She looks stunning bathed in a natural shaft of light looking across the Grotto towards the Garden.
All this restoration sounds easy but I saw Roger and colleagues lay the 70,000 pebbles in a cold January, the tufa arriving from distant places, Venus with a wonky hand and a damaged neck, the effort it took to get over a ton of marble down a narrow slope and in position, the precision to get the water flow correct and more of course.
The Grotto is well worth a visit and is part of our guided tours. Next year, New Inn will be finished.
