Hello, and welcome to Sunnycroft.
This is a very rare surviving gentleman's villa in its miniature estate. Increasingly rare because,
over the years, they were 10 a penny, and they've all been developed, or changed, or converted into apartments.
Ours has remained as was because it stayed in the same family up until 1997 when it was gifted to us.
Because it was in the same family for so many generations our collection tells a story
of basically 100 years worth of social history. However its architecture and its layout,
all of its features remain unchanged and have been since 1899.
One of which is our remarkably rare conservatory which we're going to go and take a look at if you'd like to follow me.
So like most estates we have our collection of glasshouses. To my left is the cultivation greenhouse, Boulton and Paul.
To my right is the conservatory made by R Halliday & Co.
We affectionately call it the Halliday because it was made by R Halliday & Co and they used to
design and produce huge conservatories for very very very large estates. And as I alluded to before
we're an estate in miniature, so we have a miniature one. We've used this up until 2018.
It's a beautiful beautiful space to use. However, it began to deteriorate and we knew we needed to restore it.
We went through quite a long process working out the best way to restore it,
and through that research we discovered just how few Halliday conservatories there are left.
In fact there's only about three. They are often renovated using more modern materials.
We chose to restore ours, because of its significance, because all of its original features
were still completely intact right down to its last screw and bolt.
This also has the most amazing, delicate, intricate engineering system so I think it's time we went inside to take a look. Follow me.
Of course a restoration project like this costs a lot of money. With the correct architect, specialist craftsmanship
lots of research, it does take an extraordinary amount of funds.
So in order to be able to do this building and the property justice we needed to make sure that we approached that
sensitively but also practically. And so we launched a dedicated fundraising campaign.
And through the amazing generosity of our visitors, members, supporter groups, and our local community,
we were able to raise the funds to make sure that we could get this project underway. Thank you.
So first we had to understand the structure. It was slightly off-centre to say the least.
And we needed to establish whether that was something that happened over time,
or whether it was a character of its original build. And we say that because
it's remarkably only held up by three very very delicate braces that carry the load just down to its four corners.
So we can use the entire space without any central support or pillar.
We had planned to start this project in 2020 so when Covid hit we were really worried
it was never going to get off the ground, and that the structure would deteriorate further.
However, because of the dedicated funds that were raised we were able to begin it,
albeit a bit later, but we started it in 2021. It's still ongoing but it is so near completion.
And it's been a delight watching it happen. The workmen have been very proud of the efforts.
We've stuck to our philosophy of approach of retaining as much of the original material as possible.
And all of those original bits and pieces, including the windows, now work better than ever.
It's very nearly done and I can't wait for you to see it for real.
Here at Sunnycroft we work very closely with the local community, and bring in different groups
of people at different times to experience different things. We're really lucky that our
site is geographically very accessible and our collection is very familiar to people,
so that they can relate and understand the stories but also identify with themselves.
We take this approach because we are really more than just a place to visit.
We have the power to connect with people and to fulfil their needs at their pace.
Thank you for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed your little tour around our Halliday conservatory,
and learning a little more about Sunnycroft. And thank you also for your continued support.
It really really does matter as it helps us look after these places for future generations.