New Stowe

The £9 million project to transform visits to Stowe, home to one of the greatest English 18th century landscape gardens.

In the late 1980s the world-famous landscape gardens of Stowe were handed to the National Trust and an ambitious programme of restoration began.  In the past 20 years, overgrown lakes and views have been restored, crumbling temples and monuments renovated, and lost statues and ornamental features reinstated.

Now the National Trust is creating an exciting new visitor centre on the site of a previously derelict coaching inn, which has always been known as New Inn.  The end result is a seamless combination of immaculately restored heritage and an area of new build designed to delight and inspire the modern visitor.

The historic rooms of New Inn have been sensitively restored and will be dressed to evoke the atmosphere of a Georgian country coaching inn.    The restored buildings around the original courtyard flow into an area of new build with light, airy rooms and high interiors showcasing the craftsmanship and quality of the materials that have been used.  The energy for the site is provided by a bio-mass boiler using wood chippings from Stowe and other National Trust sites in the area.

Local community groups have been involved in this project and our continuing engagement work will benefit from having a new room for local groups, school visits, community use etc.

New Inn is not only an exciting and impressive new visitor centre in its own right, but it also recreates the original entry point into the gardens, affording visitors views of the gardens which have not been fully enjoyed for centuries.

The National Trust looks forward to formally opening New Inn in March 2012.