A Victorian limestone water garden has been unearthed at a Lake District hotel.
Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa in Windermere discovered the ornate water feature during grounds work to clear overgrown paths that were sat beneath 12 inches of leaf mould and debris.
The water garden features an extensive limestone rockery with three pools – consisting of one large pool and two smaller ones linked by miniature waterfalls.
It is believed to have been originally created sometime in the mid to late 1800s around the hotel’s rebuild and re-opening in 1859 and is thought to have been buried and lost during the second world war while the hotel was closed.
When it re-opened after the war, it is likely there would not have been the staff to look after the grounds as there had been in its earlier heydays of the 1930s.
Executive chairman of English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues Simon Berry said: “We’re keen to find out if any local historians can shed any further light on the provenance and background of the water garden and the limestone used to create it, as we have no official record of when it was installed and last seen.
“It doesn’t appear in Michael Berry’s book about the 300-year history of Low Wood Bay and Lakeland tourism.
“It seems that at some point it became overgrown and disappeared from sight until now. There have been small pieces of limestone unearthed over the years, so there was always an idea there that there was something there, but we did not realise the scale of the garden or that it included ponds and waterfalls until the latest grounds work.
“We are very pleased that this feature of the resort’s grounds is now back on show for guests and visitors to enjoy.”
The hotel has installed a new water circulation system for the ponds and repaired some leaks, but aside from the repairs, the water garden is intact and as originally found, with no stones moved from where they were uncovered.
