Improvement planned at Wiltshire's 'Robin Hood' film set
New visitor building in pipeline for Old Wardour Castle
English Heritage is planning to demolish the existing visitor admissions building at Old Wardour Castle near Tisbury.
The charity, which cares for an internationally-important collection of historic sites and artefacts, plan to re-build a new one.
It's because the existing visitor building, which is a relatively basic 'hut' is now in poor condition and beginning to rot in several places.
Old Wardour is nestled in the gorgeous and tranquil Wiltshire countryside, set beside a lake.
The castle ruin was the inspiration for the one featured in the Kevin Costner film 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves'.
BUILT TO LAST?
It's funny when you think about it. The main attraction, Old Wardour Castle, has stood since the late 14th Century, and was only reduced to ruins after being accidently blown up by soldiers under siege during the English Civil War in 1643 and 1644.
By contrast, the current visitor admissions building at Old Wardour Castle has only been standing since the year 2000, and although it was updated and extended in 2008, just 20 years after it was first built, it is out-dated and is only fit for demolition!
Structural beams in the building have rotted, and English Heritage say their staff can now only open one of the doors to the building because problems with the floor means the doorway is no longer safe.
WHAT'S PLANNED FOR WARDOUR?
English Heritage's proposed development is simple:
* Demolition of existing visitor admissions building
* Erection of replacement visitor admissions building
The existing visitor kiosk/staff office and storage space will be torn down. It will be replaced by a new 'visitor pavilion' which will include a new staff office, visitor admissions office, a gift shop, as well as a staff kitchen and WC facilities. There will also be some replacement planting around the proposed new building.
The new visitor admissions building will be slightly bigger, meaning it'll have a bigger gift shop, and better facilities, but there are no plans to add a visitor café or catering facilities. The shop would stick to selling simple refreshments and ice-creams.
The current building has a floorspace of 52.4 SqM (square metres) and the proposed new building will be 62.4 SqM (that's an increase of 11.8 square meters).
And on an environmental note, the proposed new visitor building would have a 'grass' roof to help it blend in better with its surroundings.
Having two 'working' doors again would also help with the flow in-and-out of visitors.
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS
A final decision's due a week later on Wednesday 11 August 2021.
Back in March English Heritage held a Zoom video meeting with local residents to discuss their proposals to replace the visitor admissions. So far there haven't been any major objections.