WORK to restore the Victorian Kitchen Garden at Kingston Lacy country house near Wimborne has taken a step nearer completion.

Now the ornamental gates at the entrance to the five-acre garden at the National Trust property have been re-hung.

The garden was built in 1876 at a cost of £2,740 – about £180,000 today – and supplied the estate with fruit, vegetables and flowers.

It fell into disrepair in the 1960s and was completely overgrown when the Trust acquired Kingston Lacy in 1982.

The project to restore the garden began in 2018 with the restoration of one wing of the vinery – two other wings were beyond repair and had to be demolished.

Historic path networks were reinstated, flower borders dug and two thatched summer houses restored.

Work was disrupted for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic but the past year has seen a series of initiatives completed that bring the garden to life.

In 2022 melons were grown for the first time in 40 years and peaches flourished alongside the original vines.

A 100-metre arch was installed and surrounded by a newly planted orchard of apples and pears that will provide blossom and fruit for future generations.

Restored gates re-hung at the entrance to the Kitchen Garden at Kingston Lacy PHOTO: National Trust, Chris Cooper

New interpretation in the bothy and outbuildings illustrate the life of a gardener in the first half of the 20th century, from stoking furnaces that heated the hot houses to holding open days for admiring visitors.