Dunham Massey's Winter Garden turned into Christmas wonderland with architecture students' sculptures

FRAMING THE VIEW: A students' sculpture

By Samantha Cordon

It will be a real winter wonderland in Dunham Massey, as Manchester architecture students’ sculptures are being exhibited over the Christmas season in the park’s Winter Garden.

Five sculptures by students from Manchester’s School of Architecture were chosen by Dunham staff to be exhibited in the Winter Garden, which is the largest of its kind in the UK.

The school approached Dunham Masseym, Altrincham, to find out if they would be interested in working with the Year Two students, giving them the opportunity to work at a site of historical and environmental importance.

Head of Year 2, Siobhan Barry, said: “This has been a fabulous opportunity for our students to work for such a prestigious client on a live project, providing a unique situation for the students to show their work and develop professional skills.

CREATING THE WONDERLAND: The students put the sculpture in place

 “Also the public can see their work and appreciate the students’ talent and professionalism as they embark upon their architectural career.”

The students were issued with guidelines to ensure the structures were in keeping with their surroundings.

Helen Appleyard, Dunham Massey’s Visitor Experience Officer, said: “We worked closely with their Head of Year to come up with a brief to design an appropriate architectural feature, such as a pavilion or folly, which would compliment either the Winter Garden or the architecture of Dunham Massey house.”

The word folly means a building designed solely for ornamental purposes, and to meet this brief Eve Williams designed ‘Framing the View’, taking her inspiration from the Grey family who lived at Dunham Massey.

“The sculpture creates a pause in the visitor’s journey through the garden much as the family would have paused when looking out across the garden to the lake”, said Eve.

Sarah Witts, Assistant Head Gardener, explained that the garden used to be a paddock for the family’s ponies and was not transformed into a winter garden until 2007.  Sarah added: “The garden has been very popular with the public, when it was first built it was still very immature and a lot of things were quite small but as the garden fills out, the responses are getting more and more positive.”

The sculptures will be on display in the Winter Gardens until 3 January.  Dunham Massey house also has a programme of events lined up for the Christmas period.  Full details can be found on their website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunhammassey