ELVASTON CASTLE

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As costs escalated, and areas of the estate were neglected, Derbyshire County Council made the decision to involve commercial developers to secure its future, while maintaining public access. Now the evidence of decay and neglect are clear. Stuart Madeley is in a better position than most to keep a close eye on developments, having lived on the estate all his life. Mr Madeley, who owns a cottage in Borrowash Lane, grew up in various homes on the estate, which were made available to his family. His father, Arthur, was head gardener. He thinks the council got out of its depth because of the scale and nature of Elvaston. "I've always lived on the estate and I've had a grandstand view of the council's antics," he said. "A lot has happened and some things are sad, some are disgusting and some you accept as part of things changing."

Mr Madeley said he thought the problems stemmed from the council wanting to set up the country park to acquire prestige and failing to think about the long-term commitments. He said, "The council did the bits that were necessary to make it into a country park, but no more." He pointed out examples of the ways in which things had changed over the 70 years he had lived on site. Trees along the side of the grassy East Avenue leading up the house, which used to be a gravel path, have become overgrown and block the view. The old English garden used to be the kitchen garden but the greenhouses along the wall are dilapidated. A thatched cottage, originally built for the Stanhope family to stay in when they visited the estate and later used for council employees, stands empty.

"It's just been left," said Mr Madeley. "There's a dell just below. There was a very old garden in there with walls and grottos but it's not been restored. By not doing anything for 30 years, what happens? There are only a few people left who remember what was here. When my Dad worked here as a young man, apprentices couldn't go into the gardens until the family were at dinner. They were never supposed to bump into the family. The council took over and did things but then seemed to forget to maintain things. It walked away and didn't touch things for years. I don't know what it spent the money on."

Further along the walk, an unusual Moorish temple building, which used to be a summer house, stood empty, rusting and covered with graffiti. Mr Madeley said, "Before the war, there were two tennis courts here which I played on. But the council grassed them over. The temple was furnished with couches and nice decorations. There were statues in there and a beautiful door." Mr Madeley then pointed out a piece of overgrown land near the church, filled with carts, caravans and agricultural equipment which used to be on display in the working farm estate museum. A wall along one side is all that is left of a racquets court.

"I think it was one of the first purpose-built sports halls in the county," he said. "But the council pulled it down. The buildings next to it were ancillary buildings to maintain the estate and make it self-sufficient. But the council never thought about maintenance and never took steps to deal with the costs and generate income." In other parts of the estate, he showed that shrubs were overgrown and buildings were covered in ivy and had holes in the roof. As for the castle and formal gardens, Mr Madeley said that they looked different today compared with the original designs. He said, "If it's going to be restored, I think it'd take another 40 years just to put right what's been done in the last 40 years." Mr Madeley described the scene at Home Farm as a 'graveyard'. "This is supposed to be our heritage," he said. "It should be cared for in a proper manner."

A spokeswoman for the council responded to the points made by Mr Madeley. "Details of the maintenance of the gardens and park will be included in a development agreement with Highgate Sanctuary, which has yet to be drafted and agreed," she said. "It's also important to note that the Heritage Lottery Fund will need to accept the proposed maintenance regime. The trees along East Avenue are mature trees which over the years have been maintained by the council's landscape team. Intervention with old trees often brings its own risks of disease. The trees have grown and matured. They have been cut back as necessary and will further benefit from the garden restoration which will take place."

She added, "When Elvaston became a country park in the 1970s there was no longer a need to grow anything in the greenhouses. They are unsafe to go in and in some state of disrepair. They will be part of the development agreement yet to be drawn up. The Moorish Temple was open until about 10 or 12 years ago. It has since been vandalised and its condition supports the need for restoration. The former racquets court had to be knocked down in 1981 as it became structurally unsafe." As for the museum artefacts, she said that council staff had been carrying out the "mammoth" task of identifying, numbering, boxing up and inputting original documents of more than 12,000 items for the past five years.

She said, "We're now at the stage where we are matching up documents with artefacts and trying to find suitable homes. Where items can be placed in museums, they will be, preferably in museums which have a local connection. For items not placed in museums, we will look to return them to their original owners." Derbyshire County Council has consistently said it cannot afford to restore it or run it and is therefore awarding a 99-year lease to Highgate Sanctuary, but the people who oppose the decision say that it was not the best, or only, option to secure its future. They highlighted the continued popularity of the castle and gardens, with a record number of people visiting in 2003.

If the working estate museum was still open, the numbers would be even higher, they say. In the past 10 years, more than 500,000 people have visited each year, apart from in the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic year of 2001, when 463,418 people visited. In 1994, there were 644,354 visitors, in 2002 there were 607,856 and, in 2003, the numbers reached 686,007. The council has spent more than half a million pounds on Elvaston every year for the past four years. Income has been provided by car park fees, sales from the gift shop, ranger-led activities, weddings, rent from farmers, occasional hire of rooms and payments from ice cream vendors. In 2004, the council spent £733,646 on the castle and received an income of £166,196. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)