the Hall, but were also reluctant to remove it owing to its historic significance. Eventually, a renovation and rebuilding programme was begun in 1990; progress though was slow, again due to a lack of funds. This was to change when the National Lottery Heritage Fund Urban Parks Programme awarded £2,151,000 to the park in 1999 to protect its long-term future and restore historic features. The project involved bringing the Hall back into use and improving the gardens, mostly by restoring lost features of Haden-Best's designs. It was completed in 2007 to much acclaim. Existing Park features General Layout The park is approximately crescent shaped, the core parkland running from the north, the site of the two houses, to the south where the boating lake is situated. The Corngreaves Nature Reserve extends from the south of the parkland in a westerly direction towards Corngreaves Hall. The River Stour forms much of the southern border of the reserve, with a broad footpath running alongside. Haden Hall Haden Hall is almost semi-detached to the Victorian house. It is sometimes called the 'Tudor Hall' but it is neither Tudor nor actually a Hall as the name Hall would suggest a medieval manor house. However, Haden Hall (or any earlier building on the site) was not a manor house or home of a Lord of the Manor. It was probably built around the late 1600s as the home of the moderately wealthy Haden family who, around that time, had begun to call themselves gentlemen as their wealth and status grew. Architectural evidence suggests that the Hall was later split into two dwellings. By the time Haden-Best inherited in the 1870s he wished to build a new house to live in, and the Hall was then occupied by his ageing aunt and later by his adopted daughter and her family. The Hall has been rebuilt and restored many times over its lifetime, and today is largely a copy of the building which once stood there. It is not known how much of the historic fabric remains. In the eighteenth century, a large Dovecote was built to the east of Haden Hall, which still stands. Haden Hill House George Alfred Haden Haden-Best inherited the estate in 1877 and work began on his new house soon after, although it was probably 1879 by the time he moved in. There would have been at least five bedrooms in the