selected as the site of a Royal Diamond Jubilee wood, and a new woodland of 200,000 native oak trees will be planted on the estate. Successful garden designers Tom Stuart-Smith, Piet Oudolf and Nigel Dunnett have collaborated on the garden redesign. Since 2000 Trentham Gardens has undergone a £120 million ($200 m) redevelopment by St. Modwen Properties as a leisure destination. The regeneration project at Trentham includes restoration of the Italian gardens and adjacent woodlands, the creation of a garden centre and crafts centre, and various leisure attractions. The overall aim is to avoid noisy theme park-like attractions, and instead to offer "authentic experiences" to older people and younger children. Each year on bonfire night, visitors pay to see a bonfire with fireworks, food and fairground rides. Wire sculptures of fairies by Robin Wright have been installed in the gardens. In December 2008 a transportable Ferris wheel was opened on site for tourists to get an overhead view of the gardens, the estate, and out over the city. It was removed in 2009. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council uses an open windrow facility nearby in Acton where it turns garden waste collected in the borough into a nutrient-rich soil improver for local farms and other places including Trentham Gardens. In December 2022, the estate announced it had gained a licence from Natural England to host four Eurasian beavers from Spring 2023. This would involve enclosing the lake area and gardens to prevent the animals escaping. Mountain biking Trentham Gardens hosted the first-ever Mountain Mayhem, a 24-hour race which included some of the biggest mountain bike brands of all time including Raleigh and Giant; 120 other teams also entered. The course was just under long. The winning team was the Raleigh Pro Team managed by Gary Coltman with riders Barrie Clarke, Elliot Baxter, Carl Sturgeon and Ian Cuthbertson. The Giant Team came second. They were managed by Martin Earley who also rode in the team along with Jamie Norfolk, Robin Seymour and Robert Miller. There were only teams and no solo entrants. From 2001 to 2004 the Sleepless in the Saddle mountain bike races were held at Trentham. Trentham Ballroom The gardens were the site of the Trentham Ballroom, which opened in 1931 and closed in 2002. During the Second World War it was used by the Bankers' Clearing House for the clearing of the country's cheques. In the 1960s and 1970s many