Fascinating audio tour reveals the origins, decline and revival of the Mill Owner’s garden at Quarry Bank Mill.

A new audio guide, narrated by Eric Robson, chairman of Gardeners’ Question Time on Radio 4 is being launched this week. The tour, produced by Soundmap, a London based audio company, features interviews with various people involved in the restoration of the garden including the Head Gardener, Curator, garden volunteers and Voluntary Access Advisor from Disability Stockport. Angharad Brading, National Trust Regional Interpretation Officer says: “The garden has a lot of history and we wanted the tour to reveal how it was very much loved by each generation of the Greg’s and subsequent owners.

Unfortunately there was a period when it went into decline, but thankfully it was rescued by the Lowcock family.

“Visitors will find out about the origins and the style of the garden, the influence of Hannah Greg, the Mill owner’s wife, its many features, wildlife and its more unusual plants and trees. It’s also incredible to listen to the volunteers talk about the work done so far to restore it. “ The tour also includes excerpts from letters and diaries and the National Trust even commissioned the sound track which is inspired by the bird song in the garden. Peter Wilkins, Voluntary Access Advisor from Disability Stockport says: “I was asked by the National Trust to be part of the project group to develop the audio tour. Being blind from birth I especially like the music and the sound effects used - they add another dimension to the tour. As well as the sound, I have advised on how to describe various parts of the walk in a way which would be helpful to blind people, and, at the same time, be useful for everyone else. This could be an explanation about terrain, the position of hand-rails, uneven steps, etc.”

The National Trust were keen to make the tour as accessible as possible for visitors and Peter’s advice has been extremely helpful. As well as the audio guide there is a map and a transcript of the tour available.

Handsets with headphones can be loaned from the garden kiosk, or the tour can be downloaded from the website. The listening time of the tour is 45-minutes.