Kenilworth Castle garden

I'm looking forward to my visits to Kenilworth Castle this year. Last year was special, as Leicester's Gatehouse was opened to the public for the first time, and the last stage of the two-year excavation of the Elizabethan garden was drawing to a close. The excavation was in preparation for as complete and accurate a reconstruction as possible of the garden as it was when Elizabeth I visited the Earl of Leicester in 1575. The previous garden was set out as a simple knot, with topiary, gravel walks and herb planting - mostly lavender. Work starts this year on the reconstruction. As I've followed the excavations over the last two seasons and visited them with the site director, I'm really keen to see what the reconstruction will eventually look like, and how it will progress. Hats off to English Heritage for their policy of public involvement: usually I get to visit active excavations through my membership of archaeological societies, but there were weekly guided tours of the Elizabethan garden dig for all who turned up. An excavation newsletter is available online that contains an artist's impression of the final layout.

A previous attempt to confirm the layout of the Elizabethan garden in the 1970s consisted of two diagonal trenches which managed to miss all the major features of the site (and the back-filled trenches from that excavation were one of the most obvious sights from the castle keep).

During my visit to the site last year, a pit containing the remains of a horse was being excavated and recorded. This (and two cow carcasses) were nineteenth century animal burials made when vines were being planted, as the bodies were supposed to provide nutrients.

Re-creation of lost Elizabethan Garden to begin after thorough research.