Turn End Charitable Trust

Formed in 1998. Its objectives are for the benefit of the public generally:

1. the sympathetic conservation, protection and maintenance of the properties and garden as evolving or living entities, as designed and laid out by Peter John Aldington and to make them available for the use and benefit of the public
2. the advancement of education and scholarship in the art of building and garden design and in so doing to foster the integration of these two disciplines into a single indivisible process, each element to interact with and be dependant on the other
3. the promotion of public knowledge and understanding of architecture, planning, landscape architecture and allied subjects

Lord Carrington, Lord Palumbo and Will Howland are Patrons of the Trust. An exhibition designed by Richard Murphy, an architect trustee, was made to launch the Trust. It has been shown a number of times in venues from Jersey to Edinburgh, is stored at Turn End, and is still available for use.

A comprehensive resource pack has been compiled incorporating building and garden assessments, schedules and maintenance manuals. This is intended as the primary reference source for future custodians of the Turn End Estate. In addition the Trust has commissioned two reports from outside consultants.

The Trust, along with the Aldington family is currently discussing the future of the houses and adjoining properties. Building and garden maintenance may be funded by letting the houses, possibly for holiday use. Future use of the garden and adjoining buildings is also under discussion, perhaps including events, study days, artists’ involvement.

Turn End Studio/Workshop houses an Artist in Residence, using the house and garden to further the work of the Trust. The book artist Heather Hunter’s first project was An artist’s book that was a visual response to a year’s contact with Turn End Garden. 'PATTERNED LANDSCAPES' was the result.

The current work is to produce experimental imagery through the medium of pressure printing for a future artist’s book using the many varieties of grasses that are in Turn End garden. Current work also includes reflections on inside-outside of Turn End.