Award-winning Oxfordshire Family Firm Bringing Blenheim’s Magical Lost Garden to Life

Located within the Oxfordshire UNESCO World Heritage Site’s historic Walled Gardens and covering a site larger than a football pitch, it celebrates the rich heritage of the 18th century baroque Palace, its surrounding parkland and the wider estate.

The Lost Garden will echo various architectural aspects of the Palace including its boat house, gateways and a replica of Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge incorporating features from his original design which were never built. 

There is also a large seating terrace overlooking the central water play feature.

Created by renowned children’s play design company CAP.co, the task of bringing the project to life is being undertaken by the award-winning, Oxfordshire family firm of Kingerlee.

Now in its fifth generation, Kingerlee has had a long association with Blenheim Palace dating back to the 1960s when it had a team of painters and plumbers based permanently on site.

Among its many local projects are the BBC Radio Oxford studios in Summertown, the Jacqueline du Pré concert hall at St Hilda’s College and helping to install the Antony Gormley statue on top of Exeter College.

“The Lost Garden is a hugely exciting development for us and we wanted to utilise the skills and expertise of a highly regarded local firm to help bring it to life,” said Blenheim Palace’s Managing Director Heather Carter.

“Kingerlee has amassed a huge amount of experience and knowledge in its 150 plus years. It works on both sensitive heritage projects and cutting-edge contemporary design making it the perfect partner for this complex construction in our historic walled gardens,” she added.

The new adventure play area features tree-top walkways, towers, bridges, climbing nets, tunnels, ziplines slides and rope swings alongside themed and interactive play equipment and sensory features.

“We are honoured to be working on The Lost Garden project and continuing our long-standing relationship with Blenheim Palace,” said David Kingerlee, Chairman Kingerlee Ltd.

“It has been a pleasure to be working within the grounds of the estate again, surrounded by the exceptional, famous Capability Brown designed parkland and gardens. 

“Our team has been working hard to ensure that we deliver the exacting standards which the Blenheim setting demands for this outstanding new Lost Garden experience.

“We are excited to see this magical play area come to life as the project nears completion and look forward to continuing our association with this very special place over years to come,” he added.

An extensive water feature which includes boulders, rills, pools, stepping stones, bridges, fountains, jets and log flumes and sluice gates runs through the centre of the garden is being built by specialist contractor Fairwater.

Paths and edging areas are being created by Faringdon-based Radcot Groundworks.