In connection with our current Manor House research, we are interested in studying formal/informal gardens and parkland which often surrounded such houses. 

Research to date has discovered many previously unknown gardens, which contain often well preserved features such as geometric terracing, water features such as ponds, lakes and cascades; pavilions and other garden buildings. 

Several medieval deer parks have been studied, which retain earthwork features such as enclosing banks and walls, internal woodland and ancient park trees.  Some of these parks contain ornamental features relating to their later use as landscape parks in the 18th and 19th centuries.  We would like to discover more about these ancient planned landscapes which are often well preserved in rural Devon.

Some of these features are nationally rare, making Devon of considerable potential importance to the understanding of historic landscape design. 

Lost Parks and Gardens