THE VALE Council's Cabinet has agreed to spend around 1m on improvement works at Dyffryn House.
A range of repair and refurbishment work had been identified for the Grade II listed house but delayed until the clarification of a number of legal issues. The enveloping and repair works on the house will encompass the roof, stonework and external joinery, and Council Leader Cllr Jeffrey James said: "Dyffryn House is one of the Vale's treasures and it will be a significant first step towards reopening the house."
A massive makeover of the adjacent Council-owned gardens, working to the masterplan of landscape architect Thomas Mawson, is well advanced.
The original design was produced in 1903/04 for John Cory and started in earnest by his son, Reginald, in 1906. The scheme has received tremendous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Supported by a HLF grant of 3.25m, an ongoing first phase of work has focused on the restoration of garden rooms, including the Pompeian Garden, statues, botanical and herbaceous collections, and reinstatement of the path system, and is being completed with similar work on the Walled Gardens and its Glasshouses in 2006.
