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Pupils use 1792 plans to plant trees on estate

BBC A focus on children's hands. One is holding a sapling and two others are holding garden spades.BBC
Sixty pupils from St Germans Primary School planted a hazel sapling each on the Port Eliot estate

Primary school children have planted saplings on a Cornwal estate using plans from 1792.

Humphry Repton landscaped the 60-acre (24 ha) estate in 1792 and recorded his designs in a leather-bound sketchbook called the Red Book.

Sixty pupils from St Germans Primary School have planted hazel saplings according to Repton's plan after the original trees were damaged by storms.

One of the pupils said: "I'm really excited because I've never planted a tree before, or a plant."

Coco Brown is wearing gloves and turning the page of the Red Book. She is standing in a grand room which has ornate marble columns, a full bookshelf, a bright flower arrangement and historic portraits are hung on the walls.
Coco Brown said Humphry Repton's Red Book was consulted whenever additions to the estate were being considered

Coco Brown, who researches the history of Port Eliot, said: "There are 60 acres covered with a variety of trees and if there are to be additions, the Red Book is consulted."

Humphry Repton's Red Book contains all the famous landscaper's hand-drawn sketches of his designs for the park.

The features he designed include a rhododendron garden, maze, bowling green, orangery and arboretum.

The open Red Book which shows a hand-drawn landscape with a river on the left with a boat on it, trees and then the Port Eliot house and church to the right. The pages are mottled with age.
Humphry Repton's Red Book contains hand-drawn sketches of his designs for the park

Ms Brown said there were 420 trees across the grounds, all of which were indigenous to Britain, and consisted of hazel, silver birch, English oak, rowan, blackthorn and hawthorn.

She said: "We are going to be planting some hazels along the River Tiddy and these will be replacing some of the original trees that have been lost to either storms or wind damage."

Assistant head teacher Sarah Smith said the tree planting brought "real-life context into the classroom".

"Every aspect we can, we're outside for enrichment opportunities - the children just love it," she added.

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